Frontier Economics, one of the largest economic consultancies in Europe, has undertaken an independent forward-looking economic appraisal of the potential benefits of introducing the APGAW Innate Health Assessment (IHA) into the regulatory landscape for dog breeding in the UK. They have written a full report and concluded that:
“By helping to shift societal norms towards healthier, ethically bred dogs, the IHA could serve as a low cost but high impact regulatory lever. The IHA tool addresses a significant market failure in the dog breeding sector by targeting the welfare and health risks caused by extreme conformation – risks that likely impose material and avoidable costs on pet owners, veterinary professionals, and society.”
APGAW’s Innate Health Assessment (IHA) tool for Dogs is a visual checklist of 10 key conformational criteria which can be rapidly and reliably performed by every breeder, dog owner or prospective dog owner to check that a dog has good innate health characteristics and assess their suitability to breed. No equipment or veterinary assistance is required and the IHA tool, which is free to use via the soon to be launched IHA website, guides users step-by-step through each of the 10 criteria with full instructions on how to assess each one.
The IHA was created to tackle the significant welfare problem caused by dogs being deliberately bred to have more extreme physical characteristics simply to meet the demand from consumers to own a dog that looks a certain way. This has created a huge welfare problem for dogs and an extreme conformation crisis. These extreme conformations carry a high risk of significant health and welfare problems ranging from respiratory issues, painful eye conditions, unpleasant skin infections, spine and joint issues, neurological defects, blindness, deafness and a significant reduction in life expectancy.
The Innate Health Assessment tool for dogs is based on over a decade of research from the Royal Veterinary College. It was developed in consultation with the leading UK veterinary professional bodies and animal welfare organisations and has the support and endorsement of several organisations including RVC, BVA, RSPCA. Dogs Trust, Blue Cross, Naturewatch Foundation, Woodgreen, and others.
APGAW has spent over 2 years developing the IHA tool is and will be launching it in October through a Parliamentary event.
Rread the full Frontier Economics report on the IHA
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