Today is National Puppy Day!
Today is National Puppy Day and, as we celebrate our four legged friends, we are also thinking about the inhumane breeding practices taking place in the UK and across the planet.
Puppy breeding is plagued with issues. Due to excessive and selective breeding, inbreeding, and inhumane conditions on ‘puppy farms’, many dogs suffer from chronic pain, behavioural issues, and even serious genetic disorders. A common problem, often seen in dogs like pugs, is the issue of breeding for aesthetics, with selective breeding causing “irritating to life-threatening issues”, and the need for repeated surgeries.
Pictured: Dr. Marc Abraham OBE and Lucy
Following campaigning efforts by Lisa Garner, and vet Dr. Marc Abraham OBE (founder of PupAid), Lucy’s Law, was passed by Defra in 2020. The legislation is named after Lucy, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who was rescued from a puppy farm where she was subjected to terrible conditions, and bans commercial third-party sale of kittens and puppies in England so they have to be bought from licensed breeders, by amending the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018.
Despite being dubbed the “beginning of the end for puppy farming”, the legislation has been subject to enforcement issues, with a Royal Veterinary College study reporting that illegal sales and imports of puppies have persisted. This shows that it is incredibly important that campaigns to protect puppies from these kinds of abuse continue.
However, puppy farming is not the only place where these practices take place. Beagles are the main dog breed used in animal testing in the UK, due to their gentle and docile manner. In 2024, 2646 regulated experiments were carried out on dogs in the UK, with 2488 of those tests involving beagles, and 1549 beagles were bred specifically for testing.
A petition to the UK Government, titled ‘End testing on dogs and other animals for development of products for human use’ has already received over 110,000 signatures, with the debate on the petition scheduled for the 27th of April. Proceedings can be watched online. We urge supporters to contact MPs to ask them to support a ban on testing on dogs.
While we celebrate puppies today, please keep those less fortunate in your minds and do your part to bring an end to inhumane breeding practices and testing on dogs.