Are you a Breeder?

Responsible breeders are the future of dogs in the UK. Whether breeding cross breeds or pedigrees, breeders have a responsibility to do all they can to help ensure that their puppies are healthy and well adjusted and their breeding bitches are cared for.
There are a number of steps that responsible breeders can take to help improve the health and welfare of our nation’s dogs.

• Join the Kennel Club Assured Breeder Scheme - Work with the Kennel Club to develop and address concerns about health within their breed and become part of the Assured Breeder Scheme. Assured Breeders agree to follow guidelines which include giving their dogs the appropriate health tests for their breed and socialising their pups.

The Kennel Club recognises that you don’t need to be an Assured Breeder to be a responsible breeder but you do need to be a responsible breeder to be an Assured one and, by being part of the scheme, Assured Breeders are helping to push puppy farmers into the cold. By forming one coherent and well recognised group Assured Breeders are ensuring that puppy buyers know where to turn and don’t unwittingly line the pockets of irresponsible breeders or puppy farmers, who play on public ignorance to make a quick sale.
As more and more breeders join the Scheme the Kennel Club will be able to raise the bar even further to ensure that breeding standards are continually improved. Click on the link to find out more about exciting developments within the Assured Breeder Scheme, including the continual development of its network of regional advisors, who visit the members of the Assured Breeder Scheme.

• Health Test - Have the recommended health tests for your dogs carried out before they are bred from. Find out more about dog health here

• Breed away from exaggeration - Choosing the two dogs that you will mate is an important decision and it is vital that you make that choice upon the basis of the future health of breed, as well as your individual litter. It is important that dogs are not bred for exaggerated features that will be detrimental to their health.

• The Kennel Club is always looking for photos and videos of your healthy, happy and well loved dogs that it can share online and through other media. So whether they are show dogs, pet dogs or working dogs send in photos and videos of your dogs at work and at play to to the Kennel Club’s We Love Our Dogs campaign.