Assistance-dog breeding programmes and puppy supply

About assistance-dog breeding programmes and puppy supply

Most UK assistance dogs start life in a charity breeding programme, not a litter bought on the open market. If you hope to sell puppies to Guide Dogs, or wonder whether your dogs could become Guide Dogs breeding stock, this page explains how the main charities source puppies, where private breeders fit in, and how volunteers help as a brood bitch holder or assistance dog puppy raiser.

What this work involves

Breeding dogs for assistance charities means producing puppies that are confident but calm, food-motivated, sociable with strangers and physically sound. The charities keep their own brood bitches and stud dogs, usually in volunteer homes. Litters are born and reared in those homes for their first six to eight weeks under the charity’s supervision, then puppies move to volunteer puppy raisers or trainers for around a year before formal training. Not every puppy qualifies, and the charities find other roles or homes for the rest.

Who trains and supplies these dogs in the UK

Guide Dogs runs its breeding programme from its National Centre at Bishop’s Tachbrook, near Leamington Spa, which was built in 2011, and says it produces around 1,000 puppies a year. Most of its breeding dogs come from its own programme. A volunteer Breeding Dog Holder (often called a brood bitch holder) gives a home to a guide dog mum for around six years while she is in the breeding programme, and her puppies are born and cared for in that home. Guide Dogs does not publish a route for private breeders to sell puppies to it; the way in is to volunteer. Its breeding code of ethics does say it may occasionally offer its stud dogs for use on outside bitches under a written agreement.

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People breeds its own puppies. Its hearing dog mums live with volunteer brood fosterers, its breeding scheme advisors assess each puppy’s temperament at around six weeks, and puppies start their training at eight weeks. The charity has worked with external breeders in the past but does not currently publish a route for them, so ask it directly.

Canine Partners breeds many of its own puppies and also works with trusted external breeders who meet its welfare standards. Its broods live with Dog Breeding Volunteers and may have up to four litters.

Dogs for Good, based in Banbury, uses its own breeding programme, puppies donated by breeders and puppies it buys. Its brood bitches live with volunteer Breed Stock Holders within about 30 to 40 minutes of Banbury and have at most four litters.

All four are members of Assistance Dogs UK, whose members are accredited by Assistance Dogs International and/or the International Guide Dog Federation. The charity, not the breeder, raises, trains and matches the dog.

Breeds and lines

Guide Dogs breeds Labradors, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds and crosses; it says over 60% of its working guide dogs are Labrador x Golden Retriever crosses. Hearing Dogs has settled on four types: Labradors, Cocker Spaniels, Miniature Poodles and Cockapoos. Canine Partners works with Labradors, Golden Retrievers, Doodles and crosses of these breeds, and Dogs for Good mainly with Labradors, Golden Retrievers, working Cocker Spaniels and their crosses.

Within any breed, charities look for sound hip and elbow results under the British Veterinary Association (BVA) schemes, eye and DNA testing, and families that produce steady, people-focused dogs. Dogs for Good, for example, requires parents with good, below breed-average BVA results.

What to ask a breeder

1. Which assistance charities have taken puppies from this line, and how many qualified?
2. What are both parents’ hip, elbow, eye and DNA results, and do they meet the Royal Kennel Club Health Standard for the breed?
3. What is the litter’s coefficient of inbreeding?
4. How are puppies socialised before eight weeks?
5. Do you hold a local-authority breeding licence, or can you explain why one is not needed?
6. What happens to a puppy that a charity assesses but does not select?

Legal and welfare notes

Selling a puppy to a charity is still a sale. In England, the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 require a licence to breed three or more litters in any 12-month period (unless you can show that none of the puppies were sold), or to breed dogs and advertise a business of selling dogs. The regulations exempt breeding only assistance dogs, and Guide Dogs states that it does not need a licence; a breeder who also sells puppies as pets cannot rely on that exemption. In Scotland, breeding three or more litters in 12 months requires a licence, with a similar assistance-dog exemption. Wales and Northern Ireland license anyone who keeps three or more breeding bitches and either breeds, advertises or supplies puppies from three or more litters in 12 months, or advertises a business of breeding or selling puppies.

Frequently asked questions

Can I sell my puppies to Guide Dogs?

Guide Dogs breeds its own puppies, most of its breeding dogs come from its own programme, and it does not publish a route for outside breeders to sell puppies to it. Canine Partners and Dogs for Good do take some puppies from external breeders; Hearing Dogs for Deaf People has done so in the past, so ask it directly.

What does a brood bitch holder do?

They give a charity’s breeding dog a permanent home, care for her day to day, support her through whelping and help rear the litter under the charity’s guidance for its first six to eight weeks. Holders usually need to live within reach of the charity’s breeding centre.

Is an assistance dog puppy raiser the same as a breeder?

No. A Guide Dogs puppy raiser takes a puppy at six to eight weeks and looks after it for 12 to 16 months, building its confidence before formal training. Someone in the household must be able to handle a large dog of around 25 to 40kg.

Do your dogs come from lines used for assistance work, or have charities selected your puppies? List your breeding on caninebreeder.co.uk and describe your health testing and temperament work. We do not certify dogs, but we help people find breeders whose lines show the aptitude this work demands.