annie The team at Paws against are upset that once again the “myth” that a “kennel club” dog is bred to a high standard regards health and welfare, is being perpetuated with the addition of a Royal Prefix to the Kennel Clubs’ name.
So long as the Royal Kennel Club continue to register litters from un hereditary health tested parent dogs or from those with poor results, and without any welfare checks, surely they cannot claim to be “the largest UK organisation devoted to dog health, welfare and training. We appreciate that those breeding under the Assured Breeder scheme do so but they are in the minority.
The Royal Kennel Club not only register these litters but also advertise these litters on their “Find a Puppy/Rescue” page on their website. In essence you can buy a Kennel Club registered puppy from their own website whose parents have had NO hereditary health tests and the breeder and premises NO welfare checks at all.
The Royal Kennel Club even have a page “What to research before you buy a dog” where they say “Breeders can reduce the risk of producing puppies with inherited disease in several ways” and go on to discuss how DNA and health screening schemes can help breeders eliminate or reduce the risk of specific known health conditions. Yet they continue to accept registrations from breeders who clearly are not taking their own advice!
Once again puppy buyers are being duped into thinking that puppies they buy that are Kennel Club registered are bred to a (mythical) superior standard (indicated by the strapline …devoted to health…… and now the addition of Royal to the name) regarding health and welfare. When in fact it is possible they could well have been born under appalling conditions with no health checks at all, in essence somewhere similar to the abhorrent “puppy farms” which the major stakeholders in the dog breeding industry are trying to stop! Surely by continuing to register these litters, the Royal Kennel Club is condoning irresponsible breeding.
Until the Royal Kennel Club either sets up a completely separate register for litters from parent dogs who are unhealth tested & those with poor results, or desists registering them completely we believe the Royal Prefix should be put on hold and their strapline adjusted to reflect that fact. Two separate registers would still enable the important pedigree information to be collated.
The 2021/22 Kennel Club annual report states the income from registrations is £15.096 million and the expenditure £5.530 million equating to 9.566 million pounds profit from registering litters and dogs. Is money doing the talking?
The Royal Kennel Club cannot claim to be dedicated to the health of our dogs, advocate for health testing and then still continue to register and sell these litters – Surely it is a conflict of interest of which the injured parties are the poorly bred dogs and their prospective owners.
