A new report just published echoes calls for urgent action to safeguard the welfare of pedigree dogs, and has been welcomed by the RSPCA.

A healthier future for pedigree dogs, the conclusions of an enquiry by the Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW), says that current breeding practices cause dogs 'significant health and welfare problems'. This supports the findings of an independent report commissioned by the RPSCA, Pedigree dog breeding in the UK: a major welfare concern?, and our view that exaggerated physical features and inherited diseases cause serious welfare problems for pedigree dogs. "This inquiry has come to the same conclusion as the RSPCA: pedigree dogs urgently need our help and the way they are bred must change," said RSPCA senior animal welfare scientist Claire Calder. "APGAW calls for an independent panel to be set up to help tackle this complex problem, an idea we would also support. The report lacks some detail about how the problems facing pedigree dogs can be solved, and doesn't recommend all the measures we believe are necessary; for example, we believe a strategy for monitoring how effective any changes are is essential. However, I hope this inquiry stimulates much more detailed and action-focused discussion among everyone involved in order ot identify practical solutions that will really make a difference. Pedigree dogs need our help, and they need it now.

The APGAW report also concludes: 

• breed standards should ensure dogs are 'fit for purpose', rather than look a certain way
• a database to collate the occurances of hereditary diseases and health and welfare problems would provide information to all stakeholders on the problems and their frequency
• future regulations concerning the breeding of dogs should impose clear restrictions on the breeding of closely-related dogs.

We believe all key stakeholders should meet after a third report into the health and welfare of pedigree dogs is published in early 2010 to agree a way forward.

The RSPCA is extremely concerned about the unacceptably high levels of disability, deformity and hereditary disease affecting these animals, as is the public, following the BBC documentary Pedigree dogs exposed, which sparked a national debate on the issue.