Torment of the teacup puppies
Unbelievably cute? Yes. Adored by the C-list celebrities? Of course. But as these micro-dogs are sold in Britain, Kennel Club chiefs blast cruel breeders they blame for the...
WITH her bright, dark eyes and adorable teddy bear features, she was small enough to be cradled in the palm of her new owner’s hand. Little Daisy, a miniature Yorkshire terrier with a fluffy black and tan coat, was just a few weeks old when, cosily wrapped in a blanket, she joined the loving home of Elaine Oxley and her husband David.
But within a week, Daisy was dead – a victim of the uncontrolled and rapidly burgeoning market in so-called ‘teacup puppies’ – dogs so unhealthily small they often weigh no more than a bag of sugar.
From its beginnings in South Korea, the trend has spread across the world thanks to cute pictures of the tiny pups that circulate on social media. And there is now a growing demand for the dogs in the UK.
In the highly-stylised social media shots, a succession of fluffy corgis, poodles and French bulldogs, their eyes wide, their fur shiny, perch in teacups, placed there to illustrate their size.
Breeders advertise the tiny pets on websites including Gumtree and Preloved, while one Dorset-based company, Lovepup, boasts on its website of selling tiny dogs with ‘extreme dolly faces’ to Royal clients and celebrities. Some sell for nearly £6,000 – more than the price of many pedigree dogs.
But there is a dark truth behind the trade – one condemned by welfare organisations including the RSPCA and the Kennel Club.
Many of the dogs, they say, are born on unscrupulous and unregulated puppy farms, and suffer devastating ill health because they are created by repeatedly getting runts to breed together, thereby obtaining ever smaller puppies.
Both organisations have expressed serious concern about the exploitative trend, issuing startling warnings about the dogs’ frailties, which include weak bones that break easily, dislocated knees, lung problems and eyeballs that are too large for their sockets.
It is a reality that a horrified Elaine, 64, and David, 70, discovered only too late.
The couple had deliberated for years about getting a puppy and Elaine had admired a so-called ‘teacup Yorkie’ owned by a family member. The retired shop supervisor was delighted to discover one of the dogs was available for £550 through an online breeder near their home in Blackpool.
First impressions were highly favourable. Daisy was handed over by an immaculately dressed woman in a spotless bungalow in Stockport, which had a Mercedes parked on the drive. Daisy came with officiallooking papers from the Kennel Club, along with details about her immunisations.
But within six days Daisy being taken home, she suffered kidney and liver failure, and died. Gradually, the truth about Daisy’s short and tragic life became clear.
The Oxleys discovered through the police that they had been conned. Daisy had been shipped, along with other tiny dogs, to the UK from an Irish puppy farm.
The immaculate house Elaine visited was, in fact, rented as a front for unsuspecting buyers and the Kennel Club papers were fake.
‘I was gobsmacked to be told all of this,’ Elaine, 64, says. ‘They seemed like such nice, dog-loving people. The house appeared to be a family home, very clean, the puppy was
‘They care about making money, nothing else’
in a pen that had clean bedding down when we got there. The woman even gave us a blanket that she said would smell of Daisy’s mother to comfort her.
‘They were such good con artists who didn’t care about anything apart from making money.’
Although the trade is legal, few of those involved are willing to discuss their part in it.
Caroline Kisko, secretary of The Kennel Club, said the dogs are created through a ‘sad and appalling’ practice of repeatedly breeding the runt of a litter with another runt to guarantee tiny pets.
‘They just breed the tiniest with the tiniest and so the animals just keep on shrinking,’ she said.
‘People who buy these animals are making a wealth of sadness for themselves and that dog. Tradiphysical
tional small dog breeds have come about over more than 100 years, with love and dedication. These teacup dogs are about making money and nothing else.
‘Why do dogs need to be able to sit in a teacup? You have to ask why.’
Lisa Richards, from the RSPCA, added: ‘Breeders should prioritise welfare over appearance. It is very concerning to see people breeding dogs to fit in with the latest trend or fad. Dogs are intelligent, sentient creatures and should not be treated as a fashion accessory.’
Lovepup advertise micro-dogs and teacup puppies. They come with a 30-day health guarantee, but common ailments such as knee dislocations and heart murmurs are not covered.
Rolly Teacup Puppies, a company based in the US which ships teacup puppies to Europe – but not directly to the UK – offers a year’s guarantee, but again excludes ‘common conditions’ such as a hole in the skull and dislocating kneecaps.
The company has nearly half a million followers on Instagram. A spokesperson said standard dogs cost from £2,900 to £4,500, with ‘premium’ pups costing up to £5,800. The price does not include delivery from the United States or Korea, which involves a transatlantic flight and customs checks.
The firm also claims British customers are visiting their shops near Atlanta in the USA and in Korea to pick the animals up in person.
The sad result of breeding increasingly delicate pets is already becoming clear, according to the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
One teacup poodle, nine-monthold Charlie, was ordered online for a reported £6,500 from South Korea by a wealthy family in Jordan. The dog was flown to the family’s dog trainer in Britain but a week later began limping. An X-ray revealed she needed surgery costing £3,000, which led to her being abandoned.
A spokesman for the charity said: ‘Our vets found that Charlie had a fracture on her heel, a large break in a femur and evidence of an older fracture to the same leg that was healed. It was decided that it would be best to amputate the leg. Since having the operation she has been so much happier and lively, and we’ve been able to rehome her. Whether the leg issues were due to an accident in the home of the dog trainer – he said another dog had sat on her – or she had been treated badly by her breeder, we’ll never know.’
One North West-based breeder, who did not wish to be named, said they stopped selling teacup puppies years ago after one of their ‘morkies’ – a Maltese crossed with a Yorkshire Terrier – was accidentally crushed by its owner’s son.
‘That was heartbreaking,’ the breeder said. ‘These dogs are so tiny, it’s like having a hamster. Owners use them as toys but they’re animals. That’s why we stopped breeding them.’
Both Lovepup and Rolly Teacup Puppies said they only worked with reputable breeders and did not support or work with puppy farms.
Preloved said ‘it meets and exceeds’ the minimum standards set by the UK’s Pet Advertising Advisory Group.
A Rolly Teacup Puppies spokesperson said: ‘Our puppies live their life to the fullest. We only work with a selected number of breeders that are ethical and are against inbreeding and are not a part of the puppy mills scheme.’