In recent years, and not least during the pandemic, more and more Swedes want to get a dog.
But with increased demand, smuggled dogs have also increased.
– The question is not about but when we get rabies in Sweden, says dog educator Anna Beijer.
Dog smuggling is increasing according to The Swedish Customs – and with that, the risks increase that an infection that we have long avoided in our country can come back and cause major problems.
– We have been rabies-free for many years in Sweden, says Anna Beijer who is a dog educator at Hunden i Centrum.
Dog smuggling is mainly organized from countries in Eastern Europe and there are several reasons to avoid buying a smuggled dog. Risk of spreading the infection is one of them.
– Then we have to look at the dogs – how are they? When you see these sad mothers who are just bred and who lie with sore bodies in poop cages.
Anna discusses the way the puppies are treated and the problem with the transports, where puppies, for example, are forced to lie under a seat in the car.
– Those who survive do so, the others are thrown away. The handling of the puppies affects their mental and physical health.
Traumatized and scared
Anna has personal experience of suspected smuggled dogs. During her time at Hundstallet, she came across some cases where everything tended to be smuggled in, the sad thing about such cases is that they often have to be killed in view of the risk of illness.
Anna herself took care of a dog that was not primarily suspected of smuggling. However, when she tried to research his origins later in life, so many question marks arose that alarm bells began to ring.
– He came to me after biting a child. We had him for three years and I started researching because there were such strange circumstances around him. He had a chip that indicated he was from Hungary. The papers did not quite match.
Anna tells about how the dog had fears that turned into aggression. In the end, it was no longer possible to keep him.
– He had probably been through something terrible. He was so traumatized. There are dog owners out there right now who have dogs that feel terribly bad. It pisses me off. We should know better!
Serious ads
As a buyer, it is not always easy to know if the puppy you are buying is bred in Sweden or introduced illegally.
– Sometimes they have brought in extra puppies from outside and, so to speak, increased an existing litter to earn extra money. And it can be difficult to access, says Anna Beijer.
Online ads can often look serious. But according to Anna and Karin, there are warning signs to look out for.
– The pictures are often very nice with cute puppies. But you can, for example, google images and see if the images have been used before. Look at the language as well, it is not always the best and it may be because they used Google Translate, suggests the dog educator Karin Lundberg who is a colleague of Anna.
Be hardworking and do research
There are several other things to look for.
– Do you get the question “Do you want a pedigree or not”? This is a very strange question from a serious breeder, you always get it if you buy a purebred dog. If you also get an EU passport where the dog also has a rabies vaccination, it is very strange if it is to be sold in Sweden. An EU passport with rabies vaccination can only be issued when the puppy is 3 months old.
What else can you think of?
– A scenario is that you have to meet up somewhere, for example in a parking lot. It is common to see the breeder if you do not live very far from each other, says Anna.
Karin states that smuggled dogs are sold in Sweden because there is a great demand for dogs
– But it is indefensible to buy such a dog. Do your research, be as hard as possible. Ask as many questions as you can! Double check the chip numbers – is there a number that does not match the vaccination papers?
If you buy such a dog, you support criminal activity and allow these actors to continue to operate.
– If the demand decreases, it will automatically be the case that fewer and fewer dogs have to go through this hell.
6 warning signs to look out for