I am so mad...
My partner and I took the dog and baby to the beach on sunday afternoon for a stroll. As its 'summer season' (lol in this weather!) we are restricted to a small part of the beach right at the end. We walked down to the slip way to get onto the beach and sat on the slipway is a man with a rough collie and 4 very cute bundles of fluff. I immediately thought it was a bit odd as the pups looked too small to have had both innoculations but nothng could have prepared for me for what came next. Little one was slowly toddling past and i hear the man striking up conversation with anyone that walked past. Of course people were making the usual comments 'oh arent they sweet' 'they're so cute' etc to which he was replying 'do you want to buy one?'. I heard one couple say that their two dogs were enough for them and he simply replied ' well whats one more?go on, you know youd love another pup'. One woman with a terrier type dog stopped to make a fuss of the pups and the idiot man was saying the same to her. she said that collies weren't really her type of dog and he actually said 'well all pups are the same.they're so cute.have one' !!!
I so wanted him to strike up a conversation with me as i was ready to give him a mouthful. He had sat himself where he did so that every dog owner had to walk past him to exercise their dog then he was shamelessly attempting to sell the pups. I did see him give his number to a few people but whether they did that out of politeness or genuine interest i dont know. Even more startling was that he was trying to market them to people who blatently dont like collies simply because they were 'cute pups' with no regard to what happens to the cute pups in a few months tie when they grow into dogs that owners no longer want.
To say i am raging (still) is putting it mildly.the poor dogs

I'm afraid I would have had to say something. That is utterly disgraceful - basically harassing people in an attempt to  "get rid" of the puppies he is responsible for bringing into the world :-( 
I love Rough Collies. :-(

If you were that bothered by it, Why didn't you call the Police?

> If you were that bothered by it, Why didn't you call the Police?

And what would the police be able to do about it? Would of been pretty pointless calling them!

Poor pups with an uncertain future. Especially a shame with a high maintainence breed like a rough collie x! Still, I'd prefer that a few stumble across decent homes than that he drowned the whole lot.

>If you were that bothered by it, Why didn't you call the Police?

What law was the man breaking?

street selling without a licence ?

I genuinely didn't think people could just set up on a beach and try and sell anything at all, be it live animals or furniture, or whatever. That said, all the police could have done is moved the man on.

He'd probably have claimed he was giving them away ... :-(

A lot of people do take young dogs to beaches as they believe that any diseases get washed away by the tide.  Of course by the sounds of it this isn't what this person was doing, but it is not unusual for people to go to beaches with young pups.

> Why didn't you call the Police?

Dont be so ridiculous. I didnt and wouldnt ring the police as i wouldnt waste their time. He was commiting no crime. It wasnt like he had a stall and a sign saying 'puppies for sale'. To  look at he just appeared to be a man allowing his pups to have a run about, it was only when i was near him that i heard him speaking to people and pestering them to buy pups.

I did so want to say something to him but its not in my nature to start up a conversation purely to fall out about something, however,had he asked me if i was interested in buying a pup he would have felt the sharp end of my tongue !

Pet Animals Act 1951 makes it an offence to sell in a public place

Pets not to be sold in streets, &c.

If any person carries on a business of selling animals as pets in any part of a [F2street][F2road] or public place, [F3or] at a stall or barrow in a market, he shall be guilty of an offence.

And what would the police be able to do about it? Would of been pretty pointless calling them!

If it was off the road it would be the councils job, illegal trading without a licence + what the other post above said about trading animals, quite a  few council laws broken & I think that because of potential bad publicity for their 'holiday' resort they might well have acted.

>Dont be so ridiculous

Whats ridiculous about it??????

It's a CRIMINAL OFFENCE to sell puppies on the street and SO NOT A WASTE OF POLICE TIME.

But like most people you moan about it, but do nothing!!

> But like most people you moan about it, but do nothing

Can you honestly say that you report to the police EVERY time you see someone breaking the law ?

Although I agree that this is breaking the law and isn't desirable, but in a time of massive funding cuts to the police, I think that we have to draw the line somewhere. There was no evidence that the puppies were ill/mistreated and I would be very loathe to take up the very tightly-stretched time of police call centres etc and the police with something like this.

Actually where Animals are concerned Yes!

Did you not read the posts on the Hungarian Viszla puppies bodies found dumped in the reservoir because the Breeder couldn't sell them.

> Did you not read the posts on the Hungarian Viszla puppies bodies found dumped in the reservoir because the Breeder couldn't sell them

No - but I wouldn't link the two - there are other things happening in my life that are more important

> It's a CRIMINAL OFFENCE to sell puppies on the street and SO NOT A WASTE OF POLICE TIME.
>
>

And where was the evidence the police would need. There was none. It would be purely my word against his hence a complete waste of time!!!! It wasnt worthy of a 999 call so even if i did phone the police non emergency line it wouldnt have been dealt with for hours by which time he would have gone anyway.

What a terrible attitude. Surely you have a phone that can take videos?

I would report incidents like these using the Police non emergency number.  I wouldn't expect it to be top priority but sometimes information like this is used to establish a pattern of behaviour - and perhaps there have been other complaints to which yours may have added weight...

I know that we've debated issues like this before and asked ourselves questions, when should we ring the police, whose responsibility is it, are they breaking any laws etc.  If you see activity which worries you or is suspicious, and which you aren't sure should be reported, have a look at your local police website for crime prevention information or simply call 101 to ask them.   It's worth considering Neighbourhood Watch Schemes too as they operate in many residential areas.

In this instance you could also call your local authority dog warden and explain what you saw.  Again, they may not respond immediately, or at all, but they might add the location to their 'drive-by' routes or watch lists.

> Surely you have a phone that can take videos?

Yes i did but what would taking a video have proved? As i've already said he just looked like a man exercising his dog and puppies.

> What a terrible attitude

er, why??? I know we are all dog lovers here but do you honestly believe the police would A)Have responded or B)done anything about it ??!!

Thank you for some constructive feedback dogs-a-babe. However, i had no info such as name or address etc so not a huge amount to report or to be acted upon.

> However, i had no info such as name or address etc

But you'd already said

> I did see him give his number to a few people

Correct - he gave his number to a few people - not me though. As I've already said I didnt engage in conversation with him.

Was speaking to SIL this afternoon who is a police officer. She laughed when i asked if the police would act because he had committed an offence and said 'its doubtful you'd get anywhere in terms of a call out let alone prosecution' which confirms what i thought.

perhaps these were stolen - hence hi trying to seel to anyone that passed

You only need to mention that you *thought* he was carrying a shotgun too and the police would've been there like a flash lol

> Surely you have a phone that can take videos?

Some of us have phones that jsut phone, and maybe text LOL.

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">You only need to mention that you *thought* he was carrying a shotgun too and the police would've been there like a flash lol

I wouldnt tell lies to the police, especially when they have real crimes to attend to and would no doubt have to drop them to deal with a firearms incident. Very silly advise.

He did have the mother there so doubt they would be stolen.

Not replying to any particular poster. I know everyone means well and has the best interests of these puppies and any others in an equally unfortunate situation, however, I think it unfair to castigate poor old Fred's mum! She wasn't the 'guilty party' here!!

>You only need to mention that you *thought* he was carrying a shotgun too and the police would've been there like a flash lol

Yeah, if your a good liar and have no regard for the safety of anyone else. Lets all just lie to get the police there :S
And then YOU get arrested for wasting police time!!! And anyone who does that should be billed for the cost of having an ARV coming out just because you wanted to get police there (Around here the nearest ARV for the county is 25 miles away, and they would have to come high speed through a city to get here, oh and we dont have many to cover the whole of the county!!!!) So you risk having someone who NEEDS them waiting without the support you need,
That must be in the top of the most stupidist suggestions I have EVER read on here.

Freds mum, I would have done the same as you, seathe inside but not do anything, as there was nothing you could do xxx Just prey that he is not able to sell them and has learnt a very expensive lesson and wont be breeding again xx
Lea :)

Yes i did but what would taking a video have proved

It would have recorded his voice offering puppies for sale.

> I think it unfair to castigate poor old Fred's mum! She wasn't the 'guilty party' here!!

So do I bestdogs, so do I :-(

>If any person carries on a business of selling animals as pets in any part of a [F2street][F2road] or public place, [F3or] at a stall or barrow in a market, he shall be guilty of an offence.

Doesn't this only apply to those who are deemed as running a business, ie. those who would require a breeding/pet shop liscence?

"You only need to mention that you *thought* he was carrying a shotgun too and the police would've been there like a flash lol"

For goodness sake, it was said tongue in cheek hence the lol at the end!

Doesn't this only apply to those who are deemed as running a business, ie. those who would require a breeding/pet shop liscence?

I don't believe so, I've certainly seen a lot of RSPCA programs at markets where people selling animals from the back of a van were pulled up.
A friend was also personally involved in nabbing a puppy farmer who was selling puppies up and down the country from the back of his car.