The appeal of keeping pure-bred dogs as pets has led to an uptick in the breeding business, with farms popping up all over the country, but it has also created room for fraudsters to exploit dog lovers.

Primarily, a lack of dogs with verifiable pedigrees, which is the record of its descent showing it is pure-bred, aids fraud in breeding. Since there is no law requiring breeding farm owners to maintain such records, they can hoodwink first time owners easily, by selling them mixed breed dogs.

This rising trend of tricking people by selling them a low quality breed instead of a pure-bred dog is quite worrying for the dog lovers community. Many sell puppies in bazaars and pet stores by claiming them to be pure-bred.

Similarly, many breeding farms also deceive people by either not giving buyers the dog’s pedigree or forging one. One way the practice could be curbed is if requiring breeders to keep authentic pedigrees according to international standards.

Pedigrees or a breed register stores all information about the dog’s lineage and if its ancestors were the same breed as it, then it is considered to be of a pure breed. Although buying mixed breed dogs is not the end of the world, Nasir Malik, Secretary of the Kennel Club Pakistan, believes that mixed breeds do not get used to homes or humans the same way as pure-bred dogs do.

“Often when people get a dog they get confused when their dog is not comfortable in its new surroundings, that is because the dog is not of a pure breed,” he informed. Even if it is not pet shops, many sell through social media websites like Instagram and Facebook or through online classifieds provides a protective cover to breeders’ efforts to trick people into believing that the dogs they sell are from a pure bloodline.

There is no way to certify a dog’s breed in Pakistan like there is in European countries, or the United States. There are also efforts underway to start the process of keeping pedigrees for dogs.