Dog breeding

You need a dog breeding licence if you breed 3 or more litters of puppies in any 12-month period.

This applies if you sell the dogs or give them away.

Breeding dogs without a licence is an offence.

Licences last for one, 2, or 3 years. Your local council will decide the length of your licence and how much it costs.

You may not get a licence if you’ve been banned from keeping, working with or owning animals.

You must renew your licence before it expires to continue breeding dogs.

Applying for a licence

You need to contact your local council’s licensing team to apply for a dog breeding licence.

Apply for a dog breeding licence

After you apply

The council will inspect your premises before you get a licence. This is to make sure you’ll meet the licensing conditions for breeding dogs.

They’ll check your dogs are:

kept in suitable accommodation
provided with adequate food, drink and bedding
exercised regularly
transported in safe and comfortable conditions
protected in case of an emergency, like a fire
protected from pain, injury, suffering and disease

They’ll also look at:

your background
how many staff you have and their experience
your record keeping

Conditions for breeding dogs

To breed dogs in Scotland you need to meet legal conditions. The gov.scot website has guidance on:

These conditions include standards for:

licence display, advertising and record keeping
staffing, training and animal handling
a suitable environment for breeding dogs
protecting dogs from suffering, injury and disease
how many dogs you can keep and how often they can breed
emergency planning

If you do not meet the conditions

You will not get a dog breeding licence.

If you fail to meet any of the conditions while you have a licence, the council can:

suspend your licence until you meet the conditions
add extra conditions to your licence
cancel your licence

Appeals

You can appeal to the sheriff court within 28 days if the council:

refuse to grant or renew a licence
add extra conditions to your licence
suspend or cancel your licence

While your appeal is ongoing, the court may let you continue breeding dogs. The council must follow the court’s decision.

Microchipping rules for dog breeders

You must microchip dogs by the time they’re 8 weeks old.

This means:

implanting a microchip that meets the technical standard – your vet will know how to do this
registering your contact details on an approved database

If you do not microchip your dogs, you could be fined up to £500.

When you're handing a dog to a new owner, you're expected to tell them:

the dog's microchip number
what database the information is held on
they need to update this information with their contact details

Exemptions

A vet can exempt a dog from microchipping for health reasons.

These may include:

a serious illness
an infection at the implant site
a condition that affects blood clotting
being too small

If your dog is exempt, your vet must give you a signed exemption certificate. This includes information about:

you
the dog
your vet
how long the exemption is for

If you give a dog to a new owner when it's exempt, you must pass the certificate on to them.

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