The Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW) has now formed its working group on the welfare of pedigree dogs from 12 cross-party politicians and is ready to begin the investigation.

APGAW invites written evidence from all interested parties. In particular we seek evidence on any information you may have on regulation of the industry, structure of the breeding and showing industry, identification of dogs to establish parentage and how current breed standards work.

The evidence should be presented in the following form;

• the name and contact details of the persons or organisation submitting the evidence.

• any request that the committee treat the whole, or part, of the written evidence as confidential, with reasons for the request.

•with a word limit of 2,000 words

•by the deadline of 1^st February 2009

• an executive summary of the main points made in the submission.

•any recommendations for action by the Government or others which the submitter would like the committee to consider for inclusion in its report.

NB The memorandum can be omitted if the evidence given is only one page long.

NB If evidence is submitted which falls outside of these conditions it will not be considered by the committee.

This is an open call for evidence and you are welcome to circulate the call more widely to those you feel may be interested in responding. Evidence submitted to APGAW may be published in the final report of the working group. Please direct any enquiries to Marisa Heath on 07736 899 547.