Ensuring that specific health and welfare standards have been met.
Canine Care Certified™ empowers consumers to make informed decisions by identifying breeders who meet rigorous, science-based welfare standards. Our program goes beyond minimum legal requirements to ensure dogs receive the highest level of care, ethics, and well-being.
While there is no consensus on the definition of a “puppy mill”, we define puppy mills as a dog breeding facility where profit is clearly given priority over the well-being of the dogs, and where there is no interest in or effort toward prioritizing animal welfare. For more details, see the Croney Research Group research webpage. The Croney Research Group studies dogs kept at commercial breeding kennels. Licensed commercial breeders must, at minimum, be USDA inspected and comply with state and federal requirements for dog care and well-being.
Ensuring that puppy mills cannot thrive requires approaching the problem from multiple angles. First, people need tools to recognize and avoid puppy mills and to identify welfare-oriented breeders. Second, those who care about dogs need assurances that breeders are consistently meeting the welfare needs of dogs in their care. Third, responsible breeders need access to high quality, evidence-based resources to help meet public demands for a sustainable supply of healthy, ethically raised dogs and puppies. Canine Care Certified™ addresses all of these areas.
The program provides a mark that helps consumers identify dogs raised under stringent welfare standards. Current laws that apply to dogs are written as minimum standards. In contrast, because this program is voluntary, it is able to require standards that align with our belief and public expectations that dogs deserve far more than minimum care and welfare. Even better, it helps breeders to demonstrate ethics in action since they are choosing to go above and beyond what the law requires in caring for their dogs and puppies.
For consumers, the designation indicates that puppies and dogs raised by a Canine Care Certified™ breeder are raised under an independently audited program that ensures that specific health and welfare standards have been met. Dogs from certified breeders may be sold privately or commercially.
The program provides an added measure of assurance that certified breeders are attending to their dogs’ physical, genetic, and behavioral health, and are committed to continuously raising the bar on the standard of care and attention they offer to their dogs.
Animal scientists and veterinarians know that physical health is only one measure of the welfare of a dog or puppy.
When choosing a dog or puppy raised by a breeder, consumers have a right to expect that the dog’s physical, social and behavioral needs were all prioritized.
Consumers can also trust that certified breeders are required to have ongoing education in all of these areas as well as the role of genetics on the health and welfare of dogs.
Before bringing a dog home, every family should educate themselves on the needs of the type of dog they are considering and determine whether they can provide for those. Adding a furry member to the family is a big decision that requires research on the part of the consumer to ensure that the dog they are considering is a great life-long match for the family. To learn more about choosing a dog for your family, visit our Canine Welfare Science website.
Consumers wishing to purchase a puppy or dog that has been raised to the rigorous standards of the Canine Care Certified™ program should ask the retail outlet or breeder for proof of current certification.
Not sure a breeder is Canine Care Certified™? Contact us for verification of the breeder’s status. Our auditing partner, Validus, lists participating breeders and also can verify breeder certification online at https://www.validusservices.com/certified-kennels. If you have the breeder certificate number, you can verify the breeder's status at https://www.wfcfpassport.com/Pets/.
