Puppy-buyers "being conned" by Kennel Club breeder scheme

Despite recent improvements to the Kennel Club's Assured Breeder Scheme, almost 10 years after it launched, the KC is still bestowing Assured status on many breeders without inspecting them. And even when a breeder has been inspected, years may pass before they are checked again.

This week, ABS breeders Sue and Sarah Stacey, from Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, were banned from keeping dogs for 10 years after 13 dogs, including the French Bulldog above, were found living in squalor (full story here).

A quick check reveals that Sarah Stacey has been an ABS breeders since October 2008.

In a statement RSPCA inspector Amy Collingsworth said: “I attended the property in January 2013 following an anonymous complaint from a member of the public. I was let into the living room to assess some of the dogs and was shocked to see that the floor was completely soiled with faeces and urine and the stench of ammonia was overpowering.

“I could see two emaciated dogs with overgrown claws sitting in a cage with a thick layer of faeces underneath them and two puppies, called by the owners Pup 1 and Pup 2, who were huddled together in a pen, subdued and lethargic.

"This was a shocking case of neglect from people who claimed to be registered dog breeders.”

So how could this happen?

Here's the KC boast about the scheme:

The Kennel Club Assured Breeder Scheme (ABS) is the only scheme in the UK that monitors breeders in order to protect the welfare of puppies and breeding bitches. The Kennel Club has recently received formal accreditation by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to certify dog breeders under the Assured Breeder Scheme.

Sounds great, doesn't it? And, wow, UKAS accredited? That must mean that the scheme is robust, no?

Well no, it doesn't.

Astonishingly, breeders can join by signing a piece of paper promising to abide by the rules of the scheme - even since the scheme was beefed up with UKAS accreditation in January 2013. 

New members must agree to the possibility of a visit by an Assessor, but it is not a condition of joining. Additionally,  there is evidence to suggest that many if not most ABS breeders have never been inspected.

Here's what the FAQ for the scheme says:

"Names of new members are published in the Kennel Gazette and effectively 'policed' by breed clubs who report names that are, in their opinion, inappropriate candidates to us. If this happens then the Kennel Club investigates carefully."

R-i-g-h-t...   

This is clearly ridiculous. Breed clubs may know about shoddy big producers that have been operating for some time, but how can they be expected to know every new or small breeder? 

As it happens, Sarah Stacey, who neglected the Frenchie in the picture above, is a member of the French Bulldog Club and no one reported her. She and her mother run - rather terrifyingly - a cattery and dog grooming business in Great Yarmouth called Bright Eyes.  This listing on the PetPlan website promises:

Family home run cattery where we personally look after your precious pets in a quiet setting. Cattery inspections always welcome.
New for 2009 Fully qualified City & Guilds
Dog Grooming Salon opened by Sarah Stacey.
Dog training and behavioural corrections undertaken in our secure back field. We have over 30 years experience with all breeds of dogs.

Here's the full low-down on how the KC polices the Assured Breeder Scheme:

• All applicants' records are checked prior to acceptance on the scheme
• Check of the health screening records for a member's breed is required
• All members agree to be spot checked by the Kennel Club throughout their membership of the scheme, in order to ensure our standards are maintained
• The Kennel Club has recently added even more Regional Breeder Assessors to its national team to ensure that, as the Scheme grows in size, it can continue to monitor the standards of its members
• The Kennel Club encourages feedback from the dog-owning community and future members' names are published in the monthly Kennel Club publication, the Kennel Gazette, to enable breed clubs to comment on names that they believe to be inappropriate
• All new puppy buyers are given feedback forms by Assured Breeders that they return to us and if this does not happen then we look into the reason why. The Kennel Club receives hundreds of feedback forms from new puppy buyers each month; most of the feedback is positively glowing. However, if any complaints are made the Kennel Club investigates fully and takes the appropriate action which might include removal from the scheme

So the scheme is mostly reactive, not proactive. One would hope that bad breeders will be picked up sometime down the line. But there are no guarantees. In other words, a puppy you buy from an ABS breeders may not be any better than one produced in the most squalid puppy farm.

And don't be fooled by the promise of a "spot check". Unlike local authority inspectors, the KC has to give advance notice of a visit. 

Interesting too that the Kennel Club claims that it has "recently added even more Regional Breeder Assessors to its national team to ensure that, as the Scheme grows in size, it can continue to monitor the standards of its members."

In fact, this time two years ago, the KC had 23 regional breed assessors. They now have 13 (plus a further three full-time KC staff who are trained to do visits if needed). For the whole country.

At the end of 2011, I asked the Kennel Club for some stats on the Scheme. 

At that point, they had just over 6133 active (and 1189 inactive) members, so 7300 members in total. They admitted they had inspected just 15 per cent of them. ("Inactive" is defined as a breeder who hasn't registered a litter in the last three years - but who could, of course, register one at any time.)

Two years on, the Kennel Club now says it has 6457 active members and has done "around 5000" inspections. This sounds quite impressive. Clearly, there has been a big increase in the number of inspections done. But you need to bear the following in mind:

• some of these visits may be repeat inspections 

• close on 2000 breeders have left the scheme (either resigned or suspended for breaches). 

• the KC has not supplied the current number of inactive breeders. There will probably be about 1500 of them. And it is right to include them as they would have been active previously - and could become so again.

Add all that up and those "5000 inspections" relates to a total of around 10,000 breeders.

And so my guess is that the KC has, at best, still only inspected less than 50 per cent of its current ABS breeders. That's better than it was - but still not good enough.

(I have asked the KC for more detailed figures and will amend if I get them.)

Particularly worrying is that so many new breeders are still being endorsed by the Kennel Club as an Assured Breeder without being inspected. 

In 2011, the KC told me: "It is the intention that all members will be visited at some point and all new applicants will be visited either prior to acceptance or when most appropriate."

"At some point".

Last week, I asked the same question and got this back from the KC's Bill Lambert: "It is the intention that every active member of the scheme will be visited. We will only issue UKAS certificates to members that have been visited. Whilst it is still possible for low volume breeders to join prior to being inspected at some point we will require all new applicants to be visited prior to joining and in that respect all I can say at the moment is “watch this space”.

"At some point".

And nowhere, incidentally, on the KC website does it advise puppy buyers that only ABS breeders who have been inspected will be issued with a UKAS certificate.

So, two years on from the original reassurance and with no future date given for compliance, the KC is still endorsing breeders without sending anyone to check on them. 

And the stats are truly shocking.

The KC now (post UKAS accreditation ie from Jan 2013) lists the dates of its breeder inspections.

Here's what I found:

Of the 34 French Bulldog breeders awarded ABS status this year, only two have been inspected according to the Kennel Club website. Six of these, all marked as uninspected, are currently advertising litters on the KC Puppy Finder.

Of the 42 new Pug breeders awarded ABS status in 2013, only one of them has been inspected. Five of these new uninspected breeders are currently advertising litters on the KC's Puppy Finder.

Several of the above new Frenchie and Pug breeders have registered five or more litters with the KC and still haven't been inspected.

When I put the figures to the Kennel Club, it maintained that there were always around 200-300 applications "in process" - in other words, that more of the new members above could have been inspected; it's just not showing yet on the KC website. But it wouldn't have been hard to give me the actual figures and when the KC fudges it like this, it is usually a sign that the KC doesn't want the world to know the full extent of its shortcomings.  Don't forget, too, that "200-300 applications in process" doesn't just relate to Pugs and Frenchies - it's across all 200-odd breeds registered by the KC.

Frenchies and Pugs  have exploded in popularity in recent years. There are loads of breeders cashing in on them. Additionally, are no mandatory health tests for either breed under the ABS, despite both breeds having a holy host of health problems. (The KC does list that an annual eye test and a DNA test for hereditary cataracts is recommended but ABS breeders are not obliged to do them.)

The upshot is that anyone who goes to an ABS breeder for two of today's hottest breeds is in danger of being conned.  These breeders may be selling you rubbish pups raised in squalor, like the poor French Bulldogs above. After all, even the shittiest breeder has a half-decent front room into which pups and an adult female (which may or not be the pups real mum) can be brought in for your perusal.

Here's what we need to know about every ABS breeder in addition to what's already listed on the KC website.

• dates of all inspections - inc prior to UKAS accreditation (currently, you have to contact the KC to ask for details on any inspections prior to 2013)

• the number of litters/pups in total they have registered with the KC (a useful way of identifying volume breeders posing as hobby breeders).

• percentage of feedback forms returned by puppy-buyers

• feedback rating from puppy-buyers

And, of course, we need every breeder inspected prior to acceptance on the scheme - or clearly identified as provisional members only, pending an inspection. Anything else is just a nonsense.

Research appeal

I have only had time to go through Pugs and French Bulldogs and would like to put together some stats for the other Top 20 KC-registered breeds.  Could you help?

A list of ABS breeders for every breed can be found here. If it's a breed with a large number of breeders, they will be broken down by county. Pick any county and near the top of the page you'll find a link from which to download a pdf of every ABS breeder for that breed.

The KC Puppy Finder is here - ABS breeders are marked and always at the top of the list.

The information I am looking for per breed is:

• number of new ABS breeders for 2013

• number of these new breeders marked as inspected (NB the KC only lists inspections done since Jan 2013)

• number of these new breeders (uninspected/inspected) currently advertising litters on the KC Puppy Finder

• number of these new breeders (uninspected/inspected) listed with a triangle containing the letter B (which means they have registered five or more litters with the KC).

If you are willing to take on a breed, please state below to avoid a duplicated effort - and then ideally please send the actual figures to me: jem[AT]pedigreedogsexposed.com.

Thank you!