Thousands of very young dogs across the UK are being exploited and abused for highly lucrative puppy socialisation events, which is of great concern amongst UK animal welfare organisations.

The craze for puppy socialisation events, such as puppy ‘therapy’, puppy yoga and other variously titled puppy parties is driven by advertising on social media.

There are no guidelines to protect the dog’s welfare at these events, and this exploitative, cruel industry is completely unregulated.

These activities may seem innocent fun and events such as ‘puppy therapy’ are sold as helping to socialise the pups before they go on to their forever homes.

This is not true.

An undercover investigation by ITV NEWS IN 2023 found that at many venues around the UK, the puppies were being

abused.

https://www.itv.com/news/2023-07-03/is-puppy-yoga-ethical-the-dark-side-of-a-growing-wellness-trend

In the UK it is illegal for puppies under eight weeks old to be removed from their mothers.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/animal-activities-licensing-guidance-for-local-authorities/dog-breeding-licensing-statutory-guidance-for-local-authorities#:~:text=1.5%20No%20puppy%20aged,with%20its%20biological%20mother

 

Despite this, dogs as young as six weeks old were kept in inappropriate environments, denied access to water to stop them urinating. The footage from ITV News showed the puppies being roughly handled and dropped. Then, when they were trying to sleep, the pups were constantly being picked up and woken up. 

At 8-12 weeks old puppies need between 18-20 hours sleep per day.

Sleep deprivation is a form of torture.

These puppies can be forced to endure up to 10 sessions per day, often with only a five-minute break between each session. Their day frequently starts at 6am and lasts for 11 hours.

One puppy 'therapy' company will use the same litter for a period of up to two weeks.

Putting any animal in a new environment is traumatic for them, especially if their emotional and physical needs are being ignored.

Whole litters of very young  puppies are suddenly removed from their mothers, driven to an unfamiliar venue, washed by strangers and placed in a pen.

In the pen, they will be forced to interact with yet more strangers. These sessions last for up to 45 minutes. 

These events are very distressing for such young animals who will never have been away from their mothers before or been in any strange environments.

After the money-making sessions, the litter will be returned to a very distressed mother, smelling of a myriad of unfamiliar scents, something which will only add to her already traumatised state.

No responsible  dog breeder would allow their puppies to be mistreated like this.

These events also promote the disastrous idea that dogs are disposable toys.

Animal rescue centers are overwhelmed with dogs that have been bought on a whim, and then either put into rescue or dumped. There is an epidemic of dog dumping in th UK.

The link below to the new podcast will give you more information about the rent-a-litter industry.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6OfB8a1HQlpSroa0GGTC9w?si=8gR77KANS6m50Vlc-0MIUg&t=44 
 

Existing UK Pet Welfare and Abuse laws regarding animals used for entertainment events, are broad and outdated.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee published its Second Report of Session 2023-24. PET Welfare and Abuse (HC161) on 11 December 2024.

RECOMMENDATION 5. There are significant welfare concerns over the ‘puppy yoga’ trend, which involves the use of underage and potentially unvaccinated puppies in a setting that may be highly detrimental to their health and wellbeing. The department concerns could most effectively be addressed-for example through introducing stronger regulations or introducing  an outright ban of this practice.

The Dogs Trust.

A spokesperson for the Dogs Trust said "We do not believe that existing licensing of puppy yoga providers would be sufficient to protect the dogs involved. Puppy yoga poses a direct risk to the health and welfare of the puppies, with the risk of disease and potentially causing long-term behaviour issues, Government should take steps to prohibit this practise."

Battersea Dogs Home has put forward its view :

“We are deeply concerned by the ongoing popularity of 'puppy yoga’ and the impact it has on the welfare of the very young dogs involved. On the surface these increasingly popular events may seem like harmless fun. But the reality can be much more serious.

 Placing any animal in a new environment can be incredibly stressful, particularly if their wellbeing is not being prioritised and their needs are not being properly met. While we appreciate that socialising is an important part of a puppy’s development, forcing them to interact with large numbers of unknown people could have a negative effect on their behaviour around humans in the future.”

The Environment, Food and rural Affairs committee is already considering an outright ban for Commercial puppy-human socialisation events.

In view of this: I am calling for all commercial puppy themed socialisation events  to be banned.

As some of these commercial puppy exploitation events are sold as ‘puppy therapy’, so they should be included in the ban.

Puppy yoga is already banned in Italy, and the Netherlands is in the process of banning puppy themed events. 

So what can you do now to stop this cruelty and put the UK ahead of the pack too?

Sign the petition. Change the law. Stop the abuse.