Registry Redacted, Ten Questions To AKC and A Chronology Of Registration Changes

Beset by Animal Rights legislation, a drop in puppy sales accompanied by soaring veterinary costs and other expenses associated with showing and breeding top quality dogs, breeders began dropping out, leaving puppy sales wide-open to puppy mills, or as AKC renamed them, “commercial” and High Volume Breeders.

Now with a failing economy, a proposed $25 per dog/per year show tax, the seven-fold increase in AKC’s event fee passed on to exhibitors in higher entry fees, entries are down so much that some of the largest shows look like fun matches and clubs are desperate, having contracted for judges and venues based on previous entry numbers.

Registrations are down, plummeting like the stock market. More than 50% in the last 15 years but over the last six months, we estimate the rate of decline has nearly doubled! Is that just the economy or is it that breeders are turning to more customer-oriented registries?

We sent these questions to Mr. David Roberts, AKC Registrations Department Vice President. He was gracious in taking my call which no one else would take or return. I am confident Mr. Roberts will make every effort to respond to these most-asked questions.

1. Does AKC honor the Limited Registration designation regardless of subsequent transfers?

2. Does there need to be written agreement with every party to a subsequent sale/purchase in order to prevent someone from getting full registration papers and breeding the dog?

3. Will AKC honor a signed buyer/seller contract before it has been upheld in court?

4. Will AKC honor a simple written no-breeding agreement on dogs sold at too young or too old an age to safely neuter?

6. I’ve read your statement but what purpose does the name change policy serve other than to increase AKC income?

7. Regarding name changes, does a pet owner’s wish outweigh a breeder’s need to track a dog’s show or breeding record?

8. Regarding AKC’s Administrative Pedigree Research Service, did the board vote on that or who exactly are the “majority were in favor of this proposal?”

9. Other than generating needed income for AKC and enabling puppy mills to upgrade non-AKC registered stock, what does registering non-registered dogs do for “the fancy”?

10. What are AKC’s plans for registering Designer Dogs or other cross breeds?

What follows is a recap of recent coverage on AKC changing policies and administrative decisions. In chronological order, we begin with a significant obstacle to responsible breeding.

April 2008 | The March 2008 rule change complicates pedigree research, prevents responsible breeders from tracking the dogs they produce or keeping up with show wins, and forces breeders to register and name each puppy in a litter in order to gain any degree of protection for their breeding program. It insures more income for AKC and that seems to be reason enough for just about all policy changes going on today.

Update: This "Name Change" rule quietly preceded a monumental decision by the AKC Board to allow registration of non-registered dogs.

New York, NY- The American Kennel Club® (AKC) is pleased to announce a registration rule change that now allows owners of AKC registered dogs to change the official name of their pet. Dogs are eligible if they were born in the U.S., have never been bred, or have not won any awards at an AKC event.

"We have a lot of interest from AKC registered dog owners looking to rename their dogs," said David Roberts, AKC's Assistant Vice President of Registration. "In most cases, the dog is a beloved pet and the owner would like to pick a name that has special value to them. The new rule allows owners to change the name when transferring their AKC registered dog, or to request a name change at any time."

Previously, a policy was in place that only allowed the owner to change a dog's name if the dog had been individually registered by its breeder and the request was accompanied by written permission from the breeder. The new regulation reads:

"The name of a dog registered with The American Kennel Club will be allowed to be changed provided the dog was whelped in the United States and in cases where the breeder(s) first individually registered the dog, their written consent would be required. A dog name containing a Registered Kennel Name cannot be changed without the written consent of the owner(s) of that Registered Kennel Name.

However, no change in the name will be recorded by The American Kennel Club after the dog has produced or sired an AKC registered litter or received an award at an AKC licensed or member event.

Any name change must comply with all AKC requirements."

The service fee for a name change is $25. The Dog Name Change Authorization form is located online at http://www.akc.org/pdfs/ADCG01.pdf. The completed form can be faxed to the AKC at: 919-816-4261 or mailed to the address on the application.

(This release is followed by the standard tag line information to which we added bold emphasis as a reminder of AKC’s stated purpose and service to the fancy.)

The American Kennel Club, founded in 1884, is a not-for-profit organization which maintains the largest registry of purebred dogs in the world and oversees the sport of purebred dogs in the United States. The AKC is dedicated to upholding the integrity of its registry, promoting the sport of purebred dogs and breeding for type and function. Along with its nearly 5,000 licensed and member clubs and its affiliated organizations, the AKC advocates for the purebred dog as a family companion, advances canine health and well-being, works to protect the rights of all dog owners and promotes responsible dog ownership. More than 20,000 competitions for AKC-registered purebred dogs are held under AKC rules and regulations each year including conformation, agility, obedience, rally, tracking, herding, lure coursing, coonhound events, hunt tests, field and earthdog tests. Affiliate AKC organizations include the AKC Humane Fund, AKC Canine Health Foundation, AKC Companion Animal Recovery and the AKC Museum of the Dog. For more information, visit www.akc.org

08|05|08 - TheDogPress / Barbara J. Andrews - After approving the name change rule in March, the AKC Board approved the Administrative Pedigree Research Service which to many breeders, is an acronym for capturing:

A) puppy mill dogs registered with a competing registry or
B) pets specifically sold “without papers” by AKC breeders.

Either reason is like dropping the A-Bomb on a show breeder’s kennel! Whether you agree or not, make your comments and VOTE below when you have weighed this information.

Withholding papers to insure the pet dog doesn’t produce “registered” puppies has always been how breeders protected their breed, kennel name, and bloodline. But when there were legal actions, we're told that AKC began quietly registering those dogs. When infuriated breeders found out, that brought more action. AKC found itself in a no-win situation. Then, thanks to this columnist's monitoring of registration problems which included in-print comparisons to the cat associations' equitable registration system, AKC gave us Limited Registration. And all was good, until now.

Somewhere along the way, Rules (see below) were added or changed, absolving AKC from honoring the breeder’s intent unless the breeder has a written agreement with every party to the original purchase. But if the original buyer (or broker!!) transfers the dog to someone else with whom there was no contract? Bingo, registered breeding dog.

AKC has refused to tell us when the current rules were passed. Perhaps one of our Delegate readers knows and will share that information, (anonymously of course)

It is a slippery slope, which in my opinion, can turn into a landslide of non-purebred or genetically defective AKC registered "purebreds". What AKC quietly accomplished is now dressed up with an ambiguous new name, under a policy (?) based on a rule (?) that seemed okay on its surface but like a peeling a rotten banana, looked pretty bad when exposed.

The new Administrative Pedigree Research service was apparently decided by staff, with little or no Delegate input, and presumably no board vote. Because the minutes are now so abbreviated, we can’t be sure if there was objection by anyone on the board even though the damage derived from generations of questionably “registerable” dogs is incalculable.

As of August 1, three months after approval, we were still unable to find definitive information on AKC’s website regarding the revolutionary, history-making new service. It was allegedly leaked to one publication by an AKC Delegate who shared the “FAQs” from the private Delegate portal. The service will generate an extra $30, $10 of which is said to pay for the pedigree research to determine if the dog originates “from AKC registrable stock.” How much "research" can be done in less than an hour? Breeders spend days evaluating a pedigree before deciding on a mating... oh well, you get the point.

So TheDogPress contacted Mr. David Roberts, AVP, Registrations (the person listed as contact for additional information re the new service), Ms. Daisy Okas, AVP, Communications, and Ms. Lisa Peterson, Director Club Communications. The only response was an email from Lisa Peterson, who provided a link to the Board Minutes, which contain only the following:

"BUSINESS AND OPERATIONS David Roberts, Kristi Munchel, Mari-Beth O’Neill and Rosario Vila, AKC Staff, participated in this portion of the meeting via video conference."

"Incorporating AKC Registrable Dogs into AKC Registry
Chapter 3, Section 6 of Rules Applying to Registration and Discipline grants AKC the authority to register dogs of AKC registrable stock. Dogs or litters may qualify for registration if pedigrees show no break in AKC lineage and all dogs and litters originate from AKC registrable stock. Staff advised the Board that without objection it will begin registering dogs of AKC registrable stock lacking litter registration papers provided that the dogs are otherwise deemed registrable by staff. The majority were in favor of this proposal."

AKC’s “no comment” response raises questions for which there may be no acceptable answers. Does this service in any way benefit responsible breeders? We're left to assume that puppies sold with “no papers” due to the possibility they carry a serious genetic fault or were of overall non-breeding quality can now enter the breeding gene pool unless the breeder can furnish a written agreement to the contrary and prove that all parties to the sale know and signed the contract? And here's the big catch - any subsequent owner-applicant would have had to sign a non-breeding contract or the breeder's contract is negated and the dog could be registered. Huh?

The genetic and moral impact of overriding a responsible breeder’s knowledge and judgment is incomprehensible. Consider this; you had a signed contract on a potential carrier of a serious genetic disease yet that dog somehow winds up a puppy mill? Or a carefully scrutinized buyer falls on hard economic times, registers the pet dog with another registry so he can breed it to a horrid AKC registered dog owned by a neighbor? All of those puppies and their puppies can then be AKC registered?

Now you understand why no caring breeder playing by the rules to protect their breed and the integrity of the purebred dog could ever accept this artfully named program.

Nor can any Delegate, someone elected to uphold the specific concept of purebred dogs on which AKC was founded and chartered. Is that why the Administrative Pedigree Research Service was staff developed and Board approved without a Delegate vote?

What is the impact of registering “puppy mill” puppies so commercially created they weren't even AKC registered? How does AKC determine pet shop or BYB puppies are purebred even though the odds are significantly higher that such dogs are not from unbroken "AKC lineage"?

AKC says there is benefit for the pet buyer. Baloney! How many pet buyers would pursue getting AKC papers on their unregistered dog unless they intend to breed it? With this new service, it's a walk in the park for greedy pet owners or a nice family uneducated about "responsible breeding." Is that why AKC refuses to really educate the public on the advantages of owning a purebred AKC Registered dog? Has AKC inadvertently blown the lid off something that was only a myth anyway?

Even acknowledging the strategy of a well-run corporation’s marketing department and fiduciary responsibility, this new service portends the end of pretense. Will the Delegates who stopped the Petland deal allow this to happen? Breeders have been denigrated as being "elite" but that's what all breeders of purebred animals strive to be! Anyone can produce slaughter beef or a hack horse but only the elite can breed a herd sire or a Derby winner.

You run into enough unexpected genetic problems no matter how carefully you research but the odds increase astronomically when a dog that was sold with no papers is allowed to contaminate a breed’s gene pool. Ditto a puppy mill or backyard dog that some clerk at AKC decides originated from AKC stock and has “no break in lineage” according to a pedigree the buyer didn’t get? Gimme a break.

In the FAQs (which we couldn’t obtain) AKC says it gets over 400 inquires per week from owners who think their dogs are AKC registrable and 41,000 inquiries per month from owners who don’t have an Individual Dog Registration Application. Let’s see… assuming even one fourth of 42,000 inquiries per month actually result in registrations, that means over 120,000 dogs of inferior and/or questionable genetic quality could enter the AKC gene pool over the next year.

But wait, some of those dogs, bred by top breeders but sold as Limited or Papers Withheld, will become champions and reproduce! So Good Breeder, how would you know that the champion with a wonderful pedigree from a reputable breeder was sold as a pet with no papers for a REASON?

There will be more on this subject. The bomb has not even hit the ground for breeders and Delegates who will never accept bypassing ethical breeders as a good thing. Capturing registration fees on puppy mill produce registered with a competing association may mean more income for AKC and we all want it to be able to have the funds to "do for dogs" but at what cost?

Tell us and other breeders how you feel. AKC has respected reader input in the past and we know there are good people on the Board who will listen. You made your position clear by over a thousand opinions expressed in the Judging poll which we conveyed to AKC's Judging Operations department which is taking appropriate action. AKC does listen.

We encourage you to speak out again.

Click YES – Registration Service if you approve the new service.
If you have reservations or do not approve, click NO – Registration Service.

FYI: Chapter 3, Section 6 of Rules Applying to Registration and Discipline states in part:

"For the purpose of registering or refusing to register purebred dogs The American Kennel Club will recognize only such conditional sale or conditional stud agreements affecting the registration of purebred dogs as are in writing and are shown to have been brought to the attention of the applicant for registration. (emphasis added). The American Kennel Club cannot recognize alleged conditional sale, conditional stud or other agreements not in writing which affect the registration of purebred dogs, until after the existence, construction and/or affect of the same shall have been determined by an action at law."

The only contracts that the AKC will enforce will be the withholding of AKC registration papers until a dog is paid for or altered, if the terms are clearly set out in the bill-of-sale and signed by all parties involved in the sale of the dog, (emphasis added) this is required by our rules.

Also see the new rule allowing owners to change the name of their dog which was approved in March 2008, something not all breeders appreciate!

AKC strongly discourages co-ownerships. According to this cautionary warning on the AKC website, http://www.akc.org/reg/contract.cfm current 3/26/09, if you enter into any kind of contract with a dog person, you’re on your own. Here’s what AKC says about contracts.

“Many AKC-registrable dogs are bred, sold, or transferred on the basis of certain conditions, restrictions, or understood agreements between the interested parties. Some breeders sell their puppies on Spay-Neuter Contracts, which require that the dog be spayed or neutered by a certain age. Others enter into co-ownership contracts with new owners or into Stud Contracts with the owner of a male dog. Some dogs are sold with the agreement that they will be shown to a certain level of achievement in AKC events.

”The AKC does not and cannot enter into arbitration when an understanding between buyers, sellers, or co-owners goes wrong. The AKC will abide by the decision of the court if the case is litigated. We advise that all contracts be thoroughly examined and understood before the transaction is completed. For more information, see our Procedures for Registration Matters.”

AKC SILENT ON NON-REGISTERED DOGS

AKC’s PLAN TO Register Unregistered Dogs which broke in TheDogPress August 5th, created a “topical storm” of Reader Comments.

08|20|09 - TheDogPress / Barbara J. Andrews - We asked AKC to clarify the intent and operation of the “Register Anything” scheme and the only response we received was “no comment.” In the criminal justice or political scene unwillingness to answer a reasonable question sends a clear signal of guilt, unwillingness to incriminate oneself, or having previously made a fallacious statement for which there is no reasonable explanation.

As an AKC breeder, I wish I could tell everyone to relax. I can’t, and since AKC refused opportunity to explain what it did and why it did it without so much as a whisper to the fancy, it's a good bet AKC can't either. If we are misunderstanding AKC’s plan, now would be the time to explain. That AKC refuses to do so is insulting to the entire fancy.

On the other hand, what can AKC say that would make palatable the knowledge that it has or will register dogs which a.) the breeder felt should not be registered or b.) were not bred by the listed breeder or c.) are not the offspring of the listed sire and dam?

Given the registration mistakes and “clerical errors” AKC has made over the years, is this the mother of all cover-ups? What does AKC tell owners about their AKC registered Toy Poodle that looks just like a Lab? How can it excuse a pedigree the breeder knows is absolutely wrong?

I deliver this message reluctantly because the AKC system has been very good to me for over forty years. Even so, in addition to folders full of documented pedigree fraud, in just my own personal experience:

1.) AKC refused to cancel a co-bred litter based on, according to a senior Registration Department staff member with whom I had several conversations, a sequence of obvious forgeries. Okay, even your bank doesn't verify your signature on every check But when she pulled copies of the blue slips (individual puppy registration application forms) on which my “signature” appeared, my co-breeder hadn't even made an attempt to make those signatures resemble each other or the forged signature on the litter registration application form! She apologized for laughing at their careless attempts but shared my disbelief at my co-owner's audacity. We presumed the blue slips had been signed at different times to different people without trying to match the original litter application. Apparently someone higher up decided she and I were both wrong. The litter stood as registered and so did 7 puppies, sired by a male with one testicle that I had replaced with the show bitch on co-ownership - and foolishly allowed them to keep the male they said they just couldn't part with.

2.) Then there was the Canadian-whelped litter for which there was no stud owner signature at all - because the bitch was never bred to my stud dog! The CKC cancelled registration on the litter and sent a letter of apology to me. AKC refused to cancel the litter. So who knows how many breeders paid top dollar for Sachmo “progeny” that never existed?

3.) AKC falsely and knowingly registered a litter out of a puppy bitch too young to have conceived, much less whelped a litter! A very powerful person in Mexico returned her to me when she was well under a year old. I later learned he had registered a litter out of her and of course, the puppies were both AKC and Federación Canófila Mexicana registered. Thelma Von Thaden was then FCM President. FCM cancelled registration of the litter in spite of serious legal action which the FCM Board of Directors knew would be initiated by the “breeder” and owners of the falsely created “O’BJ” dogs. By contrast, AKC told me they had "no reciprocity” with Mexico and there was nothing they could do, which wasn’t entirely true because shortly thereafter, AKC “inspected” me.

Such is life. My records are in order and my bullet-proof vest hangs at the front door. These are but three of my personal experiences, carefully documented. But there are more. Many of you have sent your own documented stories. We don’t want to make bad matters worse, nor mountains out of molehills, we just want the mole to stop messing up our yard! One reader went into detail about the problems her club has had trying to get the breed recognized. Having worked with Mark Mooty on getting the Miniature Bull Terrier accepted, I can vouch for that. AKC wouldn’t even accept Akitas registered with the Japanese Kennel Club and the world's most respected registry, the Kennel Club Of England! Marianne Goldstein finally relented and “enrolled” my two English imports as “for breeding only.” I'm pretty sure that was a brand new category as it predated the FSS by many years.

But turn the calendar forward… now AKC welcomes breeds no one has ever heard of from countries we can’t find on a world map! Simultaneously, we are expected to believe someone at AKC can somehow verify those imports, BYB or puppy mill dogs registered with a competing registry?

As one reader asked, "will they require DNA to verify parentage?" Personally I doubt that, especially since AKC only began doing DNA certification after UKC offered the service. According to a very prominent AKC judge, AKC "threw him out" when he flew to NY and presented them with a complete Canine DNA program his lab had worked on for months. Oh well, another story for another time.

Despite what we’ve been led to believe, AKC doesn’t “have” to register puppy mill produce for legal reasons. Indeed, AKC has actively solicited commercial breeder business. See AKC Letter To Puppy Mills. This new rule in no way changes what AKC has been doing, it simply makes registering *anything* bred by *anyone* registered with any *competing* registry, conceivably AKC registrable. That changes things because in the past, disputed litters and dogs at least had AKC papers. Now they don't need those pesky pieces of paper in order to become AKC registered.

Many asked how anyone at AKC can determine a dog had an unbroken line of AKC registered dogs? When AKC breeders withhold papers, they don’t usually provide a pedigree. AKC refused comment.

As has been pointed out by readers, unscrupulous people can just take a dog's name and AKC number from a show catalog and falsely register litters. That has happened. Now they need only to pay a pedigree service for a fictitiously created litter pedigree and what? send that to AKC as proof of unbroken line of AKC registered dogs?

This is one time I’d like to be wrong but I’ll just leave it to breeders to decide who’s looking out for them, TheDogPress or AKC. As I said, things change and we can hope that AKC will too. DNA technology now makes it possible to verify disputed litters and shucks, it would bring in a little extra money in fees.

But not as much as the new Pedigree Research Service.

REGISTRY REDACTED

We compiled and sent Ten Questions to AKC regarding new registration rules and policies that represent an escalating pattern of disregard for show breeders, purebred dogs, and the stud book.