GoldDigger
unearths AKC deals with Puppy Mills & Petland but first,
your comments!
Sold
Out:
Do we breeders have legal advice on any of this? Can't the delegates
vote no confidence in the Board and force an election? I know
nothing of corporate law. Maybe we need a fund-raiser to get a
decent lawyer and a couple of lobbyists in the government - AKC is
surely a bigger monopoly than Micro$oft.
Wondering where
to start...but knowing we have to do something... Virginia M
O'Connor
vmoc3@laurelton.net
AKC sell-out and the Petland deal. Editor, I enjoyed
reading your article and the information has been on the lists
for a few yrs now. Although very succinct and clear, I was
disappointed after reading "There are solutions."
So what are these solutions? Aside from phoning and writing and
e-mailing the AKC to register objections, what is there left to
do? Only go to NCA shows? UKC shows? They are rare and far away
for me. That's not "saving the AKC" . If you've got some ideas,
please share them! Regards, Loretta Van Damm,
Moonrivermastiff@aol.com owner of 9 AKC titled Mastiffs
I thought "Sold Out by AKC" was
absolutely 100% right on. I wrote a similar history of events
leading up to this latest AKC debacle the other day on my Westie
list. But yours says it all. Pat Roark
innesfree@bitstream.net
Innesfree Westies
More on Sold
Out:
I finished reading the article about the Petland arrangement with
AKC. There is little that the author explained about what can be
done but went into a tirade about our constitution and founding
fathers which took the article off the focus of what breeders can do
to fight back. I would like to
see an article written saying that all breeders should be disgusted
enough to stop all registration through AKC and not use the pet
insurance they offer either or purchase anything or use their AKC
credit card -as an alternative, register their dogs with their
private breed clubs and not register or show under AKC for several
years. If cat and dog breeders are going to make any change there
has to be a time when all breeders ban together. Sarah West
furkids@wavecable.com
In Response to L
Hart’s letter 9/14/06:
This is NOT true. I hate to
tell you this BUT this is misinformation. The contract
WAS signed on Sept. 8, 2006 and was announced at the Delegate
meeting. The delegate body could only ask that the Board
reconsider. As with all clubs, we have no control of the board
except to vote them out in March.
Thomson Stanfield
stanfieldt@aol.com Delegate, Terry-All
Kennel Club
Dear AKC, It’s not bad enough you make a mockery out the "Breeders" and Bred-by class, now this!!
You advertise in
print and on commercials and have Mr. Ed Biven even commenting at
Westminster that showing and the AKC is all about the breeders, yet
all of us breeders know it’s about the handlers and dirty judges who
ONLY put up the handlers!! Now throw at us
this horrific action of taking on Petland and why should we bother.
At this point we should not pay AKC anything; AKC should pay us to
register, because without us "Breeders" you would not be the AKC!!!
AKC has almost
become as bad as any crooked union nowadays, nothing for the little
guy, that they swear they will take care of, just make sure they all
line their pockets, and that is exactly what AKC just did!!! Bonnie
Martin SnoCrk1@aol.com
Thank you for
your views and the TheDogPress. I wanted to share with you
how I am handling the debacle on the home front here at Brier
Goldens. As a hobby breeder of Golden Retrievers most of my dogs
are placed as pets regardless of their potential and the
people I place with do not care about an AKC registration. I would
say 99.9% of them will never use the paper for more than a book mark
or frame it to cover a bad spot on the wall. So with that I am now showing my
potential families all that they do not get from AKC registration - I
show them the "papers", and for the most part most people agree it's
about as exciting as a vehicle registration, though I do point out
that a vehicle registration actually has a purpose. Bottom line I am discouraging my pet
homes from bothering to send in their application for individual
registration. After all, read the application, you have now two
years before it expires!
On a personal
level I am still registering my litters and my dogs individually
with AKC because I doubt I would ever get one of those exemption
letters, since I am barely a speck with my 1 to 4 litters per year. Bare bones registrations, I
will not take advantage of the new "Full Litter Registration
Application" that AKC is offering. I have done the math and I have
assessed the alternatives, which I have implemented already for
years:
I microchip my
puppies before they go home with chips I purchase from AVID
directly. With that because I purchase the chip regardless of if
the owner completes the chip registration each chip is traceable
back to me by Pettrac. I provide my
buyers with a pedigree that I purchase from Malcarin Pedigree
Service which is much nicer than the AKC certified pedigree that
does not recognize other registry titles or parent club awards. And I also
educate my buyers prior to and on going with verifiable information
regarding but not limited to cutting edge Veterinary medicine,
training, and general care.
I ask the average pet home need "AKC papers"?
If so, they just have to pay the late fee... Here is the math
I was talking about too for a litter registration via the new "Full
Registration Application":
Litter of 7
puppies: Cost to register the litter with all the frills offered by
AKC "Full Registration Application" $277.00 to the breeder: AKC's
Full Litter Registration Application $25.00 and per puppy:
Registration: $12.00
Pedigree: $12.00
Lost &
Found: $12.00
Costs for the
buyer: $15.00 to complete the transfer of the dog plus if they do
not like the name I chose and I allow it to be changed there is a
one time fee of $25.00 to complete this transaction. Possible cost
to buyer: $40.00
Here is the
alternative and my choice:
Application
processing fee: $25.00 and per puppy fee $2.00. My cost: $39.00
Buyers’ costs
per puppy: $30.00
Registration:
$15.00 (if they choose to)
Pedigree: ZERO -
provided by me
Lost & Found:
ZERO to AKC register with PetTrac: $15.00
Why on earth
would I want to increase my costs for what I can already buy
elsewhere for a better value overall? To support the AKC? Not in
this lifetime, not after how "we" have been treated... Respectfully
Submitted, Gina Heitz - Brier Goldens
gina@briergoldens.com
I too am
appalled by the AKC/Petland action to sell puppies. I suggest
the following to send a message to AKC to get their attention:
1. Larger
Breeders/Breed Clubs/Individual Breeders:
Boycott a major breed show in the East, one in the Midwest and one
on the West Coast. Contact breed clubs and breeders and try to
enlist their support for a 1-show boycott of these specific shows.
When large clubs see their revenues drop as well as entry fees to
AKC, hopefully AKC will get it. Make as much notification of the
program through your "bully pulpit" and why it is being instituted.
2.
Individuals:
a. Publicize a
request that all people who show in AKC and object to this new AKC
program to eliminate 1 or 2 shows from their next years' schedule.
This would include events that include breed, obedience, agility,
rally, herding etc. Here the object is not to hurt individual clubs
but to send reduced AKC entree fee revenue. If this occurred
nationwide, AKC would know it was working.
b. Write AKC and
express your displeasure at the action.
3.
Individuals/Petland:
Write Petland objecting to the program and state you will not
support their business at all.
4.
TheDogPress and
Other Dog Sport Magazines:
a. Immediately
develop a blog for this issue at TheDogPress. This way copies of
your position can be spread immediately through internet contacts of
all breeders and their friends in the various venues. This may be
the fastest way to get your position to as many people as possible
in the shortest time.
b. Enlist the
efforts of your publishing friends and competitors in the dog world
to make a united front on this issue. These would include dog hobby
magazines, handling magazines and obedience and agility magazines.
Through these sources find other ways to get the point across to AKC.
For my part I, I will do items 2 and 3. If enough find ways to
express outrage at this plan then maybe a change will take place at
Petland and AKC. Alan Conroy
stratford10@hotmail.com
