If this doesn’t deter people from buying a puppy without thoroughly checking the breeder, then I don’t know what will!

[Santangelo]

How utterly heartbreaking.

Farmer made tens of thousands of pounds breeding puppies in poor conditionsThe dogs were being kept in makeshift runs with little access to water or exercise.

A farmer made tens of thousands of pounds illegally breeding puppies and selling them online, a court has heard. Animal welfare inspectors found John Gibbon was breeding dogs without a licence and housing them in poor conditions with little access to water, ventilation or proper exercise.

Swansea Crown Court heard it was not known how many puppies the defendant bred and sold but that a financial investigation showed he had made more than £68,000 from the trade in a little over three years.

Lowri Wyn Morgan, prosecuting, told the court that RSPCA officers first visited Gibbon's farm near Llanelli in July, 2021, following reports of dogs being bred on the site in poor conditions.

She said officers were shown around the farm by the defendant and his daughter Nia, and found dogs housed in makeshift pens in poorly ventilated outhouses with little access to water or proper exercise.

The court heard the Gibbons were told they needed a licence to breed dogs, and Nia Gibbon said she was in the process of applying for one.
Officers initially gave the Gibbons advice on the changes they needed to make but after a follow-up visit showed little improvement they were served with a formal improvement notice.

The prosecutor said that over the following five months, RSPCA inspectors together with vets and animal welfare officers from Carmarthenshire Council made a series of return visits to the farm to check on progress but found conditions remained poor and were deemed inadequate.

The court heard the 67-year-old defendant accepted he had been breeding dogs at the farm and had been selling them online via adverts identified by the authorities. Gibbon and his daughter were subsequently charged.

John Gibbon, of Five Ways, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, had previously pleaded guilty to breeding dogs without a licence - contrary to section 13 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 - between January,2019, and May, 2022, when he appeared in the dock for a sentencing and proceeds of crime hearing. He has no previous convictions.
The court heard that following the guilty plea the prosecution against the defendant's daughter was discontinued and she was issued with a caution.

It won't change anything - you only need to read back a few pages on this forum to see how many people don't care and wilfully buy from puppy farms.

I think it’s awful they let it go on for 5 months before taking the dogs.

Sadly it won’t change a thing. People think if they aren’t lifting their new pup out of a filthy cage then the “nice” people can’t be puppy farmers. People are selfish. They want a cute puppy. They don’t want to wait. They don’t want to travel to get it and they don’t want to be told their home or lifestyle aren’t suitable for a dog.

Exactly my thoughts. As long as there are selfish people buying from the puppy farms, there will continue to be cruel bastard breeders. It makes me so angry and upset.

Sadly, I agree.

At best, people think they’re ‘saving’ the pups, when all they’re actually doing is increasing demand and consigning the poor breeding dogs to more litters

At worst, they just don’t care as long as they get a cute puppy.

I was just about to say what PPs have said.

Worst of all is £68K isn't even that much, really, by puppy farm standards. It's 4 litters a year over 3 years at £1K a puppy assuming 6(ish) puppies a litter. So that's 2 litters a year, over three years, at £2K a puppy (which is cheaper than the average designer dog these days).

Most people seem to consider two litters a year perfectly ethical - 'Guide Dogs UK' certainly do. And whilst you have big charities like that supporting 2 litters a year...it does set a bad precedent for others. How can you criticise breeders producing two litters in a year when Guide Dogs UK say they do that with some of their dogs? Nothing to say the standards of the 'breeders' used by GDUK are any better than the average 'breeder' either, really.

Some of the doodle ones near me are making £68K in a year - and they've been praised on Mumsnet for being 'fantastic' and 'really passionate about their dogs.'

People don't care, OP. As long as they can convince themselves it's either for a good reason (as is the case with GDUK) or they're 'helping' the puppy...they don't care.

Several articles lately show ddogs that have been in a particular ddog rescue for a very long time...
And now rehomed... Ah lovely..
We lost out ddogs recently and spent hours trawling reputable rescue places...
Filling in applications and getting nowhere. When I spoke to a Reputable Rescue I was told there were 500 applications to read through before ours..
That's why people get dpuppies from no reputable places..
We were refused at 1 place because we have 2 dcats...
And 1 dpuppy they who they declared unsuitable to have with dcats...
How did they know when it had never met one..?

Instant gratification will always prevail.

While dogs and pets in general are treated as commodity nothing will ever change. Raising a litter of puppies is hard work I don't think the average dog owner has any idea. Internet and social media have mot helped either as it's full of cute puppies with their seemingly happy owners. So on one side you have someone who wants maximum money for minimum effort and on the other someone who wants to buy a slice of cute happiness.

@Mrsclausemunchingonamincepie it can take months of daily looking and checking for the right dog to come into the right rescue for you just like how it should take months of looking and research before you buy a puppy.

Please don't say:

"That's why people get dpuppies from no reputable places"

That makes it sound like an excuse. There's never an excuse for supporting animal abuse, and having to 'wait' is the worst 'excuse' of all.

"We were refused at 1 place because we have 2 dcats...
And 1 dpuppy they who they declared unsuitable to have with dcats...
How did they know when it had never met one..?"

And on this, you're showing your lack of understanding and/or naivety of how a good rescue operates. A good rescue won't take a chance that a dog might be okay with cats. They'll re-home the puppy to the house that is the most stable, and has the lowest chance of 'risk'. Which, really, is how a breeder should operate instead of what many do which is 'first come first served.'

For the one I help with thats: older families (children who have left home or are older teenagers)/couples, no cats, no dogs (unless the dog needs a dog for confidence related reasons), rural or rural-ish, someone home all day every day, and a proven history of the breed or similar breeds. Most people would probably think 'oh well you must keep dogs in foster then, and they never go to homes.' That's absolutely not the case. We get, probably, close to 100 applications a dog. Most of the time, we have around 15-20 that fill all the criteria above. From there, it's a matter of checking their experience in handling any behavioural issues the dog has, and then matching.

I've said this before but i'll say it again: why would we as a rescue send a dog to a 'good' home, when we always have 'excellent' homes to choose from? Same principle should apply to breeding. I don't send puppies, when I breed, to 'good' homes...I send them to 'excellent' homes.

At the end of the day, we should all want what is best for these dogs and puppies and that requires time and patience from everyone - buyers, rescues, and breeders.

Nothing will stop them sadly, OP.
That's why, in my opinion, we need to look at more radical solutions because education or a licensing scheme or further regulation sure as hell isn't going to stop it.

Won't change a thing, people have met lovely cockapoos in the park and they have been told that they don't shed and are great with kids....see all research done! Facebook breeder, job done!