SINGAPORE - The owner of several dogs arranged to have one of his pets artificially inseminated, and after it gave birth to a litter, the owner of the other dog kept one puppy and another was sold.

On Wednesday, Goh Chong Tse, 37, was fined $9,000 after he pleaded guilty to five charges, including one for operating his premises as a farm for commercial purpose without a licence, by breeding his dog for commercial purposes.

The other four charges were for owning three dogs without a licence and for keeping more than three dogs without permission from the Director-General of Animal Health and Welfare, despite his home not being registered as a dog farm or pet shop.

Ms Joanne Wee, a prosecutor from the National Parks Board (NParks), said Goh and his wife, Ms Jamie Ng Sze Eng, owned a corgi, Waffles, some time between 2019 and July 2020. It was a stray found by Ms Ng and later registered under Goh’s name.

In December 2020, Goh got to know Ms Jermaine Ang and they agreed to have Waffles artificially inseminated with sperm from her stud dog. Ms Ang agreed to pay for the insemination.

They also agreed that Ms Ang would keep one puppy from the subsequent litter.

Some time on or around Feb 27, 2021, Waffles gave birth to six puppies. Ms Ang kept one puppy, while Goh and his wife kept four of them. One was sold for $9,500.

On Feb 9, 2022, NParks officers, acting on information, inspected Goh’s home and seized 19 dogs – 17 corgis and two shiba inus.

During the inspection, the officers checked the validity of the licences for the dogs. Investigations revealed that from or around Feb 27, 2021, to Feb 9, 2022, Goh did not have valid licences to own three of them.

For maintaining a farm without a licence, Goh could have been jailed for up to 12 months, fined up to $10,000 or both.

For each count of owning a dog without a licence, he could have been fined up to $5,000. He could have received the same punishment for owning more than three dogs on his premises without being a dog farm or a pet shop.