Purdue approves its first 100 Canine Care Certified dog breeders

Image courtesy by Candace Crone

As demands for dogs and puppies grow in the United States, the Purdue University College of Medicine has launched the Canine Care Certified (CCC) program for dog breeders. The program sets science-based requirements and expert reviews for breeders to help them achieve canine welfare assurance.¹

“This program does the ethical and scientific homework for the customer,” said Candace Croney, PhD, professor, and director of the Center for Animal Welfare Science in the colleges of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine at Purdue, in an organizational release.¹

“It allows people to make an informed choice about a breeder’s commitment to animal welfare when they are trying to bring a healthy, happy dog into their home, and it helps identify and support good breeders, rather than puppy mills that disregard animal welfare entirely."

Croney created standards for the program in 2013 from existing and ongoing research. According to the release, the CCC is based on 5 pillars of care: nutrition, housing, handling, veterinary care, and exercise. The standards exceed current regulations for adult dogs and puppies and ensure breeders attend to their dog's behavioral, genetic, and physical health.¹

“What we’ve created here — along with a third-party auditing scheme, which is widely recognized as best practice in animal assurance — is precedent-setting for the U.S. and global pet industries and pet families and should be a huge point of pride for Purdue and the state of Indiana,” Croney explained.

According to the release,¹ CCC was founded after Amish dog breeders in Indiana wanted to improve their publicly criticized operations. Once they provided tools and knowledge, the breeders were open to doing things differently. Since then, breeders involved in the program have seen positive results like Lonnie Wagler, the first CCC breeder, and Matten Schwartz, the 100th CCC breeder.

“This is something that all breeders should do,” expressed Schwartz, “I look forward to meeting the 1,000th breeder.”

Reference
Purdue Canine Care Certification is changing hearts and minds about what we owe to dogs. News release. Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine. March 23, 2022. Accessed March 24, 2022. https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2022/Q1/purdue-canine-care-certification-is-changing-hearts-and-minds-about-what-we-owe-to-dogs.html?utm_source=cision&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=unsag&utm_campaign=220323croneycaninetrainingag