Licensed breeders - good or bad thing ... (for those who are looking)

[Whitney168]

Not a TAAT, but a worthy topic, I think.

Quoting that someone is a licensed breeder is often seen as a good thing when people are looking for puppies.

Just think it is worth noting that in the vast majority of cases, for the uninitiated, this is a BAD thing. Pure and simple, it means is that a breeder produces a significant amount of puppies.

There are examples of licensed breeders who are fine, but unless their show/work record is obvious then it is very rare. For someone who just produces pet puppies, it shows they are in it for the money and little else - and many licensed premises leave an awful lot to be desired.

You can get a licence which says you legitimately keep 100s of dogs for breeding. And people think they will buy a healthy, well socialised pup from this kind of environment?
Think of the effort that goes into looking after half a dozen dogs, then imagine how 20 or 100 might be living. Cute puppies curled up in front of the fire in the licenced breeder's home? Don't think so.

I hate the current licensing scheme, it does nothing to improve welfare and gives an air of legitimacy to bloody awful breeders.

its also worth pointing out that KC registration alone isn't a guarantee of a decent breeder. Providing the breed is recognised by the KC then a lack of registration is suspicious but there's plenty of puppy farms and BYBs churning out registered pups.

As a breeder, you need a licence from the council if you have 5 or more litters per year. (The number varies from council to council)

.... so it's in effect a puppy farm. Good or bad depends on a lot of other things.