Dogs Trust Ireland just released their Christmas ad and it’s an important watch

This year’s Dogs Trust Ireland ad is centred around ending the horrific cruelty of Irish puppy farms. 

People have been awakened to the sad realities of the domestic puppy farming industry more and more in recent years, but it’s a problem that continues to ail the Irish public – one that actually worsens in the run-up to Christmas and the demand for young pups surges. 

Don’t we all know that a dog is for life, not just for Christmas though? If we’ve heard that message once, we’ve heard it a thousand times but sadly, the statistics show that many people still aren’t listening. In fact, some choose to purposely ignore it in pursuit of “the perfect gift”. 

Hoping to make it impossible for anyone to turn a blind eye any longer, Dogs Trust Ireland is facing the problem head on once again this year and has just released a heartbreaking ad to highlight the stark truth behind where that gorgeous bundle of fluff really came from. 

Sharing the video across their social media platforms, the team is urging everyone to use their voice for the voiceless mums and pups by signing their petition to end puppy farming for good. 

“‘Twas the run-up to Christmas, and all through the mill. Despite all the kennels, everything was still,” it begins. “They sat in the darkness, just a crack of light. Too afraid to bark, no person in sight. Their welfare’s forgotten, low and behold. Just a commodity, born to be sold.  

“These dogs have one purpose, it’s sad but it’s true. They’re there to make puppies – just for you,” the narrator continues as the animation shows a cheery farmer handing a young pup over to its unwitting new owner. “A nation of dog lovers, that you’d never know. Be careful when buying, it’s often a show. 

“What happens to the mum now that all of her puppies have gone?”, the young child questions, before the ad delivers the cold, hard fact that “she must go through it all again and again. Churning out puppies from her little pen.”

Unfortunately not a foreign concept to those who work at Dogs Trust Ireland, it’s a situation that volunteers are all too familiar with. Already having cared for over 100 victims of illegal puppy farming this year alone, the effects that such environments can have on the dogs brought up there are obvious and many of them were “so terrified of human contact” that they were “too afraid to make a sound. “When they arrived into our care, their silence was deafening,” the charity admitted. 

Explaining just how dire the problem is through the story of one particular dog, Blue, a Dogs Trust spokesperson commented that “fear is all around”. “Those who buy her puppies aren’t saving them. They are unknowingly creating the demand for them – supporting greedy, unscrupulous breeders who only care about profit. These illegal breeders make quick cash from cruelty and neglect as they force mums, like Blue, to churn out litter after litter in the most brutal of conditions.”

Ireland is considered the puppy farm capital of Europe with industrial-style breeding of puppies to sell, but things are slowly changing for the better. Last summer, DoneDeal paused the sale of dogs on its website after a spat of stolen dogs appearing on its pages and it’s now illegal to advertise dogs for sale without owner details, the dog’s microchip number and a dog-breeding establishment licence. However, progress could be faster.

“Puppies are not commodities. And mums, like Blue, are not machines. They deserve a full and happy life, free from neglect, pain and fear,” explains the Dog’s Trust spokesperson. 

Not the first time Dogs Trust Ireland has used their Christmas ad to address such pertinent issues, all of their previous editions have dealt with similarly important topics – and always while simultaneously encouraging people to adopt not shop. 

You can find out more about the #EndPuppyFarming campaign and sign their petition here. 

While the above ad obviously sends a very important message, we wouldn’t want to end this piece on such a sad note so please enjoy this cheerful video of some of last year’s Dogs Trust residents picking out their own Christmas toys. The 2021 video has yet to come so we still have plenty of festivities to look forward to.