South

John Lowe, of Keepers Cottage Stud near Farnham is well known to Inside Out.

Four years ago we showed how he was breeding scores of dogs at his premises and selling puppies in poor condition to unsuspecting members of the public.

Puppy farmer: practices investigated.

Many puppies fell ill within days of leaving the kennels and some died.

After our first programme in 2004 John Lowe’s licence to breed puppies was taken away by the local council.

A year later he appeared before Guildford Magistrates and pleaded guilty to a number of offences including breeding dogs without a licence.

He was disqualified from keeping a breeding establishment for two years.

Trade continues

But Inside Out has discovered that John Lowe is continuing with his lucrative trade and offering several breeds of dogs for sale from the same premises.

Samantha and Richard West, of Fareham in Hampshire, bought a 12-week-old beagle puppy from John Lowe over the August bank holiday in 2008.

Shortly afterwards, the dog – who they named Lily - became seriously ill.

A test showed she had the lethal parvo virus and within days she was dead.

The West’s two children were devastated and the couple ended up paying almost £900 in vet’s fees.

Angry customers

Samantha told inside Out: "I’m angry as he shouldn’t be able to get away with it. He has put us through hell and the puppy didn’t deserve it.

"He’s not even supposed to be selling puppies anyway.

"The farm was filthy but we were desperate to buy one. We were silly we bought it on the spur of the moment.

Puppy farmer John Lowe.

We thought we could take her away from there and give her a better life but that didn’t happen."

Patrick Philips and his girlfriend bought a beagle puppy from John Lowe in April 2008.

The dog fell ill within an hour of them getting him home and spent several days at the vet’s on a drip.

The puppy was found to have lice, fleas, bronchial pneumonia and parvo virus.

In the end the couple took the heartbreaking decision to have him put to sleep to bring an end to his suffering.

Puppy put down

Katie Cleeves, of Felpham in West Sussex went through a similar experience. She visited Keepers Cottage Stud after seeing an advertisement in a local paper in October 2006.

She bought a chocolate Labrador puppy from John Lowe for £295. Three days later the puppy fell ill. The vet suspected parvo virus and decided that Millie should be put down.

Mrs Cleeves said: "She was in such a state. She was suffering so much it was horrible to see. It’s not something you forget."

Certainly her daughter, Amy, who was three at the time, hasn’t forgotten. Mrs Cleeves said:

"She still talks about Millie. She tells people we used to have a puppy but she is in heaven now. She came from a bad man who didn’t give him injections."

Tackling puppy problems

Chris Laurence is Veterinary Director of the Dogs Trust, the largest dog welfare charity in the UK.

He says that enforcement of the law is crucial in ensuring puppies are bred and kept heathily:

"You can have the best legislation in the world and, if not properly enforced and nobody gets prosecuted or courts don't take notice, then it's not worth paper it's written on.

"What we really needed is enforcement done by one of the national agencies like what used to be the state veterinary service and is now called animal health and they have a national service there on the ground, knows what's it doing, knows what it's talking about.

"And we think it should be given the responsibility to enforce it properly."

In the meantime, there is one thing that people can do.

The message is simple - don't buy your puppy from the likes of John Lowe.

Story update...

Inside Out has been in regular contact with the RSPCA and Waverley Borough Council over the last four years about John Lowe.

In fact after our first programme back in 2004 we presented them with our evidence against him.

RSPCA - keeping a watchful eye.

After this, the council refused to renew his licence to breed dogs, and he was eventually taken to court.

We understand that the RSPCA and the Council visited Lowe's premises again in summer 2008.

The RSPCA asked John Lowe to improve the conditions for animals kept at the premises which they say he complied with.

It is our understanding that they are not planning to take any further action at this stage.

However the Council is still investigating and we expect them to announce what action they are taking sometime soon.