Importation of puppies and pregnant dogs to be banned

[ErrolTheDragon]

At last, a private members bill to ban the importation of pregnant bitches and puppies under 6 months, also a ban on importing dogs with cropped ears or tails.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/22e5458f-947e-4efd-bbf4-0feed4c375c7?shareToken=d86fad9c833d41028d796254aeb28528

Does this apply to rescues? I meet a lot of people walking my dogs who have adopted from abroad, because it's so difficult in the UK. I think people unfortunately will still smuggle them over, the same as they do with humans.

Good.

Excellent news - and to the PP - yes of course it applies to rescues, these are sometimes covers for this trade.

Completely support this (as someone who rescued an older dog from abroad btw). Rescue dogs are a tiny % of the total dogs that come from overseas and a driver does seem to be cropped ear and docked tails, which is abhorrent.

Banning the importation of young pups will hopefully make smuggling them significantly harder, they won't be able to use false paperwork to get through.

I wonder if there are any sniffer dogs at major ports trained to detect hidden pups and dogs?

I assume only to pups under 6 months and pregnant bitches and cropped dogs.
Not to older dogs.

Does the UK have a full compliment of all dog breeds available?
My daughter was interested in a Japanese Chin (has previously owned two) and had challenges finding (not sure she found any) breeders in the UK.

If she wants a breed not available here she'll still be able to import one that's over 6 months.

Or maybe find a rescue ... in a couple of minutes on the kennel club website I found there's a Japanese chin rescue which presumably wouldn't exist for no reason.

www.thekennelclub.org.uk/search/club-profile/?rescueclubId=edc6430d-2f68-e911-a8ae-00224800449b

although i understand part of the issue, and no skin in the game.
i have in the past had british bulldogs from an excellent breeder in belgium and would have considered travelling and importing a welsh or lakeland terrier if any breeders caught my eye.
i have had breeders hold onto a pup till 16 weeks to determine if they are show quality but i can't see too many international show stock breeders holding onto pups for 6 months. i'm not sure i would consider purchasing a 6 month old puppy due to the potential for behavioral issues.
but i assume if the kennel clubs are in agreement with this and my concerns might not be valid.

Rescue puppies or pregnant bitches? Not many of those coming over. Overseas rescues won't be banned because they aren't usually puppies or pregnant.

From another very quick look at the KC website, it looks like they recognise the need for more control but would prefer some leeway for legal imports eg allow one or two puppies per vehicle rather than the current 5 per person.

www.thekennelclub.org.uk/about-us/campaigns/puppy-imports/

Oh I imported my puppy from abroad last year, right in time!
Anyway, it's a good thing if it's effective.

Sadly I do not agree with this, a minority making it worse for the majority. Puppy farmers will continue to falsify papers showing pups are 6 months and not 4 months, it will not stop dogs being imported long distances in awful conditions. What it will stop, is people who import pups into the country in order to improve the lines of pedigree dogs in the UK. For some of the smaller breeds, without imports the breed becomes too closely bred and this can lead to health issues.

In 30 years I have imported 2 dogs into this country both from breeders who have been friends for many years, I travelled to meet the pups 3 times to choose which one I would like, then spent a week with the puppy before travelling home with them so they knew me. A change to the rules from 4 months to 6 months, will still allow people to pay a couple of hundred pounds to some van driver to import a pup into the UK without any thought to the conditions or stress the dog will go through during the journey.

As with all these planned changes, those who do things properly will be punished, those who are not interested in welfare will continue.

By all means tighten the current regulations, I do agree with stopping in whelp bitches being imported, but a blanket ban will not solve any of the current problems with the import puppy farming trade.

For some of the smaller breeds, without imports the breed becomes too closely bred and this can lead to health issues.

You can import dogs still. Can't you tell better from a more mature animal than a young pup whether it's a good 'un? (We got our last dog from his breeder at 10 months, he was the one she'd kept for show and stud from a litter but it became apparent he didn't meet the grade for that.)

Puppy farmers will continue to falsify papers showing pups are 6 months and not 4 months

But 4 months would still be a lot better than some of the very young pups who are taken from their mothers too early.

This is going to hit people who want to import just one puppy for their themselves eg for a breeding programme. Also some breeds can be legally docked in the UK and I'd hope dogs that fall into that category will be exempted.

"But 4 months would still be a lot better than some of the very young pups who are taken from their mothers too early" - I do not understand your point, the proposed change is to import at 6 months and not 4 months, it has nothing to do with pups being weaned at a younger age. Awful puppy farmers and those who falsify documents to import dogs will still do it.

I agree with @EdithStourton on the points made.

This constant wish to ban everything without any thought to the consequences is very short-sighted. Put efforts into stopping puppy farmers in the UK and those importing, rather than imposing bans on those who try to do the right thing.

I do not understand your point, the proposed change is to import at 6 months and not 4 months, it has nothing to do with pups being weaned at a younger age. Awful puppy farmers and those who falsify documents to import dogs will still do it.

I didn't put it very well. This is what the KC said (in the link upthread)
Such a measure would enable border officials to easily identify whether a puppy met the age restrictions and thus could effectively restrict the ability of puppy smugglers to import puppies at around the 8-10 weeks mark^

A too-young pup can be passed off as a somewhat older one but not as a six monther.

i think this is great news!

Thank you @ErrolTheDragon I understand now. Yes to a certain extent it is true about younger pups being passed off as older unfortunatley this may help for the larger dogs, but for many of the smaller breeds, which sadly are the most popular, I still think may will get through irrespective of their age.

It was a private members bill being discussed today, and there is a sway which says it was discussed at length purely to thwart Liz Truss' safe spaces bill having enough time, so anything happening to change the current age restrictions is unlikely which I think is a good thing. I would prefer there to be far more consultation before changing things and causing problems for people who import sensibly.

Very hamfisted move in order to stop puppy farming. I'm interested in buying an australian cattledog but the breeders here are very limited and I don't like how their dogs look - my plan had been to import a 16 week old at some point in the future as I don't like to take on an older dog. As it stands now I'll most likely purchase an older bitch and breed a litter from her to have my own puppy.

Aren’t the vast majority of puppy
farm animals smuggled over? So how will this help?

It will affect people who import dogs for the right reasons though, as almost every law that’s passed at the moment does.

The fact that it will stop ear cropping and tail docking is a good thing though, no?

In general yes, but a handful of working breeds can be legally docked in the UK (the rules vary a bit between eg England and Wales) if there is evidence that the puppies are likely to go to working homes. The dog is left with about half of its tail, so has something to wag and communicate with.

These are breeds that have very long, skinny tails which are vulnerable to damage, and I've known a lot of undocked ones (including pets) that have suffered long-term injuries sometimes ending in amputation.

There's no excuse for ear cropping. Ear injuries are bloody and difficult to dress, but they heal quickly, whereas tails have very poor bloody supply which hampers healing.

Hopefully it will! That would be great.

Unfortunately most of the docked or cropped dogs I see are done illegally in the UK…