A boom in canine fertility clinics – our investigation

‘In over 30 years of investigations, I’ve never seen anything like it… it’s disgusting’

Those are the words of our undercover Animal Crime Investigator, who has seen every kind of animal cruelty imaginable.

So-called canine fertility clinics. That’s what’s caused our experienced investigator such revulsion.

Some of you may have noticed one spring up on a local high street corner recently. Many of you won’t have heard of them until now. Of course, breeding dogs is nothing new. With an estimated 11-13 million dogs in the UK, they all had to come from somewhere. But the mechanics of producing puppies is probably not something that has ever really crossed your mind.

However, a recent explosion in canine fertility clinics is making this sector more visible. And we’ve seen a noticeable increase in reports about such premises to our Animal Crime Hotline ever since.

Our investigation

Our Animal Crime Investigators started looking into canine fertility clinics in 2020. After reports kept flooding in, they conducted a six-week long investigation into the sector earlier this year. They uncovered over 130 clinics but believe there could now be as many as 400 across the UK.

What they discovered is deeply disturbing, including widespread evidence that:

People with no veterinary training or supervision are performing amateur veterinary procedures on dogs and puppies. This includes artificially inseminating females, taking blood, and performing diagnoses.
Veterinary medicines and other controlled substances are being used and supplied illegally.
The owners of flat-faced (aka brachycephalic) dogs are being targeted to breed puppies with increasingly extreme features.

Most concerning of all are the links between clinics and puppy farmers

It’s no coincidence that the growth in canine fertility clinics coincides with the boom in dog ownership since the start of the pandemic. A trend that puppy farmers have been all to happy to cash in on.

We know for a fact that puppy farmers are operating canine fertility clinics. And it makes us shudder that they’ve escalated their cruel exploitation of dogs by allowing untrained people to perform invasive veterinary procedures to further fuel the puppy trade.

What we’re doing

We’ve been working with enforcement agencies to report criminality and we’ve sent recommendations to Government around how to tackle our concerning findings. We will continue to campaign for these changes. Our Investigators also continue to investigate, even when others won’t.

But we also need your help

Demand for designer dogs is fuelling the growth of the puppy trade and other illicit businesses looking to cash in. It’s not just puppy farms we now need to worry about. The growth of canine fertility clinics – or puppy labs, as we call them – shows there is no line illegal puppy breeders are unwilling to cross in their pursuit of money.

The most effective thing you can do to help is to stop the demand for designer dogs. If you’re thinking of getting a new dog, please consider one of the many wonderful rescue dogs in shelters up and down the country.
If you’re absolutely sure you want a puppy, follow our advice to spot the signs of puppy farmers so you can be sure you’re getting your dog from an ethical source. Importantly, make sure you prioritise the health of your new dog over their looks.
Follow and support our campaign on our social media channels (Facebook, Instagram & Twitter) using the hashtags #FrankensteinPuppies and #PuppyLabs
Finally, we need you to be our eyes and ears. You can help by reporting concerns about Canine Fertility Clinics to the RSPCA (England & Wales), SSPCA (Scotland), USPCA (Northern Ireland) and to us by completing our online crime report form, found here.