Kennel Club urgent plea to people buying puppies in Moray and Aberdeenshire
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The Kennel Club is urging potential dog owners not to allow puppy farms to take advantage of any confusion surrounding Covid.
From today travel restrictions across Scotland have been relaxed.
However, the dog welfare organisation is telling people to avoid buying a puppy if the seller offers to deliver it.
Dr Ed Hayes, head of policy and public affairs at The Kennel Club, said: "Following a year of confusing and difficult Covid-19 rules for breeders, rescue organisations and potential new owners, it’s crucial that the public is clear on how to responsibly buy a puppy.
"Do not agree to have your puppy delivered to you or meet you halfway.
"There’s been a huge increase in pet ownership during the pandemic, but we need to protect our much-loved four-legged friends."
In 2018, research by The Kennel Club indicated more than one in ten buyers paid for their puppy before they had seen it, amounting to an estimated one million dogs in the UK.
Meanwhile, around 630,000 pups were ‘home delivered’.
Dr Hayes said: "The normalisation of ‘click and collect’ type purchases during the pandemic is making it easier than ever before to buy things instantly, and for sellers to hide behind a screen.
"This is having an alarming impact on the way people expect to buy a puppy.
"Please don’t contribute to a puppy buying crisis by putting convenience over welfare."
While there is nothing wrong with seeing an advert for a puppy online, always then:
- See the puppy’s home environment and the puppy interacting with its mum and littermates. Do this virtually and ideally in-person, in a secure outdoor space or garden
- Don’t accept a puppy being delivered to your door – rogue traders can hide behind the anonymity of the internet
- Don’t pay a deposit without seeing the puppy or buy from a breeder who is trying to sell the puppy as quickly as possible – this should ring alarm bells
