At Crufts next week, the Kennel Club will be launching the Kennel Club ‘Accredited Breeder Scheme’.

The aim of the scheme is to encourage the breeding of healthy, well adjusted puppies, and it will, in turn, provide potential puppy buyers with the assurance that an Accredited Breeder has undertaken to follow good breeding practices as laid out in the scheme.

This initiative is something that the world of dogs has been waiting for and has been implemented to promote responsible breeders and to place puppies with better informed owners, ensuring that man’s best friend is given the best opportunity in life from the beginning. The Kennel Club hopes this innovative scheme will help promote the welfare of dogs by providing and developing a code of best practice to which all responsible breeders that register their dogs with the Kennel Club will aspire.

The scheme sets out a list of requirements that breeders must follow in order to be recognised. These include: that breeders adhere to Kennel Club policy regarding the maximum age of breeding bitches and number of litters bred from them. That they make use of health screening schemes, relevant to their breed for all breeding stock. They permanently identify breeding stock by DNA profiling, microchip or tattoo. They socialise the puppies, as well as providing written advice on socialisation, exercise, training and feeding and offer a ‘post-sales’ telephone advice service.

Said Caroline Kisko, Secretary to the Kennel Club; "With Kennel Club registrations continuing to increase, and with 20,000 results annually under the health schemes, the Kennel Club recognises the importance of introducing this scheme. We firmly believe that it will go some way to assisting in the breeding and sale of healthy, well adjusted puppies providing them and their owners with the best possible start in life."