In April 2010 I contacted a Licensing Officer in connection with the overbreeding of a licensed breeder, mainly because having seen one of the Golden Retriever puppies at training class and seeing how frightened this pup was and what a challenging time the new owner had had with him I could not help but get on my high horse about the breeder so checked the breed supplements and realised that this breeder with 'into' many different gundog breeds plus the normal doodle crosses. I might also add that when the new owner got the pup home he was 48 hours before he went for a wee as he was so traumatised having not had any socialisation. The breeder was 'of course' breaching her licence conditions by breeding from bitches under a 12 month period of their last litter. I contacted the breeders local Licensing Officer and ( I felt ) she couldn't give a toss but had to take my complaint seriously as I pushed hard and offered her copies of the breed supplements as hard evidence. Since then I have had to push and push for her to answer me, she never voluntarily contacts me and so far nothing has happened. I last made contact in March of this year asking what was being done to be told that she was going to be visiting the premises end of April, early May. Bearing in mind this is now nearly 14 months since my original complaint. Today, I have had enough, I have just fired an e-mail off to her stating that although I hope that they found the dogs in good conditions that that really wasn't my original complaint and that as I have provided her with concrete evidence that the breeder has breached her licence conditions that I am very concerned that nothing has happened to help the bitches who are being overbred from.  Is it just me, or am I being too cynical in that I believe that this Licensing Officer is quite happy for this breeder to break the law. I am livid and have now given a veiled threat that I think it is time for me to escalate my complaint to a higher body. Not so veiled though as I am quite prepared to take this to the top. These people are more than likely taking a decent wage and are not fulfilling their roles and following the guidelines as set out by the law of the land. Rant over, but only for now.

I hope you get somewhere. Good for you for being persistent :-)

I would take this further - ask to speak to a senior Licensing Officer and say nothing appears to have been done about your complaint and you want to know why.

Good Luck - we've got to keep reporting these people to protect the poor puppy purchasing public - but on the other hand they shouldn't buy the first puppies they see and wait until the right one comes along.

This is my constant complaint, when people want t have new tighter rules and licensing for nearly all breeders.

None of it will do any good unless there is enforcement, and there seems not to be the will or the resources to enforce pretty adequate laws that already exist, that if enforce properly would pretty much end puppy farming, especially if amendments were introduced requiring documented proper staffing levels for the number fo bitches and litters.

I have spend the last five moths looking after two overlapping litters, and it's pretty much full on, or at least equal to a part time job.

Campaigners really need to push for the laws to be enforced.

Good luck and good on you!!!!!

Well done you, takes other dog lovers to sort these people out.
Who knows why the licensing officer is not taking this as seriously as they should.
If it were me and you have come this far, I would request details of their boss and copy them the letter asking to know the progress of how your complaint is being dealt with. I would also point out to the boss that in the current climate this may be of interest to the media, should there be a tragedy ( and I hope there isn't) from one of these poorly bred, under socialised dogs you will have evisdence which you could share with the media to show that you had forewarned the council of a bad situation being allowed to continue. 

Good for you, keep pursuing it and let us know how you get on.

I would not have been so patient and would have expected a result within 3 months, the mind boggles as to how many litters have been produced in the time since you first complained.

I think you need to go over her head to someone more senior.

I have received an e-mail back from the Licensing Officer to say that the licence is up for renewal and that she and her Manager are going out to check the records but that she has many more to oversee!!!!
She says she has not been able to come up with any more cases of overbreeding but that I can let her know more info if I have it. Well, yes, I do know of at least one more litter born of Goldens, don't know about all the crosses and other gundog breeds that she has there, but what really now is making me even more concerned is that given that the renewal is due in say June. I contacted her originally in April 2010 with concrete evidence and yet she has still permitted the licence to be renewed in 2010 (June)?. I am really wondering why this Licensing Officer does not seem to want to do her duty. I will reply with the other evidence I have but I do intend to find out who her governing body is first as I will be sending them all the info I have to date. Something very fishy here!?

Somebody knows somebody maybe, ...I would definately now move the complaint elsewhere and copy in the Chief Exec or Chairman depending on your council, the RSPCA and any other bodies,..create fear of embarrassment and shame...sorry but its the only way to move it along now...a ridiculous amount of time has been allowed and nothing has been done to sort this out and you are being treated as stupid...when you have complained about something serious to a gov body and not enoughs done then you have every right to act further..been there and done that but with elderly humans and of course copied in other relevant agencies rather than RSPCA! The poor bitches and pups need your voice just as the elderly people in my situation needed mine...they didnt have one they could voice freely. Good luck and well done...we need more people who are willing to stand up and act rather than assume someone else will.

Licensing are useless!
I have had my licence for 3 years I am number BR24 my friends got hers last week (3 years later) and she is number BR25!! That means there has been 2 people licenced in our districe in over 3 years yet I could name a zillion people who breed!
However getting a licence isnt really that difficult. There is a massive puppy farm not too far from us and they should have their licence revoked.
They also tell you when they are visiting - anyone can plan for that or even hide a few dogs.
I have nothing to worry about but some idiot reported me last year and I had an unexpected visit. I had been reported for selling 4 week old pups. THIS IS RUBBISH! After much investigation someone had read 2 of my adverts for different litters put them together and got it all wrong!!
Licencing was more than happy with what they found here and I showed them all of my contracts etc and they left happy.
Keep on at them and good luck. But I think us breeders are just an annual fee that the council receive and it makes them look good - that they have a few licenced breeders so are irradicating puppy farms in their district. That is what it seems like here anyway!

> Golden Retriever puppies at training class and seeing how frightened this pup was and what a challenging time the new owner had had with him

i wouldn't mind finding out where these are coming from too as we have had 2 or 3 come to our club exactly like this :(

Have PM'd you.

That means there has been 2 people licenced in our districe in over 3 years yet I could name a zillion people who breed!

But do they all breed more than 4 litters per year? I dare say most of us who breed would never want a license as it instantly lumps you together with the puppy farmers and many buyers will actively avoid anyone who breeds as much as to need a license.(I would myself if I was looking for a pup.) I certainly would never need one as I'd never breed that much.

> I have nothing to worry about but some idiot reported me last year and I had an unexpected visit.

So they do call without telling you.  I find that very encouraging.

It makes you scream at times when people get away with these things. Different tack I know but OH being a builder has to comply with planning/building regs etc... yet the amount of times we see other builds with things that he knows do not comply but the council/governing body is not interested in anything but the yearly fee....
I would never believe that just because someone had a breeders licence it made then a good breeder. I am sorry if I offend anyone but proper good breeders are those who breed for betterment of the breed, they health test, show/work and have the breeds improvement in mind. There is no other reason to produce a litter of pups. Money just does not come into it. The best breeders don't normally need licences as they breed on a very small scale. It is beyonde my imagination to understand how anyone can cope with more than at most 2 litters at a time. For me when I have pups it is a 24/7 job to make sure they get everything they need including socialisation/handling/feeding/cleaning etc...and I go to work to help out with the costs!!
I hope you can get something done about it but I expect like everything else the licencing body are only interested in the fees...
But I hope you can prove me wrong.
As soon as someone starts to breed for an income and money becomes so important...well they fall off the good breeder scale..
Aileen

I have been on to another Council who were fantastic with a complaint I made a couple of years ago. Brilliant, they have given me all the info and contact numbers I need to complain about the Licensing Officer. Gives you faith that they aren't all the same.

That's so reassuring - I really hope someone now kicks a... and things start moving quickly - although as an ex Local Authority employee it's doubtful.