If you had the power to change two things in the 'world of dogs', what would it be and why? :)

Ban puppy farming
Make health testing for ALL dogs Pedigree or crosses compulsory.

I'd want some sort of license for anyone to be allowed to breed -and I do not mean a council license, I mean proof you are actively involved in dogs, breeding for the good of a breed or if crosses for proper working purposes such as guide dogs or police dogs etc. Second thing I'd want no pups to be allowed to be KC registered unless parents had the relevant health tests, with a good enough result. (As in some other countries.)

The Kennel Club opened up to be a true democratic governing body rather than a dictatorship. Run for the benefit of ALL dog people not just for the 'Old boys'.

That 'NewLook" KC taking the world health tested pedigree dogs .....up and out of the mire of Oodles and mass produced profit driven 'others'.

Stop financially penalising good breeders (increase in fees for the ABS). This should be awarded due to the extra efforts put - incentivise and reward and publicise !!!

Penalise the websites who are supposedly promoting healthy and ethical dog breeding but in my year long browsing of them do anything but.......

Stop financially penalising good breeders (increase in fees for the ABS). This should be awarded due to the extra efforts put - incentivise and reward and publicise !!!

Just in case you haven't seen it, the news this week is the KC is increasing registration fees for non ABS and lowering them for ABs.

Yep by just a £1 in each direction.

As they have put up registration fees by £3 over last couple of years could they not make a reduction back to £12 for ABS breeders.

A £3 differential between ABS and non ABS registration on an average litter for those breeding once a year would work out around £18 saving for the ABS member, going some way toward reducing the impact of the increase in ABS fees for this year.

As it is the proposal would only refund the ABS breeder £2 per pup, but increased ABS fees for this year of £20, and eventually rising to be £60 a year..

If its only a pound each way, that would be on average a rise of a whole £6 per year for me!

Not really a financial incentive to stay in the scheme.....especially as at the end of the increases membership will cost £60 per year.

Two things I'd change in the dog world are:

1. You're only a good breeder if you show or work your dogs.

2. The fashion of owning dogs with silly made up names and thinking they are anything other than mongrels.

I hadn't seen the fee reduction from the KC. It seems to me that since i started seriously looking for a pup that those who want to do the best by the dogs and breed comply with all the KC recommendations then have to pay for doing so! I am only speaking as a buyer and I am sure it is much more complex than that. I can't even begin to imagine what it is like for all of you who continue to do this despite all of these demands. I salute you!

Not sure why anyone is quibbling over a few pounds per registration in the grand scheme of things this is pittance!!

For me the changes would be that the KC won't register any litter where the parents haven't been health tested, not sure how this would work for those breeds which don't have recommendations. But the majority do.

That they ban dogs being sold online in these free ad's and similar, make only certain general websites allowed and like this one certain health tests have to be adhered to before they can be advertised!

1. Make it compulsary for breeders to be honest about their lines and if they carry any inherited genetic problems.

2. Breeding for looks alone to the detriment of everything else in the breed.

1. Make it compulsary for breeders to be honest about their lines and if they carry any inherited genetic problems.

Good thought but unworkable -people could just simply say they did not know and it would be very hard to prove anything else.

Why does being in the ABS make you a better breeder?  I think I have been a decent breeder in the past but I have no desire to join it.

My two things would be compulsory neutering of all mongrels, crossbreeds and anything pet pedigree and all puppies to be microchipped by their breeders before they were sold.   And I would ban all these Noodle Doodle oodle things.

>all puppies to be microchipped by their breeders before they were sold

That becomes law in 2016 in England (2015) in Wales).

Why does being in the ABS make you a better breeder?  I think I have been a decent breeder in the past but I have no desire to join it.

I don't think anyone is saying that. But at least the KC is TRYING to create a way to help the novice puppy buyers out there to find good breeders. They are trying, but all they seem to get for it is criticism. Would it have been so much better if they had done nothing?

>Would it have been so much better if they had done nothing?

To be truthful, I don't think the quality of dogs being bred has increased since it arrived.  There's still plenty of decent breeders and equally as many bad.

I don't think it's aimed at improving the quality of the dogs, it's designed to improve the rearing standards.

1. Stop puppy farms.
2. Make compulsory teaching of puppies for new families with dogs so that they know what they are letting themselves in for.

> 2. Make compulsory teaching of puppies for new families with dogs so that they know what they are letting themselves in for.

Not a bad idea.
Pre-Puppy Classes, where first-time owners are taught where to look for a good dog if they haven't already found one, dog law & responsibilities, common misconceptions, basic housetraining etc.

One point only really and that is to educate the general public that they must look only for well bred pure bred dogs and not be swayed by fashion or fad.

It is the general public that buy the 'general' dogs, they need to be taught that they can buy better.

> It is the general public that buy the 'general' dogs, they need to be taught that they can buy better.

Believe me, that is a harder task than you think. Most people don't even know what "better" is.

Most of those people think a BYB litter from two pets in the same house is ideal, especially if they are being mauled all day by kids.

1. KC to register puppies from Health Tested and Crufts qualified parents only.
2. Ban Pet Insurance so vet prices would become affordable again.

So a puppy from the ISDS supreme International Champion who is fully health tested out of an ISDS bitch(or by an ISDS dog)that is also fully health tested couldn't be KC registered because it parents weren't Crufts Qualified ??

Not many KC only registered BCs could win an open trial let alone the Nationals or International, but they are better dogs that the winners-I don't think so

>1. KC to register puppies from Health Tested and Crufts qualified parents only.

So only people who are interested in showing should be allowed to breed? Remember, a dog's genes don't deteriorate if it isn't shown.

>2. Ban Pet Insurance so vet prices would become affordable again.

No, they won't. All it'll mean is that more animals are put to sleep because their owners can't afford the treatment.

> So only people who are interested in showing should be allowed to breed? Remember, a dog's genes don't deteriorate if it isn't shown.

Linking this great comment to the thread about BYB's

My point entirely!

For me the definition of a lousy breeder (forget the labels, BYB, Puppy farmer, ignorant oik etc) is the lack of responsibility for lives created.

If someone has done their best to produce typical, temperamentally sound and healthy (within the limits of research and using available health screening schemes), and then takes responsibility for the dogs bred lifelong, then they will not be criticised by me for breeding.

Even God forbid if they are commercial breeders (though I don't see how they could then make money).

Those who loose interest in the pups bred as soon as they have the cash in their pocket, and then when the pups end up in need of rescue are nowhere to be found, or full of excuses.

"Ban Pet Insurance so vet prices would become affordable again"

Its got nothing to do with the actual Pet Insurance, its the people/dog owners who are abusing it, like any other insurance, people make false claims for the slightest little thing - that's the problem - not the insurance product itself.  I've seen it first hand, for example, people who have a washing machine leak and start claiming 'right, left and centre' for complete new flooring, floor coverings, other damaged appliances etc.  Its a joke.  GREEDY people wanting something for nothing. 

I've paid pet insurance for 20 odd years and hardly ever claimed.  More fool me you might say.  My premiums go up quite a bit, but I take no chances with my pets.  Its there in case of big emergencies, not to claim every time I walk through the Vets door.

> Its got nothing to do with the actual Pet Insurance, its the people/dog owners who are abusing it, like any other insurance, people make false claims for the slightest little thing

I dont see how pet insurance can be abused in that way as all claims have to be made through a vet. What has put the price up is the   vast range of expensive treatments available now. Dogs are now treated as if they were human with Chemo for cancer, MRIs at the drop of a hat and all sorts of fancy surgery for joint problems that in past years would have been cured by rest and NSAIDS. Much as I love my dogs I would not subject them to many of these treatments even if they were insured as I dont think it is fair to the dog.                                                                                                                                                           

>> 2. Ban Pet Insurance so vet prices would become affordable again.
> No, they won't. All it'll mean is that more animals are put to sleep because their owners can't afford the treatment.

But the cost of treatment is getting out control because of the pet insurance.  The vets subject the pets to endless tests and treatments because they know the insurance company is paying not the owner. I really think we are going too far now trying to save every dog as if it were a human. A lot of the tests are pointless anyway. Doing an tests to diagnose untreatable conditions.