26.05.26
A new report by Naturewatch Foundation and the Legal Advisory Group on Extreme Conformation in Dogs (LAGECDogs), alongside the UK Centre for Animal Law (A-LAW), raises important questions about whether existing dog breeding laws are being used effectively to protect dogs and puppies from extreme and harmful breeding.
The report examines how local authorities across England and Scotland are enforcing existing legal rules designed to prevent breeding from dogs whose physical characteristics, health conditions or behaviour could cause suffering to themselves or their puppies.
What does the law say?
Licensing rules for commercial dog breeders in England state, “No dog may be kept for breeding if it can reasonably be expected, on the basis of its genotype, phenotype or state of health that breeding from it could have a detrimental effect on its health or welfare or the health or welfare of its offspring.” A similar rule exists in Scotland.
These rules were introduced to help tackle harmful breeding practices linked to inherited diseases and extreme conformations, such as very short muzzles, excessive skin folds and other exaggerated features that can severely affect dogs’ quality of life.
New findings
Using Freedom of Information requests sent to 326 local authorities, the research found that while around 2,390 licensed dog breeders were operating across England and Scotland in 2025, recorded findings of non-compliance with these welfare protections were surprisingly rare. This is despite the enduring popularity of dogs with extreme physical characteristics.
In England, only 31 cases of non-compliance were reported between 2018 and 2025, leading to 17 licence refusals, six variations, two suspensions and two prosecutions. In Scotland, no cases of non-compliance were reported at all.
Inconsistency across councils
The findings suggest significant variation in how local authorities assess compliance and apply the law. While some councils described encouragingly comprehensive assessments involving veterinary expertise, checking health testing records, interacting with dogs at the premises and other checks, others provided only broad descriptions or no clear explanation of how compliance is assessed.
The report warns that welfare concerns may be going unidentified or unrecorded, particularly as the response to non-compliance in some cases is to simply exclude dogs of concern from breeding licences, rather than formally recognising this as a breach of the regulations.
What could help?
To improve protection for dogs and puppies, the report recommends:
- Clearer guidance aimed at breeders and inspectors about these rules
- Emphasis on licensing officers making holistic assessments of compliance with these rules, based on a range of sources of information available to them, during inspections
- Improved training for licensing officers
- Clearer roles for veterinarians during inspections, and
- Further research into how local authorities are making welfare assessments.
This research highlights the importance of ensuring that animal welfare laws are not only well written, but also properly understood and consistently enforced. By improving how these rules are applied, we can reduce avoidable suffering and promote healthier futures for dogs across the UK.
The report has been sent to the English and Scottish Governments, local authorities and animal welfare and veterinary organisations to help inform efforts to improve dog breeding regulations and their enforcement, which is a key focus of Defra’s Animal Welfare Strategy for England.
The full report is available here. A short summary of the findings is available here.
Read more about our work to prevent low welfare and illegal dog breeding here.
