I am involved in organising a peaceful protest on Sat 4th Dec at 12 noon against Harrods selling puppies. Please support if you can or spread the word. Harrods is right next to Knightsbridge tube station so easy to get to once you get to London. There is a pedestrian area there so plenty of room for lots of people and even a few seats! There should also be lots of Christmas shoppers about to give leaflets to. I will get a petition up and running soon so that we can hand that in to Harrods as well.

Thank you to those that signed my petition earlier before I was informed that petitions are not allowed on this forum. It is showing up on searches.

pm me with info and ill put it on my websites

Thanks everyone who has signed and cross posted. Over 400 now!

I now have a poster available for anyone who wants it and there is also a Facebook event so please share and invite people. We want to make this as big as possible to get the media attention that this campaign needs.

http://www.facebook.com/?sk=events#!/event.php?eid=138492379534155

Just an update on this. There are about 950 signatures online plus the ones that people have collected on the paper petition. Thank you to everyone that has helped with this as I know that there are a lot of breeders on there.

There is a great article on the London Dog Forum

http://www.londondogforum.co.uk/news-c8.html

It is also on the Animal Aid diary page. I then had an email from the Daily Mail and phoned the person back. Hopefully it will be in the Ephraim Hardcastle column tomorrow.

I have filled in a form for the police and had a call back from a very nice policeman wanting to check how many and whether we needed room for dogs as well! 

Did you see the article in the Mail today advertising the dog groomers/spa in the pet department at Harrods. Is this newspaper the right place to have this demo mentioned?

Lets hope the whole thing stays within the bounds of the law and not go the way the students did yesterday. Makes a mockery of what you're trying to get across. There will always be people who join up on a protest just to cause trouble and fingers crossed you don't get any of those to ruin the day.

I haven't seen the Mail today but will have a look later thanks. The Mail is normally good on dog articles and I have no control over who prints what anyway. The man I spoke to said that he had dogs and is a dog lover so hopefully it will be good if of course it appears.

I also hope that it is a very peaceful protest and certainly do not want any troublemakers there.

Harrods have found the petition and sent me a long email! They have also joined mumsnet to comment on the thread there.

What have they said about it?

It is mostly the same as their big noticeboard in the store which explains how they are trying to tick all the boxes on animal welfare and selling puppies. I have just replied to them saying that we are opposed to any shop selling puppies and asking them to set an example. I have also asked them to clarify a few points including what is no under/interbreeding!

The reply from Harrods! I am so glad that they have answered my questions!

You raise a number of further questions. To answer

1. All crossbreeds provide us with a Pedigree certificate, in addition to the Pedigree breeds authentication we sell.

2. We have already made clear that we ensure Kennel Club registration for all our puppies.

3. Under or inter-breeding is when litters are born and the parents are related.

I trust that this answers your queries. We have been entirely transparent in assuring you that the puppies we sell are extremely well cared-for. Customers have been enjoying purchasing puppies here for many generations.

Your email makes clear that you do not believe any store should be selling puppies under any circumstances. Regrettably, in that case, while you are entitled to your opinion, there is no benefit to further correspondence.

.

They really have given some very odd answers in very oddly written english. 

All the breeders that have supplied Harrods or any other pet shop with puppies registered with the Kennel Club have broken the KC code of ethics as when registering litters of puppies with the KC the breeder agrees to abide by their code of ethics to not sell puppies to wholesalers and dealers.  Why is the KC not questioning the breeders who are supplying pet shops and refusing to accept to register their litters puppies. 

what does number one mean ? if crossbreed how can pup also be a pedigree ? how can they kc register crossbreeds ? confused of croydon !

> 1. All crossbreeds provide us with a Pedigree certificate, in addition to the Pedigree breeds authentication we sell.
>

eh?, that's just garbled nonsense.

> 3. Under or inter-breeding is when litters are born and the parents are related.

So they only sell complete outcrosses then?

I'm also very confused, from the south east...

> if crossbreed how can pup also be a pedigree ?

A pedigree is a written account of the parentage; nothing more than a list of the names of the animal's ancestors. It's nowadays usually taken to mean a purebred pedigree, but that's not technically the case.

I have checked with the KC and they only take action if their Rules and Regs are broken as well as the Code of Ethics. I will write back to Harrods as their reply is so ridiculous. How they can say in one answer about selling crossbreeds and in another one that all their puppies are KC registered! If this information was written properly on their information board which is also just garbled nonsense then Trading Standards would be interested.

good on you Mandy. Its no wonder people are prepared to buy form them given that they use key wors that the general puplic will pick up on (kc , pedigree etc) and assume (bad idea to assume) that it  means that all is well and they are buying animals form a reputable source that are well bred form suitable well looked after parents. Incidently do harrods still sell a wild variety of animals including exotics I know at one time they would just about sell any type of animal.

Well after reading this thread I decided to have a look in Harrods today as I don't really live very far away and OMG the puppies are expensive £1700 for a toy poodle with 3 gen pedigree.

I must admit was a little surprised at how they were shown/ kept I dunno what I thought I was going to see but didn't expect to see the pups in glass kinda zoo type displays with hundreds of people milling past. They thankfully didn't have as many as I thought they were going to and the public couldn't pick them up or get to them plus the dogs did look clean, but I agree not the best place to buy a pup.

However I did enjoy looking at the bits and bobs you can buy your dogs the coats were so silly, and they have an indoor dog spa and saloon again open to public view. I also had a gander at their puppy sign and its very basic with info that could be slightly miss leading.

They don't sell exotics anymore or at least I didn't see any there were a few small glass pens after the puppies dunno what was in them though probably hamsters or such.

> Why is the KC not questioning the breeders who are supplying pet shops and refusing to accept to register their litters puppies. 

The kennel club have no way of knowing, they register a litter, and then if a new owner wishes the registration is transfered.  I have found only about half of my owners transfer pups into their names (the Kennel club think I own over 30 digs!!!). 

You can bet that no pet shop, Herrod s etc transfer the puppies into their names pending sale, so as far as the KC is concerned the breeder sold pup to Mr Smith, they don't know that there was a middle man.

When they are provided proof that a puppy was sold through a dealer/pet shop they have stopped the breeders registration privileges as they have done this in our breed, and I believe it is one of the reason a certain 'Pet puppy registration' came about invented by the former owner of a large puppy super market.

It may just be coincidence that when we had reported people supplying them with our breed they refused future registration, and so they needed some form of paperwork to take in the punters.

It would be great triona if you could also get to the protest on Sat 4th.

We have more publicity on the net now as it is on Dogcast Radio, Cold Wet Nose Blog and also on K9Magazine. Harrods have commented on the K9 page and they haven't even corrected their info after I kindly advised them! I have written a reply which is awaiting moderation. I will post it here in case anyone else wants to comment.

http://www.dogmagazine.net/archives/6387/angry-dog-lovers-target-world-famous-department-store/

No responsible, ethical, caring breeder would sell their puppies to a pet shop. They would not put their puppies through the stress involved and they would want to check the new owners themselves. They would also offer lifetime back up for the dog. Responsible puppy buyers who had done their research would not buy from a pet shop.

how do I get to see it, I get a pop up for a free magazine and can't see how to get rid of it?

http://www.harrodssourcing.com/portal/supplier_pre_qualification_intro_harrods.cfm

Interesting so how do the puppies get to shop then as according to Harrods condsitions of being a supplier look at the last section and it states they cannot become a supplier unless :

Can't imagine mant breeders would get even a few of these requirements :-)

Minimum Requirements for All suppliers

Financial stability (you may be asked to provide audited financial statements)
Proven history of successful projects
Understanding of Harrods Ltd's business and practices
Ability to provide high-quality, cost competitive products and services
Acting in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations, in addition to maintaining the highest standards of business ethics.
Registration Checklist

Please prepare the following documentation before you proceed to register. You will not be able to continue without this information:
Basic company information
VAT registration number
Company registration number
Basic contacts information
Annual Sales for the past three years
Please note: Registering with Harrods Ltd. will not automatically guarantee your company a business opportunity, however, if after reviewing your information, your company meet our criteria, it will be forwarded to the appropriate buyer, who will respond to you accordingly if a match or need arises. Please be assured that any information you provided will be kept strictly confidential, and used only by Harrods Ltd.

> Please prepare the following documentation before you proceed to register. You will not be able to continue without this information:
> Basic company information
> VAT registration number
> Company registration number
> Basic contacts information
> Annual Sales for the past three years

Jeez, breeders who have all this are a complete no no imo for the purpose of breeding and selling dogs..

Hi Mandy,

Fully support your cause!!  I have signed the petition and went onto the facebook page and wondered if there was a 'like' option as I cannot 'attend' due to my locality. K

There should be a black X in the top right hand corner of the ad that closes it.

Thanks for posting the info about Harrods suppliers as that makes very interesting reading. Maybe it is like all their puppies being KC registered apart from the exceptions!

You can comment on the Facebook event page and I think that there are probably more comments from people who can't make it rather than people who can. You can of course share the page and even invite all of your friends as that would spread it right across Facebook.

Thank you to everyone for their support.

I don't know if the Harrods suppliers criteria applies to the pups - I got a email form them about a year ago saying they were looking for breeders of both my breeds, and asking if I would be willing to supply them - no mention of supplier criteria to be met.  Of course I answered "NO", and added a list of why pups should never be sold in this way.  I suggested it would be great PR for Harrods ongoing pet business if they led the way in stopping selling puppies and kittens but never received a reply.

Then it should have a clause sayijng that certain suppliers should not fall under this criteria and explain why as to people looking at this it gives the impression that they only accept suppliers that fall under that criteria.

There could of course be a thrid party that procures the pups and then sells onto Harrods :-)

As it happens I know a bit about how they get puppies and kittens and small furry animals (and no, there is no third party and no, the rules mentioned do not apply to animal breeders) as I know somebody who works there and I visited behind the scenes last year -they have very strict criteria both for their breeders and for their buyers and simply cannot be classified as a normal pet shop as it's not just miles apart, but light years apart. Efforts would be better directed towards normal pet shops that buy pups from puppy farms, don't care about the health of the pups, health testing of the parents and who they sell to. Ideally all puppies should be sold straight from good breeders, but until that day comes I'd rather see puppy farms and normal pet shops selling puppies stopped, as Harrods is many steps up from even a back yard breeder.

So then name and shame them as the Harrods quality is definately in question then.

Sorry don't get your post at all -name and shame who? Why is Harrods quality in question?

Harrods should be very transparent with their the 'supplier criteria' if it is different in any of their 'goods'.they should be made to justify this. If they advertise on their corporate website then it is a very valid question considering the extorinate prices the sell things at ! :-)

I've not looked at the website but it kind of goes without saying that animal breeders have to have different criteria. It's things like only accepting KC registered pups unless crossbreeds, parents hip scored where relevant for the breed etc. That wouldn't suit a supplier of say pianos. :D

Yes so they need to have a corporate website section detailing this. They are a premium retail company and so you pay the premium price so they should justify it :-)

The breeders who sell to Harrods are still breaking the Kennel Club Code of Ethics. We do target the small pet shops as well and there are monthly protests at Dogs4Us at Leeds with the next one this Sunday 28th. These protests though do not generate the publicity that a campaign against a high profile store like Harrods is getting. It is now all over the net and hopefully will also be in the press and on TV. I have just joined Cosmopolitan to comment on the thread on there! Harrods have also found and commented on the Cold Wet Nose Blog.
Harrods say that they care about animal welfare so they should set an example and stop selling puppies.

In 2005 this was a supplier to Harrods, they did not make very thorough checks at this time to the suitablity of the breeder/puppy farmer.  This breeder within weeks was given a licence by Ceredigion Council to continue trading as dog breeder from the same premises he was not prosecuted for unlicensed dog breeding).  Like all pet shops they have very little choice but to purchase puppies from premises that most of us would refer to as undesirable as ethical breeders do not sell to pet shops even gold plated ones.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4133278.stm

The terminology used by Harrods in respect of their advertisements as being misleading needs to be challenged through their local Trading Standards office. 

I totally disagree with Harrods selling puppies and wish you the best with your protest.

On a lighter note:

> No responsible, ethical, caring breeder would sell their puppies to a pet shop. They would not put their puppies through the stress involved and they would want to check the new owners themselves.

Hmmmm I don't think my young boy Asbo would find living in a shop window stressful lol he'd love all them people looking at him, he'd try to break out just to kiss them all! lol :) That would be Asbo's perfect life - "ATTENTION ATTENTION GIVE ME ALL THE ATTENTION" lol

Just updating the forums as it is this coming Saturday! I have searched the net and the Harrods protest is all over it and not just on dog sites. There is lots of support out there and hopefully it will be a big turnout. Thank you to everyone who has crossposted it and it would be great if you could go there again and remind people as it has probably slipped down on those forums as well. I joined a few recently and added it on those.
It would be great if people coming from here could bring signs if possible, suitable wording ideas are below so nothing saying that Harrods sells sick or puppy farm puppies.

Stop selling puppies
Ban pet shop puppies
Put welfare before profit
Puppies are not commodities
No decent breeder sells to a shop
Where do these puppies come from?
Ban puppy farming

We are still going for press and TV coverage and I will be contacting them again this week. Apart from that I have everything crossed for not too much snow! Thanks again for all the support on here.

It is in the Kensington & Chelsea Chronicle online. There is a bit too much from Harrods for my liking but the informed comments are coming if anyone would like to add to them.

http://kensington.londoninformer.co.uk/2010/12/dog-lovers-plan-protest-over-s.html#comments

I have added my view :-)

I have added my comment too

Thanks a lot. It is looking better now!

Im just hoping htat ir doesnt get violent, esp with all the student demonstrations recently.

We certainly don't want that and the police have been informed so they will be keeping an eye on it. I hope that it will be dog lovers there rather than people out to cause trouble.

Hello,
I haven't seen the Mail today but will have a look later thanks. The Mail is normally good on dog articles and I have no control over who prints what anyway...
Regards,
Ali

It was a good day although I was disappointed that only a dozen of us turned up. I would love to know how many would have come without the snow. I could only get a train two thirds of the way home so it was lucky that I had gone a different way in the morning or else I wouldn't have got there! We handed out 200 Puppy Love leaflets and I wished that I had taken more. There was also a man there from Milton Keynes Animal Protection with lots of puppy farming leaflets from Four Paws so I must have a look at their site. He was going on to a protest at a Greyhound Stadium!

There will be a video including interviews with most of us and the handing over of the petition with nearly 2,000 signatures. I will keep the petition going and remind Harrods by email occasionally. Some of the posted petitions didn't reach me in time because of the snow so I will add these to the online one. I also handed in some of the best comments printed separately so maybe Harrods will read them. One of my favourites is:

Only ignorant fools sell to Harrods. Only ignorant fools buy pets from Harrods.

There was someone with a very cute Jack Russell that attracted people to us. I learnt a lot from organising this and from today and we will go there again with lots of big signs and lots more leaflets and not when it might snow!

Although I totally agree with you, on the demonstration, and  Harrods and other similar stores should not be selling puppies, as they are acting as a puppy farm outlet, I do not agree that one of the best comments on the petition could possibly have been:

Only ignorant fools sell to Harrods. Only ignorant fools buy pets from Harrods

I personally, do not think that would help the cause one iota!

There are so many very good comments on there, much too many to start copying on here although I did do 48 for Harrods! They can of course read the whole petiton if they want to. That one appeals to me and it might not be the most useful but it certainly gets straight to the point.