The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW) has launched an online tool to help breeders and prospective dog owners to check any dog’s innate health characteristics and their suitability for breeding or acquisition.
The Innate Health Assessment (IHA) Tool provides a visual checklist of 10 key conformational criteria that are considered extreme in many dogs and often lead to health problems and long-term suffering. The platform has been created to combat the UK’s ‘extreme conformation crisis’ following generations of breeding dogs to suit trends and perceptions of ‘cute’ despite risks of respiratory issues, neurological defects and reduced life expectancy.
Developed by the APGAW in collaboration with Dr Dan O’Neill of the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) and launched on the PetProov platform, the tool allows users to self-assess any dog using 10 structured questions to receive an overall score indicating the dog’s innate health. If a dog does not pass the IHA it should not be used for breeding, while breeders achieving a score of eight out of 10 or higher are awarded a digital Innate Health Certificate, which can be included in puppy packs to build buyer confidence and demonstrate a commitment to responsible breeding.
The IHA tool is now supported by The UK Centre for Animal Law, Agria Pet Insurance, APDAWG, Battersea, BSAVA, The British Veterinary Association, Blue Cross, Dogs Trust, FOUR PAWS UK, Frontier Economics, GCCF, Hope Rescue, The Kennel Club, LAGECDogs, Naturewatch Foundation, PetPlan, PDSA, RSPCA, RVC, UFAW and Woodgreen.
APGAW director Marisa Heath said: “Breeding of dogs with extreme characteristics is one of the biggest welfare issues affecting our pets and thousands of dogs struggle to perform their basic functions daily owing to this problem. Within the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare, we are determined to address this and to bring the pet sector together to stop bad breeding practice.
“We hope the Government will support this initiative and show that the UK will be a leading nation on animal welfare and will protect the public from owning pets that live in pain and discomfort.”
Professor O’Neill added: “Dogs are much loved members of our families but sadly many suffer shortened and miserable lives due to severe health and welfare problems linked to their extreme body shape.
“APGAW’s IHA tool helps breeders to avoid breeding from animals who have poor innate health and therefore acts to reduce the suffering of future generations of dogs caused by having extreme body shapes.”
