Unfortunately irresponsible dog breeding aka “backyard breeding/backyard breeders (byb)” is far too common and creates dogs that suffer with genetic issues resulting in shortened lifespans and low quality of life. Badly bred dogs often suffer from severe allergies, blindness and deafness, brachycephalic syndrome, deformities including spinal and other skeletal deformities or often die minutes after birth. Dogs are overbred and have puppies too young or too old which can cause death to the mothers and the puppies. Mother dogs are chained in yards only to be used for breeding, all for the money made from the pups. Irresponsible breeding is the main cause of the increased number of dogs in shelters. When breeding two random dogs, often different breeds or both mutts, the parents are rarely health checked, passing on health problems, often bad temperaments and ultimately the dog ending up euthanised at the pound.

A breeders license should become a requirement to breed dogs for any reason, it should be required the same way as a wildlife license and legally require the breeding dogs to have annual health checks and require the owners to register all litters they have plus details. License holders should take a course in dog breeding and be taught all of the risks and responsibilities involved and pass the course before the license application is accepted.

A breeders license is a step in the right direction to keep man’s best friend healthy.