Mandatory reporting of pet deaths by boarders, post-retirement care for breeding dogs among stricter licensing rules

• A revised set of licensing conditions for pet breeders and boarders will take effect in April 2022
• They come after two years of consultation with the public and industry
• In-breeding will be banned and breeding dogs must be retired after they turn six
• Pet boarders must also immediately report serious injuries or deaths within their facility to authorities 
• A month-long consultation on dog rehoming and adoption practices was launched on Oct 8 

 

SINGAPORE — Pet boarders and breeders will face stricter rules from April next year, after a two-year public consultation to revise licensing conditions.

With the changes, pet buyers will be allowed to view the parents of the puppies that they wish to buy and breeders must provide post-retirement care for breeding dogs.

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Pet boarders must also immediately report any serious injury or death within their facility to the Animal and Veterinary Service (AVS), a unit of the National Parks Board, and inform the pet owner. They must also keep records of these incidents.

Announcing the changes at a media briefing on Friday (Oct 8), Mr Tan Kiat How, Minister of State for National Development, said that the updated conditions would help raise standards in the pet breeding and boarding industry, and improve animal health and welfare standards.

“AVS will continue to work closely with the breeding and boarding businesses and help them to make the necessary adjustments, before the revised licensing conditions take effect in April 2022,” he said.

The new licensing regime will apply to 20 breeders and five boarders on farmland in Sungei Tengah and Lim Chu Kang as well as about 50 commercial boarders across the country.

PROPOSED CHANGES BACKED BY PUBLIC

AVS kicked off consultations with the public and industry players in August 2019 as part of its review of the pet sector.

In its most recent public consultation in July, it sought views on a list of proposed changes to licensing conditions for pet breeders and boarders.

These included barring breeders from in-breeding pets, such as having them breed with siblings, and requiring breeding dogs above six years old to be retired and sterilised within six months of their retirement.

The breeding of dogs with known harmful heritable conditions will also be banned. 

AVS said in a statement on Friday that the consultation attracted about 750 respondents, 85 per cent of whom were pet owners. 

The respondents were highly supportive of efforts to tighten the licensing rules for pet breeders and boarders, it said. 

FINALISED LICENSING CONDITIONS

In response to concerns and suggestions from the public, AVS said that it would include changes to the final list of licensing conditions.

Firstly, pet buyers will be allowed to view the parents of the puppies that they want to buy and must submit a written request to the breeding facility if they wish to do so.

Secondly, the breeding facility must continue caring for breeding dogs after their retirement or rehome them.

Several other changes that were proposed before the public consultation in July were also finalised.

These include limiting the frequency of breeding to no more than one litter yearly. 

Breeders must also carry out checks on their breeding pets and litters every day. 

If their pets suffer from breathing difficulties, severe vomiting, diarrhoea, bleeding or a sudden inability to walk, they must be brought to the attention of a veterinarian immediately.

As for pet boarders, the new licensing conditions require them to accept only vaccinated animals that have no transmissible diseases.

The licensing rules also specify the dimensions to hold various animals, so as to prevent overcrowding on the premises.

For instance, dogs housed individually must be kept in a space that is at least twice their length from the nose to the base of their tail. 

The width of the space should be one-and-a-half times the dog’s length, while the height of the space should give the dog enough headroom to stand upright on its hind legs.

AVS will also require staff members who oversee the day-to-day running of boarding premises and care of animals to undergo training, so that they are “suitably equipped to handle boarded animals”.

A boarding facility’s staff members must also immediately report to AVS any serious injury or death of an animal, maintain records of these incidents and inform the pet owner.

Breaches of the latest licensing rules after they take effect will result in enforcement action, which can range from warnings to court prosecution, said AVS.

The condition of pet breeding and boarding facilities was thrown into the spotlight in late 2018 after pet hotel Platinium Dogs Club came under fire for mistreating animals under its care.

In one instance, a Shetland sheepdog died under the care of the pet hotel’s operator Charlotte Liew. 

Liew, 33, led the sheepdog’s owner to believe that the animal had gone missing instead. She was jailed in August for two weeks, fined S$35,700 and banned from running any animal-related businesses for a year.

Member of Parliament Louis Ng, who has been calling for improved standards among pet boarding facilities, welcomed the new set of rules.

“We have worked on this for so long… We will soon have much, much better animal welfare standards at pet breeders and boarders,” said the MP for Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency in a post on social network Instagram. 

He also urged the public to participate in a consultation process with AVS on dog rehoming, adoption and training-related issues, which began on Friday.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON DOG REHOMING, ADOPTION PRACTICES

As part of its review of the pet sector, AVS will also carry out a month-long public consultation on dog rehoming and adoption practices from Friday to Nov 8.

The consultation will cover a range of topics on dog rehoming and adoption, and training-related issues. These include the adoption process, managing dogs with behavioural issues and raising the standards of the dog training industry.

The consultation will be done online.

The feedback will be incorporated into guidelines on dog rehoming and adoption practices, which are expected to be ready by the year’s end.