REGISTRY, Breed & kennel Club NEWS

AKC and Petland (Puppy Mill Contract) etc., etc..

This section was opened Sept. 14, 2006 because your thoughts on this are too important and too historical to be lost in the transient format of LTE. The Exposure Worked!!!!  As the first news source, we covered the story and you publicly made this an "issue" resulting in AKC recanting its position.  YOU flexed your muscle.  YOU  have the power!
 AKC's rationale for the "done deal" Petland contract and the official release to explain the (current) decision "not to go forward with it."

Please send comments to NewsDesk@TheDogPress.com

September 2006 Delegate Meeting - compiled for your convenience.

NOT FOR PROFIT? I am sick and appalled after reading all this AKC/puppy mill information.

My only question is this, has anyone talked with the IRS?  AKC has a NONPROFIT status. They are most certainly NOT nonprofit with all the selling of goods they have gotten into in the past few years. They are supposed to be a REGISTRY ONLY! They can tweak their books all they want, but if they are really investigated by IRS they are in trouble. Marilyn Mayfield MMMAYFIELD@aol.com

Advice To 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.

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.

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 truly 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, if they even think of these uses for the lousy cheesy less than 20 bond piece of paper; Certificate that you have to separate from the propaganda letter that comes along with it.  So with that I am now showing my potential families all that they do no 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.  It's a stay out of jail card, as if you don't have one you are likely to at least see your vehicle towed away.  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 on the chicken shit as is with AKC 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 horrifics.

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 what on earth does the average pet home need "AKC papers" for?  And let's just say at about a year or even close to 2 years of age someone does decide they want to compete in an AKC event can they?  Yes they can, 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

Application processing fee:  $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

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.

See Additional Comments on Page Two AKC, Petland, Puppy Mills, etc, etc...

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