Yukon Dog Breeder Licensing Requirements

Yukon has no licence or registration for dog breeders. The Animal Protection and Control Act (S.Y. 2022, c. 13) came into force on April 5, 2024, replacing the former Dog Act, Animal Protection Act and Pounds Act. It requires a permit to operate a pet store, a boarding facility or an animal rescue organization (ss. 20 to 22); operations that already existed when the Act took effect had until April 5, 2025 to obtain one (s. 24). The Act defines a pet store as "a business that offers companion animals for sale to the public" and a boarding facility as a business that keeps animals for a fee (s. 1). The Yukon government's guidance names pet stores, rescues and boarding facilities and does not mention breeders, so a breeder who sells puppies as a business, or who boards other people's dogs, should ask the Animal Health Unit whether a permit applies. The Act allows the Commissioner in Executive Council to make regulations on the breeding and sale of animals and on the number of animals a person may keep (s. 69), but the Animal Protection and Control Regulation (O.I.C. 2024/62) contains no breeding or sale rules for dogs. Municipal rules can apply as well: in Whitehorse, anyone who owns or operates a kennel, defined as an establishment for the breeding and/or boarding of dogs, must hold a licence under the city's Business License Bylaw and follow the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association's Code of Practice for Canadian Kennel Operations (September 1994) (Animal Control Bylaw 2001-01, ss. 2, 28, 29).

There is no breeder application at the territorial level. For a pet store, boarding facility or animal rescue permit for animals other than livestock, the Yukon government directs applicants to the Animal Protection and Control Officer at the Animal Health Unit; livestock operations go to the Agriculture Branch. Applications are made in the manner and form the director sets (s. 23(1)), and staff help arrange the inspection. An Animal Protection and Control Officer, who may be accompanied by a veterinarian, reviews how the animals are kept, including space, ventilation, temperature control, sanitation, food and water, exercise and enrichment, and security. A permit may carry conditions on facilities, inspections, insurance, care and confinement, record-keeping and reporting (s. 23(3)), and a refusal, amendment, cancellation or condition can be appealed to the Minister within 10 days. In Whitehorse, a kennel licence is obtained under the city's Business License Bylaw, and a licensed kennel is exempt from the city's two-dog limit on residential properties (Animal Control Bylaw, ss. 28, 43, 46).

Yukon charges no breeder fee. For animal-related business permits, the government lists no fee for the first application of a pet store or boarding facility that already existed when the Act took effect (s. 24(3)) and a $50 fee for new operations and permit renewals. In Whitehorse, dog licences cost $34.50 for a lifetime tag (spayed or neutered) or $75 for a yearly tag (not spayed or neutered), renewed at the start of each calendar year, and a licensed kennel receives three dog licence tags at no additional charge when its licence is issued (Animal Control Bylaw, s. 35).

Animal protection and control officers enforce the care duties that apply to every owner. An owner must meet any prescribed standard of care and provide, as suits the animal's age, species and type, enough food and water to keep a healthy body condition, shelter with adequate ventilation, protection from injurious heat and cold, reasonable measures to exclude predators and sanitary conditions, living conditions that minimize the risk of injury, opportunity for exercise and socialization, and adequate medical care (s. 30). The standards of care prescribed so far are national codes of practice for livestock; none has been adopted for dogs (Regulation, Sch. 1). The Act bans prescribed cosmetic surgeries (s. 38), which include removing a dog's dewclaws or docking its tail when the dog is more than five days old, ear cropping and devocalization, unless a veterinarian operates to treat an injury or for other medical reasons (Regulation, s. 4; Act, s. 38(2)). Officers are appointed by the Minister and have the powers of a peace officer (s. 5). They may enter and inspect, during operating hours, any place other than a dwelling where animals are kept for sale, adoption, services, exhibition, hire or slaughter, and the operator must not refuse entry (s. 12). An officer who believes an owner is breaking the Act may order the owner to stop or fix the problem (s. 7) and may take animals into custody when an order would not be enough (s. 9). Where seized animals could not be cared for because of their number or type, a director may ask a justice to bar the owner from keeping more than a set number of animals for up to three years (s. 40). In Whitehorse, a designated officer may inspect a kennel at all reasonable times and may have the dogs seized and impounded at the operator's cost if the kennel does not comply (Animal Control Bylaw, ss. 32 to 34).

Yukon has no territorial record-keeping rule for breeders. When a director issues a pet store, boarding facility or rescue permit, the permit may include record-keeping and reporting requirements (s. 23(3)). Whitehorse's Animal Control Bylaw sets no kennel record-keeping rule beyond the Code of Practice for Canadian Kennel Operations that kennels must follow (s. 29).

Breaking the Act or the regulations, an officer's order or a permit condition is a general offence. An individual faces a fine of up to $75,000, up to six months in jail, or both for a first offence, and up to $125,000, one year, or both for a repeat offence; a corporation faces up to $100,000, then up to $250,000 (s. 60). Major offences, including torturing an animal, deliberately causing an animal to be injured or to suffer extreme anxiety, and animal fighting, carry up to $150,000, two years, or both for a first offence and up to $250,000, two years, or both after that; corporations face up to $500,000, then up to $1,000,000 (s. 61). Each day is a separate offence (s. 62), and a fine can be calculated for each animal involved (s. 63). A court may also order compensation, community service of up to three years, inspections or counselling (s. 64), and may bar a convicted person from owning or controlling animals for any period or for life (s. 65). Most tickets for minor offences are $100 and tickets for more serious offences are $500. The federal Criminal Code separately makes it an offence to wilfully cause an animal unnecessary pain, suffering or injury, punishable by up to five years in prison on indictment (s. 445.1). Under Whitehorse's Animal Control Bylaw, a conviction can bring a fine of up to $10,000 depending on how the case is prosecuted, and the city may suspend or revoke a kennel's licence if it breaks a city bylaw (ss. 31, 142).