From Marc the vet - it's lengthy but worth the read. I'm very disappointed and disillusioned with the charities mentioned. Today was a sad day for dogs & dog-lovers which is why I've taken a while to respond to all the dog breeding & selling news, apologies for that. As I'm sure you already know by now, the Government (DEFRA) announced new 'tougher' dog breeding licensing rules to better protect thousands of puppies, but what was startling in its omission is that no mention was made of its advisory Select Committee recommendation to ban the third party sales of puppies - a ban that would help put a stop to third party sellers e.g. pet shops, selling sick puppies & misleading the public. A ban supported by PupAid, RSPCA, IFAW, CARIAD, Naturewatch, & vast majority of ethical animal welfare organisations, dog charities & politicians. A ban that would mean prospective dog owners would have to visit the breeder & see puppy interacting with its mum, or better still consider adopting from rescue. In a meeting at DEFRA on Tuesday I asked the Government to honestly reveal who actually persuaded them not to adopt this ban & they confirmed it was just Dogs Trust & Blue Cross, while Battersea Dogs & Cats Home remained neutral. Alarmingly, in lobbying the Government against a ban on puppies in pet shops & other third party sellers these organisations appear to have not only condemned thousands of puppy farm breeding dogs & their puppies to continued lives of suffering & neglect, but have failed to protect the public from the risk of purchasing puppies that are potentially extremely sick or suffer life-long behavioural problems. Even more shocking is that in 2014 these three organisations all supported my e-petition demanding Government ban puppies sold without their mums present i.e. pet shops & other third party sellers. So what's changed?? I am so disappointed in these charities' policy-makers (not their whole organisations as I know how dedicated their rescue shelter/veterinary staff are) as I've always been a big fan of all three, supporting them whenever & however I could (judging fun dog shows, spreading their messages, attending events, etc); but they've all ignored animal welfare science & enormous amounts of evidence presented to them to effectively persuade Government to keep puppies in pet shops. Therefore to make any progress in the fight against puppy farming it stands to reason that unless these charities are prepared to return to their previous positions, i.e. support a ban on the sale of puppies in pet shops & third parties, tragically there can & will be no realistic end to puppy farming in the UK; as the chain from hidden puppy farm via dealer network to pet shop/third party seller will always be enabled & remain totally legal. There's now even a petition begging them to change their stance, so please sign & share thanks guys: