House of Animals

We have lived alongside animals since time immemorial. For both parties, there were advantages to joining forces. A dog offered companionship and gave warning whenever strangers came near the group. Dogs seemed to understand very well what people wanted them to do.

We still love living with pets. There are more than 27 million pets in the Netherlands. Cats are the most popular. After that come dogs and… fish. Almost half of all households have one or more pets.

With 1.7 million of them in the Netherlands, dogs remain an extremely popular companion. But are these animals always kept in the most animal-friendly way? The answer, sadly, is no.

Research shows that two thirds of people who buy a pet have not looked into what that animal needs in order to feel comfortable.

The demand for dogs

To meet demand, the Netherlands needs an additional 150,000 dogs every year. That is of course an enormous number, which is why dogs are also brought in from abroad.

Not only so-called 'rescue' dogs, but often also dogs from Eastern European puppy farms. In the Netherlands, 10,000 dogs a year are registered in TRACES (Trade Control and Expert System), meaning that between 50,000 and 70,000 dogs enter our country unregistered. Most of these dogs are bred in Eastern Europe purely for commercial purposes.

Puppies almost always come from puppy mills. The sole aim is to earn as much money as possible while spending as little as possible on the animals' welfare. Many animals are kept in cramped spaces. They are barely fed, they are not allowed outside and they receive no medical care.

What matters most is producing as many puppies as possible in as short a time as possible. The females have litter after litter, and when they can no longer manage it, they are killed or dumped on the street.

The puppies born at breeders like these are not socialised and usually do not receive their compulsory vaccinations. They are taken away from their mother far too early, with all the consequences that has for their mental health later on.

Rules without enforcement

The regulations on importing dogs from abroad are clear. The animals must be at least 15 weeks old, vaccinated against rabies and registered. Unfortunately there is hardly any enforcement, and unscrupulous vets in both Eastern Europe and the Netherlands help keep the illegal trade going. As a result, puppies that are far too young and often sick are put on transport to countries including the Netherlands. It is estimated that some 46,000 dogs are traded between member states every month. Across the EU, 1.3 billion euros is earned from the dog trade each year.

How do you recognise a puppy mill?

People who want to buy a puppy often begin their search online, usually on a classified ads platform. Unfortunately, buyers are already one step behind at this very first stage. The dogs offered on such platforms frequently come from puppy mills.

Puppy mills and traders usually advertise online using photos of puppies in a homely setting. Often these are old photos, or photos "stolen" from other sites. The pups are always supposedly 3 to 4 months old, fully vaccinated, microchipped and wormed. These traders often advertise under a great many different accounts, making it look as though only one litter is on offer. In reality they are dealers who sometimes sell up to 3,000 puppies a year.

Would you like to know more about how to recognise a puppy mill? Take a look at the House of Animals website.

And what about rescue dogs?

The Netherlands is also home to many so-called 'rescue dogs': dogs that lived on the streets or in shelters in Eastern and Southern Europe. To give these animals a better life, foundations take them in and bring them to the Netherlands. Part of the Dutch demand for dogs is met by importing these stray dogs from abroad. That is of course a wonderful and animal-friendly solution, but above all only if the stray population in the country of origin is also being brought under control in an animal-friendly way.

There are now some 300 foundations in the Netherlands doing this work. Unfortunately, not every foundation turns out to be equally correct and reliable. Because of the enormous demand for dogs and the understandable urge to save animals, dogs are brought to the Netherlands that are not suited to life in a Dutch household. They may not be socialised, for example, and not used to contact with people. Coping with that requires experience and guidance. Even that is sometimes not enough to give the dog a dignified life in a household.

For some dogs, being a stray in their home country makes them "happier". Of course there are also many wonderfully sweet and lovely former strays available for adoption. But it is extremely important to make the right choice here and not to lose sight of the original aim — improving the welfare of stray dogs. One of the most frequently used Google search terms is "returning an adopted dog"… Acquiring a dog in an animal-friendly way, whether through adoption or purchase, takes a great deal of thought. But once you have found a suitable match, it really is for life. And in this ideal match we place the interests of animals at least on a par with our own, and together we create an animal-friendly society.

What House of Animals does

At House of Animals we have set ourselves the goal of putting an end to the puppy mill trade within 5 years. We do this through undercover investigations, reports to the police, enforcement requests and much more.

House of Animals' success against a puppy mill trader

Facts

• The largest puppy mill trader in Hilvarenbeek, who sold more than 3,000 puppies in the past year alone, has had to close its doors thanks to us.
• In Eersel we exposed the largest puppy mill in the Netherlands. He has to close his doors and a report has been filed.
• In Lelystad we exposed a puppy mill and he too has had to close his doors. Not long afterwards we discovered that he had started a new business selling puppies from Eastern Europe on an industrial estate in Wijchen. We had him removed from there as well.
• In Chaam, a notorious puppy mill trader from Belgium settled after receiving a one-year ban on trading there. This business too had to close following investigations and enforcement requests by House of Animals.
• In Hungary we filed reports against 6 vets who were collaborating in the illegal puppy trade. Two of them have since been suspended.