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July 2021 July 2021

DORSET TRADING STANDARDS

Dorset County Council Trading Standards Service check and
approve businesses so you don’t have to.
For more information visit www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk or
call 08454 040506.
To report or seek advice about problems you have
experienced when dealing with a trader call 08454 040506.

Cropping dogs’ ears and docking their tails has been banned in the UK and most
European countries for many years now. However, there is still a demand for
cropped and docked dogs as some people think this defines the look of certain
breeds such as Dobermans. In order to satisfy this demand a Dorset man set up a
company called UK Dobermans and claimed to be able to source top quality
Doberman puppies from Romania that would be cropped, docked and then
delivered to UK customers. He set up a professional website in which he claimed
to be doing everything legally and offered the puppies for sale for up to £3000.
In order to legally import puppies

from Europe into the UK they
must be vaccinated against
rabies at a minimum of 12 weeks
old and then wait for a minimum
of 21 days. The youngest a
puppy can be bought in to the
UK is therefore 15 weeks old.
There are much stricter rules for
dogs being imported from
outside the EU, the youngest a
dog can be imported is 7
months old. All these rules are in
place to protect the UK’s rabies
free status. It was long suspected that the owner of the business, Peter Harman,
was importing dogs from outside the EU but we couldn’t prove this.
In September 2019 a consignment of 8 Doberman puppies was stopped at the
Eurotunnel with Serbian microchips. As Serbia is outside the EU these puppies
should have been a minimum of 7 months old, but they appeared much
younger. This led us to being able to execute a warrant on the Dorset business
which revealed records proving nearly 200 dogs had been smuggled in with false
papers. The owner of the business is now serving 28 months behind bars.
If you suspect dogs are being imported illegally into the UK then please report it to
Trading Standards by calling the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 223
1133.

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