A LLANDYSUL couple has lost their appeal against a refusal by Ceredigion County Council to renew their dog breeding licence.

The appeal by David and Eleri Jones, of Penwern, Capel Dewi, Llandysul, was rejected at Swansea Magistrates Court on October 16. The appeal followed a two-day hearing held at Aberystwyth Justice Centre on October 1-2.

The court heard how Ceredigion County Council officers had tried to work with the dog breeding establishment to improve standards.

However, after several chances, they had failed to meet the minimum standards expected to ensure the welfare of the animals.

The visits found Mr and Mrs Jones being unable to produce any dog breeding records and had not arranged annual veterinary health checks.

When checks were undertaken by their own vets, council officials found a number of inherited conditions on the dogs, and that the animals should not be bred from.

A further vet report from May 2019 found dogs suffering from matted feet and ears, lice, interdigital cysts, and anxiousness in the golden retrievers.

Animal welfare officers from the local authority public protection team worked hard to deal with the identified issues, and reduced the number of the dogs at the premises from 86 to 40 on a limited three-month licence in a bid to improve standards.

However, in a visit on November 12, 2019, the officers and accompanying vet found the standards had not improved sufficiently.

The breeding records continued to be very poor, meaning that breeding management could not be assessed, leading to a risk of underage breeding and repeat breeding in the same year.

There was no evidence of vaccination for the adult dogs or any socialisation of the puppies being produced.

A retriever with three-week-old puppies had no heating with the recorded air temperature at 9⁰C, and there was a number of undocumented dogs with no microchips.

The Judge specified that although the local authority provide advice and assistance, it is the dog breeders themselves who have responsibility to comply with the conditions on their license.

He accepted that there had been improvements at the premises but felt that these would be short-lived, and they had not fully committed resources to the venture, and this would severely compromise animal welfare.

The District Judge dismissed the appeal and supported the decision of the local authority in not renewing the dog breeding licence. He also awarded costs to the local authority of £,4000.