In short
- In England, a puppy must be sold by the person who bred it, or rehomed through a licensed rehoming centre. Commercial third-party sale of puppies is banned — the rule usually called Lucy’s Law.
- See the puppy with its mother, in the place it was born. If that is not possible, walk away.
- A puppy must be microchipped and registered with the breeder as its first keeper before it comes to you, and the record must then be transferred to your name.
- Where a breeder is licensed, their licence number and the council that issued it must appear in the advert.
- No puppy should leave its mother before eight weeks old.
Most people buying a puppy are doing it for the first time, from someone they have never met, at a moment when they very much want to say yes. That combination is exactly what bad sellers rely on. This page is the short version of what to see, what to ask and what to insist on — and what the law already puts on your side.
The rule that changed puppy buying: Lucy’s Law
In England, The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 were amended in 2019 so that from 6 April 2020 puppies and kittens can no longer be sold by a commercial third-party seller. A puppy must be bought directly from the person who bred it, or adopted from a rehoming centre. This is the change usually called Lucy’s Law.
The practical effect is the single most useful test you can apply: you should be seeing the puppy, with its mother, in the place where it was born. Not in a car park. Not at a “convenient meeting point”. Not at a friend’s house because the breeder is “away”. If the person selling the puppy did not breed the puppy, in England that sale should not be happening.
Wales and Scotland introduced their own equivalent restrictions on third-party sales in 2021, and Northern Ireland’s licensing regime is different again. If you are buying outside England, check the current position with the seller’s local council or the relevant devolved authority before you commit.
Who needs a licence, and what that means for you
In England, breeding dogs is a licensable activity: broadly, breeding three or more litters in any twelve-month period and selling any of the puppies, or running a business of breeding and selling dogs, requires a licence from the local council. Licensed breeders are inspected and given a star rating.
Two things follow that are directly useful when you are reading an advert. Under those Regulations, an advertisement for the sale of a dog must:
- include the seller’s licence number;
- specify the local authority that issued it;
- include a recognisable photograph of the dog being advertised; and
- display the dog’s age.
Breed Right asks every breeder for a licence number and issuing authority and shows them on the litter page where they have been given. But read the next sentence carefully, because it cuts both ways:
Age, microchipping and the paperwork
- Eight weeks, minimum. A puppy should not leave its mother before it is eight weeks old, and for a licensed breeder that is a condition of the licence. A puppy offered at six or seven weeks “because they are ready” is not ready.
- Microchipped before it comes to you. Microchipping is compulsory across the UK. The breeder must have the puppy chipped and be recorded as its first keeper — then the database record is transferred into your name when you take it home. Get the microchip number in writing and check it against the chip yourself.
- A written receipt or contract, with the seller’s real name and address on it, the price, and what happens if something goes wrong.
- The vet record — worming, any vaccinations given, and any health check already done.
- Both parents’ health certificates, in the parents’ registered names. Not the puppy’s — a puppy has not been hip scored.
- The registration paperwork, if any is claimed. Ask which Royal Kennel Club register the litter is being registered on, and see the parents’ certificates.
That last point is worth more than it looks. “KC registered” is not one thing — the Royal Kennel Club runs more than one register, and only one of them is a pedigree record. A number quoted in an advert cannot be looked up anywhere, because the Royal Kennel Club publishes no registration numbers, so the certificate is the whole of the evidence.
What to look at when you visit
Good signs
- The mother is there, relaxed, and clearly the puppies’ mother.
- The puppies are where they were born, in the house or in clean, warm housing.
- The breeder asks you as many questions as you ask them.
- They want you to visit more than once, and are happy for you to bring the family.
- Paperwork is offered before you ask for it.
- They tell you what the breed is hard about, not just what it is lovely about.
Walk away
- Meeting anywhere other than where the puppy was born.
- The mother is “at the vet”, “asleep”, or somehow never available.
- Several breeds, or several litters, always available.
- Pressure: another buyer coming, deposit needed today.
- Payment by bank transfer for a puppy you have not met.
- A refusal to do a live video call from the puppies’ room.
- No paperwork, or paperwork that does not match the dogs in front of you.
None of these on its own proves anything. Two of them together is a decision.
Paying
Never send money for a dog you have not seen, and never pay by bank transfer to “hold” a puppy. A transfer is effectively cash: once it has gone, getting it back is a matter of goodwill.
Whether you have consumer rights afterwards depends on who you bought from. If the seller was acting as a business, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies to the sale. If it was a genuinely private sale, your protection is considerably narrower. Either way, a written receipt naming the seller and the price is what turns a dispute into a conversation you can actually have.
If something is wrong
If you are worried about a puppy you have seen — anywhere, not just here — report it. The seller’s local council licensing team and Trading Standards are the people with powers; the animal welfare charity for your nation will also take a report. If the listing is on Breed Right, tell us and we will look at it. We would far rather take a listing down than leave it up.
What Breed Right does about this, honestly
We check one thing thoroughly and we say so: a stud dog’s Royal Kennel Club registration, by hand, before the listing goes live. Litters are different — a litter can be listed without any Royal Kennel Club registration at all, because plenty of good litters have none, so anything a litter page says about registration is the breeder’s own declaration and is labelled as one.
What we will not do is imply a check we have not made. There is no badge on this site that means “we have inspected these premises”, because we have not been to them. The visit is still yours to make, and this page is what to do when you get there.
The help centre answers the shorter questions, and how verification works sets out exactly what our badge is allowed to claim.
Sources
- The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, as amended in 2019 — Licensing of dog breeding in England, the star rating system, the ban on commercial third-party sales of puppies in force from 6 April 2020 (Lucy’s Law), and — at Schedule 6, paragraph 6 — the requirement that an advertisement for the sale of a dog carries the seller’s licence number, the issuing local authority, a recognisable photograph and the dog’s age. Breed Right’s own listing pages are built to those four requirements.
- Equivalent rules in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland — Wales and Scotland introduced their own restrictions on third-party puppy sales in 2021 and Northern Ireland’s licensing regime differs. Because these are devolved and change, we point you at the seller’s local council or the relevant devolved authority rather than restating rules that may have moved.
- UK microchipping requirements for dogs — Compulsory microchipping, the requirement that the breeder is recorded as the puppy’s first keeper, and the transfer of the record to the new keeper.
- Consumer Rights Act 2015 — Applies where the seller was acting as a business. It does not apply to a genuinely private sale.
- Pet Advertising Advisory Group (PAAG) minimum standards — The advertising standards UK pet-classified sites work to, which Breed Right’s litter listings are built against.
Breed Right is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to The Royal Kennel Club or the British Veterinary Association. Where we could not source a claim we left it out rather than guessing.
Keep reading
Related guides
Registration
KC endorsements explained
The breeder places them, the breeder is normally the only one who can lift them, and an endorsed bitch’s litter cannot be registered. Settle it before the mating, not after.
Registration
Breed Register vs Activity Register
The Royal Kennel Club runs more than one register, and the difference decides what a KC number actually proves. A dog can hold a genuine Royal Kennel Club number and be a crossbreed.
Health results
Health testing explained
Which tests exist, what Clear, Carrier, Affected and Hereditary Clear mean, and why “health tested” in an advert tells you almost nothing until you know tested for what.
Put it into practice
Every stud dog on Breed Right is on the Royal Kennel Club Breed Register and checked by our team before it goes live, and every health result you see has been checked by us.