New study sheds light on source of puppies sold online and in stores

An Iowa-based animal welfare organization has conducted what may be the first nationwide study of regulatory violations among dog breeders who supply brokers and retailers with animals.

The study shows that more than half of the breeders or brokers who supply retail stores with puppies, and who have been tracked over the past three years by the nonprofit organization Bailing Out Benji, have been cited for regulatory violations.

Mindi Callison, executive director of the Iowa-based nonprofit organization, says that for decades, there has been a lack of data surrounding the pet-acquisition industry — particularly with regard to the complicated intersection of breeders, brokers and sellers.

To address that issue, Callison says, Bailing Out Benji has widened its scope of research from federally licensed breeders who sell to pet shops to include state-licensed breeders and dealers as well as online sellers and the brokers who act as “middle men” in the trafficking of animals.

The research, she says, paints a fuller picture of the issues that the commercial dog-breeding world faces, and is the first of its kind. It’s based on an analysis of five years of data on the thousands of breeders who are licensed at the federal and state level, plus three years of data on the breeders who supply pet stores.

“For the first time ever, the commercial dog breeding and sales industry has been audited,” she said. “These facts and figures will allow for us to track progress on the national level, while giving us a more clear picture on where the problem areas are so they can be addressed.”

She said the first step toward meaningful change is having a clear understanding of the scope of the problem. “This data will be a game changer for those who are passionate about using real facts to drive that change for animals and the people who love them,” she said, adding that the data will help her and others track progress when advocates and lawmakers are trying to pass legislation related to animal welfare.

The data, Callison said, provides national averages for regulatory violations among licensed breeders, the breeders and brokers who supply pet stores, the breeders who supply third-party brokers, and the breeders and brokers who sell through online websites.

She said that in Iowa, specifically, about 33 percent of the brokers and breeders licensed at the state and federal level have been cited for regulatory violations at some point in the past five years.

“That is slightly lower than what we are seeing as the national average and is based on 678 facilities we are tracking in Iowa — which includes breeders who recently canceled their licenses after they had violations,” she said. “On the pet-store side, we are seeing that 28 percent of the breeders in Iowa that have sold to pet stores in the last three years have had violations.”

Among the study’s national findings:

— Violations by breeders: 41 percent of the licensed breeders have incurred state or federal violations during the past five years.

— Breeders to stores: 36 percent of the 1,946 licensed breeders who directly supplied pet stores in the last three years have incurred state or federal violations.

— Breeders to brokers: 34 percent of the breeders found to be supplying brokers in the last three years had incurred state or federal violations. Callison notes that this finding is based on preliminary data that may be updated since it does not reflect every breeder who sells through brokers.

— Puppy stores: 63 percent of the 542 puppy stores that have been tracked over the last three years have purchased puppies from breeders or brokers with known regulatory violations. This data excludes stores with common, shared ownership and which don’t receive shipments directly from the breeders or brokers.

— Online sales: 42 percent of the licensed breeders known to be supplying online brokering websites or online marketplaces have incurred state or federal violations. This data doesn’t capture every breeder who sells through an online broker, with Callison noting that some breeders who sell through such websites are unlicensed.

With regard to the online brokers and the unlicensed breeders who supply them, Callison said Bailing Out Benji is currently tracking thousands of unlicensed breeders and is in the process of auditing more than 20,000 online sellers who traffic animals through three brokering websites.

Once Bailing Out Benji has more conclusive data to share on that universe of sales, she said, the organization will update its reporting.

This article first appeared in the Iowa Capital Dispatch.