Designer dogs with hefty price tags are a booming commercial business, but a Queensland development application for 100 breeding dog kennels has animal welfare advocates lobbying for change.

Key points: Animal activists claim that, if approved, the expansion of a business would create a puppy farm because of the large number of breeding dogs

Animal activists claim that, if approved, the expansion of a business would create a puppy farm because of the large number of breeding dogs The application has been a catalyst for some to lobby for change to what they think are Queensland's weak puppy farm laws

The application has been a catalyst for some to lobby for change to what they think are Queensland's weak puppy farm laws In Queensland, there is no law restricting the number of breeding dogs a facility can house.

Diamond Valley Kennels on the Sunshine Coast hinterland has 32 breeding dogs on site; however, owner Lisa Howlett has applied to the Sunshine Coast Council for a new facility in Landsborough to have 100 breeding kennels and 200 boarding kennels.

Ms Howlett said her expansion plans were in response to the "huge demand" for designer breeds such as poodle-crosses, which she said some breeders sold for up to $8,000.

"The demand is huge, it is beyond what people think it is," she said.

Ms Howlett also has a dog breeding facility in Dubbo, New South Wales, with no limit on the number of breeding dogs.

Lisa Howlett from Diamond Valley Kennels on the Sunshine Coast holds two cavalier pups. ( ABC News )

Diamond Valley Kennels' application has drawn criticism from animal activists who claim that, if approved, it would create a puppy farm because of the large number of breeding dogs.

The RSPCA defined a puppy farm as "an intensive dog breeding facility, which operates under inadequate conditions that fail to meet the dogs' behavioural, social or physiological needs".

Ms Howlett said she was not a puppy farmer.

"All we are doing is breeding wanted dogs that go to people's homes and they love them and give them so much joy and love forever. Is that such a bad thing?" she said.

"If what we are doing is so bad then I'm sure we would have been shut down a long time ago."

Catalyst for change?

An aerial map in Diamond Valley Kennels' application shows the proposed area for new boarding and breeding kennels on the Sunshine Coast. ( Supplied: Sunshine Coast Council )

The application has been a catalyst for Oscar's Law, an Australia-wide not-for-profit volunteer organisation, to lobby for change to what it calls "Queensland's weak puppy farm laws".

Animal welfare groups are pushing to bring Queensland in line with Victoria's Puppy Farms and Pet Shops Act, which has been described as the toughest "in the world".

Oscar's Law founder, Debra Tranter, lobbied for the Victorian legislation which was passed in December 2017.

The Domestic Animals Act restricts the number of breeding dogs on a property to 10 with council approval alone and breeders will have until April next year to comply.

In Queensland, there is no law restricting the number of breeding dogs a facility can house.

In a statement to the ABC, Biosecurity Queensland said the restriction of dogs on a property was "done by a local government under local laws".

The Sunshine Coast Council was considering Ms Howlett's application and has requested further information by June 6.

Animal activists' outrage has extended to social media with a Facebook page created in direct response to Ms Howlett's proposed expansion.

"We set up the page with two main purposes, firstly, to make people aware of the proposed new breeding facility, share information on the development application, and provide details on how people can object to the proposal," the spokeswoman said.

"The second purpose of the page is to highlight exactly how weak Queensland puppy breeding laws are."

These Cavoodle puppies bred at Diamond Valley Kennels have already been sold. The breed is in high demand. ( ABC News )

RSPCA, vets disagreed with legislative change

Neither the RSPCA in Queensland nor the Victorian Division of the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) supported restricting the number of breeding dogs.

Paul Martin was involved in the parliamentary inquiry into puppy farm legislation when he was president of AVA Victoria.

He said welfare grounds should determine the number of dogs allowed on site.

"As a veterinarian in practice, one of the worst welfare cases are backyard breeders who had one or two bitches and saw the puppies as easy money," Dr Martin said.

"Those people often go to work and when the bitch becomes due, they are not attended.

"Whereas a person doing it professionally and commercially would adopt much better animal welfare standards."

Dr Martin said Victoria's laws were "the toughest in Australia and I believe the toughest in the world".

"The jury is still out as to whether the laws will result in better animal welfare outcomes for individual dogs," he said.

Holly, a Cavalier, feeds her puppies at Diamond Valley Kennels. ( ABC News )

RSPCA Queensland chief executive Mark Townend also said the issue was not about the number of dogs, but about the condition in which the dogs were kept.

"We shouldn't be focused on the 100, we should be focusing on what sort of housing they are going to have, what sort of veterinary care, what sort of genetics," he said.

Ms Tranter, who has not visited Diamond Valley Kennels, said her concern with the kennels was based on the number of breeding dogs.