hi,can anyone enlighten me on the 4 litters a year that you are alowed to register with the kennel club.does this run from jan-dec each year because someone said to me that it starts from your first litter when the ruling came into afect last year.

The Kennel Club doesn't actually have any rules as to how many litters a breeder can register in a year, but they do restrict their Puppy Sales List (where breeders can advertise their litters) to those who have "not registered more than 4 litters whelped over the preceding 12 months from the same address", with the 12 month period presumably meaning the 12 months prior to the current litter registration.

Jane

You may be thinking about 4 litters a year before you need a licence from the local council.
Ted

It is any 12 month period! So say your first and fifth litters were born 11months and 29 says apart you would be required to be licensed, even if the next year yopu didn't breed at all.

As already said these rules arepart of the Breeding and sale of dogs (welfare) Act. The law for registered breeders imposes various other requirements such as minimum period between litters, and a minimum age of sale of 8 weeks, proper record keeping etc.