The other day I was reading an article on puppy farming in my favourite monthly dog magazine, Your Dog. It had a quote, allegedly from the Kennel Club, to the effect that one-and-a-half million puppies are sold through UK pet shops every year. So let’s do the maths. Around 2% of pet shops are licensed to sell dogs, say 40 shops in the UK. Divide one-and-a-half million by 40 and the answer is that these shops are selling around 750 dogs per day, seven days per week. I know someone will question my exact figures but let's be honest, the very notion that the UK pet trade is responsible for puppy farming is ludicrous. Puppy farming is wrong and a very cruel trade. Those who sell puppies pretending they are home-bred when they are not should be prosecuted – and don’t get me started on selling puppies online and delivering them in pub car parks. But let’s keep this in proportion: the legitimate UK pet trade sells from licensed and inspected premises and certainly does not sell one-and-a-half million puppies each year.
