New legislation in Scotland which aims to crack down on cruel puppy farming has this week been signed by the Minister and made law, a step welcomed as \u2018long-awaited and crucial\u2019 by The Kennel Club, the UK\u2019s largest organisation dedicated to the health and welfare of dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Known as \u2018Lucy\u2019s Law\u2019, it will mean that puppies and kittens can no longer be sold in Scotland by a third party seller \u2013 such as a pet shop or commercial dealer \u2013 unless they have bred the animal themselves. Instead, from September, anyone looking to buy or adopt a puppy under six months must either deal directly with the breeder or an animal rehoming centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Dr Ed Hayes, Head of Public Affairs at The Kennel Club, commented: \u201cWe are delighted that these new animal breeding and sale regulations, which include Lucy\u2019s Law, have been made into law in Scotland \u2013 it\u2019s a long-awaited and crucial step. Sadly, too often irresponsible breeders in the UK and abroad have depended on commercial third party sellers, like \u2018dealers\u2019 or pet shops, to disguise the horrific conditions puppies are bred and brought up in to the public, readily making a huge profit while causing untold suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe hope Lucy\u2019s Law will help bring an end to this and alongside improving welfare conditions for puppies, it will also encourage anyone thinking of getting a puppy to really do their research and find a responsible breeder. This couldn\u2019t be more important right now, as we continue to see the demand for puppies rise during the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The organisation has also commended the breeding regulations for breaking away from the complex English approach to licensing, which The Kennel Club believes unfairly and disproportionately targets responsible, low volume breeders, as well as being difficult to enforce and understand. The new regulations outline that Scottish breeders will require a licence if they breed three or more litters a year, removing the initially proposed and controversial \u2018business test\u2019 and resulting in comparatively straightforward legislation which should more effectively aid the crackdown on poor dog breeding practices. The Kennel Club has lobbied policymakers at every stage of the legislative process to ensure that any regulations introduced in Scotland are more effective, fair and straightforward than their English counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are pleased that the Scottish Government recognised and acted on our concerns about the \u2018business test\u2019, and commend them for heeding our warnings to not repeat the mistakes made in the parallel English regulations, which we know haven\u2019t been effective in tackling poor breeding practices,\u201d added Dr Hayes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith the ongoing unprecedented demand for puppies during the pandemic, we wholeheartedly welcome this positive step forward for dog welfare at such a crucial moment, and are delighted that our lobbying and engagement with Scottish officials, alongside the Scottish Kennel Club, has been successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe look forward to further collaboration with the Scottish Government on the legislation outlined, and will continue engaging with them to follow its progress and understand how it will work in practice and be enforced.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parliamentary Liaison Officer for the Scottish Kennel Club, Richard Morrison, added: “After working hard alongside Scottish Government and The Kennel Club, we welcome these new breeding regulations which aim to tackle bad breeding practices and cruel puppy farmers. Alongside Lucy’s Law, which is a huge win for dog welfare, we believe the more simple approach to licensing will be better for dogs and puppies across the nation, encouraging high welfare, responsible and caring breeding while stamping out those who carelessly churn out puppies for profit.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More information about breeding regulations across the UK and The Kennel Club\u2019s lobbying activity is available on the organisation\u2019s website: thekennelclub.org.uk\/breedingregs<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New legislation in Scotland which aims to crack down on cruel puppy farming has this week been signed by the Minister and made law, a step welcomed as \u2018long-awaited and crucial\u2019 by The Kennel Club, the UK\u2019s largest organisation dedicated to the health and welfare of dogs. Known as \u2018Lucy\u2019s Law\u2019, it will mean that puppies … Continue reading LEGISLATION TO CRACK DOWN ON PUPPY FARMS FINALLY MADE LAW IN SCOTLAND<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":415,"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414\/revisions\/415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obedienceuk.news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}