The Irish Blue Cross welcomes new Dog Breeding Establishment Guidelines introduced by Sean Kyne, TD & Minister at the Department of Rural & Community Development (DRCD)

10/07/2018

The Irish Blue Cross welcomes the newly updated Dog Breeding Establishment Guidelines which ought to greatly improve the status quo in the dog breeding sector, from January 2019.   The clearer and extended set of guidelines, which have taken significant time to bring to the fore, place emphasis on the socialisation of puppies, better kennelling with defined sizes and standards, inspections of DBE without prior notice and scope for the issue of improvement notices, all of which signifies a better future for dogs.

Although the Guidelines state there could be just one worker to 25 breeding bitches, there will be an opportunity for the DRCD to introduce a cap on the number of breeding bitches per establishment in an upcoming revision of primary legislation, the Dog Breeding Establishment Act 2010.   Revision of the Act would provide scope to redefine a DBE premises as a place where not less than 3 breeding bitches are kept, rather than 6 which is the current position.

The Irish Blue Cross always urges prospective dog owners to consider carefully the options when acquiring a new dog, and to not overlook the possibility of homing a recue dog rather than buy a dog.

The Irish Blue Cross provides eleven charitable veterinary clinics throughout Dublin, targeting resources at eligible clients who find private veterinary fees prohibitive.  In 2017, the charity provided 26,617 procedures through its ten weekly mobile veterinary clinics around Dublin, supported by the main Inchicore clinic, where all patient referrals are carried out by a skilled team of vets and nurses.

Photo: Michael Creed, Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine with Chris Conneely, CEO The Irish Blue Cross