| | |
A number of pieces of legislation cover the keeping a breeding establishment for dogs and a licence issued by the Local Authority is required to run such a business:
-Breeding of Dogs Act 1973
-Breeding of Dogs Act 1991
-Breeding and Sale of Dogs (Welfare) Act 1999
A breeding establishment for dogs is defined as "..any premises which carries on a business of breeding dogs for sale".
The licence must be applied for at the local authority in whise area the premises are situated. An application form can be obtained from our Licensing Office (see the main Licensing Office page for contact details).
Your application for a licence will need to consider whether planning permission is required for the proposed licensed activity. You should contact our Development Control Section to discuss whether permission will be needed. Your application for a licence will not be processed until the planning issue has been decided.
In deciding whether or not to grant a licence the local authority must have regard to the following matters:
-that the dogs will at all times be kept in accommodation suitable as respects construction, size of quarters, number of occupants, exercising facilities, temperature, lighting, ventilation and cleanliness;
-that the dogs will be adequately supplied with suitable food, drink and bedding material, adequately exercised, and visited at suitable intervals;
-that all reasonable precautions will be taken to prevent and control the spread among dogs of infectious or contagious diseases;
-that appropriate steps will be taken for the protection of the dogs in case of fire or other emergency;
-that all steps will be taken to secure that the dogs will be provided with suitable food, drink and bedding material and adequately exercised when being transported to or from breeding establishments.
-that bitches are not mated if they are less than one year old;
-that bitches do not give birth to more than six litters of puppies each;
-that bitches do not give birth to puppies before the end of the twelve months beginning with the day on which they last gave birth to puppies; and
-that accurate records in a form prescribed by regulations are kept at the premises and made available for inspection by authorised officers
Licences operate annually between 1st January and 31st December.
Licences can be applied for part way through the year and in such cases the licence will cover the rest of the year until 31st December.
Breeding establishments can only operate once in receipt of a valid licence,
On the death of a licence holder, licences pass to his/her personal representative for a period of 3 months from the day of his death and then expire.
On granting a licence the local authority must specify such conditions as appear necessary or expedient to achieve the objectives specified in the legislation.
Guidance and model conditions for dog breeding establishments have been issued jointly by the British Veterinary Association; the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and the Local Government Association.
You can download an application form here (Pdf document size 45 KB)
A form can alternatively be requested from our Licensing Office (see our main Licensing page for full contact details.
The current application fee that must accompany the application is currently (April 2008 to March 2009) £110.00 plus veterinary fees. Premises that are also associated with an animal boarding establishment pay a reduced fee of £35.00.
| How to complain | Copyright Information |
|
|
