Overview
- The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare has launched a 10-point Innate Health Assessment to flag extreme physical traits linked to poor canine welfare.
- The checklist focuses on features such as short muzzles, flat faces, shortened legs, excessive skin folds, bulging eyes and pronounced bite misalignments.
- Campaigners warn up to 67 breeds could be effectively excluded from licensed breeding if the tool is made mandatory, though APGAW says the assessment targets traits, not breeds.
- PETA backs obligatory use and says licences would not be granted to breeders whose dogs fail the assessment, while existing pets would not be made illegal.
- The Kennel Club and other critics call the tool blunt and insufficiently nuanced, as APGAW’s Marisa Heath counters that talk of breed ‘bans’ is misleading and notes some cited breeds have already passed in practice.