There exists in Britain the Breeding of Dogs Act 1973 that was substantially amended by the Breeding and Sale of Dogs (Welfare) Act 1999.
Under the Act, a person keeping a breeding establishment for dogs will require a licence issued by the local authority. And for the purposes of the Act such an establishment is defined essentially as a business of breeding dogs for sale where a minimum 5 litters are bred across a one year period.
Key detail in the legislation, as you would expect, concerns the welfare and protection of brood bitches with licence conditions stipulating that any one bitch does not give birth to more than 6 litters of puppies, and that bitches do not give birth to puppies within a 12 month period of last giving birth.
It is legislation that is of course applicable to greyhounds as it is any other breed of dog, but as far as greyhounds are concerned the Act seems hardly worth the paper it is written on (what a surprise).
Due to the decline in greyhound racing in Britain the number of greyhound puppies bred annually has fallen dramatically over more recent years (litters recorded with the National Coursing Club (NCC) falling by more than 54% in the last 7 years) and there are now few establishments that require a licence.
Indeed greyhound breeding across the last decade in Britain has been spread very thinly with the infamous Charles Pickering (