Modern Day Puppy Farming on the rise in our region, says Rutland charity

Modern Day Puppy Farming is on the rise across the East Midlands, according to a Rutland charity.

The practice sees breeders (or co-owners) offer people a free puppy to look after, which is then occasionally collected to mate with another dog once it's reached sexual maturity.

The breeders would then sell on the litter of puppies for profit, but leave the 'victims' looking after the original puppy to cover the costs themselves should it fall ill, or no longer be able to mate.

'The offer of a free puppy is usually too good to be true'

Natalie Martin, from RSPCA Woodside in Leicester and Rutland, says people don't realise what they're getting into:

'Normally they'll see an advert for a free puppy and we'll always say that that's too good to be true, so never respond to the advert for the free puppy - because you're going to end up getting involved in this scam.'

'It's difficult for police to track breeders, because they can have hundreds of dogs in hundreds of locations, and they can breed and sell on thousands of puppies effectively - and make thousands of pounds from them.'

Natalie added that Modern Day Puppy Farming is causing more people to call for help, while she's urging families wanting a new dog to consider existing rescues, rather than new-born puppies:

'All of our kennels are full, and it's like this up and down the country. All the rescues across the UK are like this at the moment. We're getting around 50 phone calls a day and a lot of them are people trying to give us their dogs.'

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