REGISTRY, Breed & kennel Club NEWS

Mike-Mar Puppy Mill - Big Bad Wolf.... SPIN!!  part 3
 BUSTED! Part 1   GUILTY!! Part 2  SPIN! Part 3 

"Who is AKC kidding?"  "Insulting!"  "Inspected?  No way."

We thought the following observation by AKC Judge Margaret (Peggy) Mickelson was right on target.  Ms. Mickelson speaks for a lot of confused and frustrated breeders, saying  "Trust Menaker to turn this into something useful for the AKC, and something to promote the PAWS agenda.  The kennel facility has been notorious in the dog world for many, many years, AKC inspection or not. No one who was aware of the situation would do business with this man...his name is anathema in any breed with which he's been associated, and has been for years.

"The only reason AKC is doing anything publicly now is because the world is aware of the conditions at Michael Wolf's facility. For years, it was known that he kept Pekingese in rows of wire crates stacked one on top of the other so that the rows were 5 wide and 4 high, with no flooring to prevent feces and other excrement from falling from top to bottom...the Pekes were never out of the crates except to be bred and to whelp...and when there got to be too many, he simply put them down (himself), in terrific numbers, and started keeping the younger ones in the same fashion. All this was well known and not a secret to anyone seriously involved in the dog show world here. It does no good to name names, or to say that so and so provided a reference...so and so isn't here to refute those claims.

"Michael Wolf has been in trouble so often over the years that none of this should have ever taken place...AKC's taking a little bitty position now is useless...he should have been stopped in his tracks years ago. He's been found guilty in a court of law of dog theft; he's known to hundreds of people to be a bucket of slime...and frankly, the only reason any of this is appearing on this list is because he has added Cavaliers to his repertoire.

"AKC now claims Yes, AKC wants stronger legislation---when it suits them. The fact that the AKC reinstated his privileges after he'd refused to provide DNA on dogs claimed to be the sires of his litters is amazing: this same behaviour would have seen a lot of "ordinary" people kicked out for life. His little 6-month suspension didn't prevent him from breeding more and more dogs...and since the AKC now claims he only registered 3 litters since being reinstated doesn't mean some of his acolytes didn't register litters. Just as he now has people claiming that they own some of the dogs seized, and that they were just boarding, these same people probably registered litters that Michael Wolf was breeding.

"In other words, this CRAP from the AKC is just that...CRAP. Patting themselves on the back and saying "it isn't our fault, we did our part" is so typical of the AKC's self-serving attitude and worship of the almighty dollar...for those of you who read my column regularly, be on the lookout for one in the next month or two....I'll probably be hung out to dry, but this whole matter disgusts me...from ANY view, and everyone connected with this fiasco should be hung up by their genitals, if they all have them...and that includes the AKC and Mr. Menaker. "
AKC Judge Peggy Mickelson

reinstated AKC Chairman Ron Menaker said "Wolf was suspended by the AKC based on the results of routine DNA testing.  The tests indicated incorrect or faulty record keeping.  After a six-month suspension and paying a fine, Wolf was reinstated by the AKC. After his suspension, he only registered a nominal number of litters with the AKC, thereby avoiding the mandatory inspection for high volume breeders.  From 2002 until his suspension in 2004, Wolf registered 94 litters with the AKC.  Following his reinstatement, he applied to register only three litters with the AKC."

An AKC source, now retired, pointed out that it was not uncommon for a person to continue breeding under a spouse's name but that AKC took "baby steps" to prevent that during the McKay scandal involving oddly enough "the other Peke and a Wire that were #1 in their group."  Disallowing a spouse to participate was legally challenged and therefore is rarely if ever enforced.  We are told "In partnerships, such actions are even less likely to survive litigation" which may explain why any associate of Wolf or Trottier could continue on during the abnormally brief suspension.  AKC refuses to comment so feel free to speculate at will!

Mr. Menaker continues blithely past the revelations contained - and not contained in that statement.  In fact, he skillfully deflects the anger against Wolf, Trottier, and the AKC, with this aggrandizing complaint.  “Breeders stop registering with us in order to avoid inspection after we take disciplinary action against them. Unfortunately, however, many of these people continue breeding and selling dogs, and register them with a for-profit registry that has no inspection requirements to monitor care and conditions standards.”

A sniff of a lie The question is "what initiated DNA testing?"  What exactly was the nature of the "incorrect or faulty record keeping"?  Were there or have there ever been complaints against The Terrible Trio?  If so, how were they resolved?  Why only a six months suspension for over 300 counts of animal cruelty?  Knowing he was breeding at the rate of 94 litters in less than two years, how can AKC claim to have not known there were a lot of dogs there?  And if AKC had even a sniff of a lie in the number of dogs necessary to account for a average litter per week why did the inspector not do his job?  Or is inspection of a known puppy mill not his job?

Where are the answers to those questions and others that this particular case has raised?  Does AKC still believe they can control the press and the media as it has since it was founded? 

Here is an example which most people see for what it is - SPIN.  Good job too.  Never one to miss an opportunity to pimp for PAWS, AKC says "PAWS would amend the AWA to make high volume retail breeders and persons who import dogs for resale subject to USDA licensing and inspection. It would exempt breeders of dogs and cats who are in compliance with the standards of a third party inspection program certified by the Secretary of Agriculture which have standards that provide at least the equivalent protection to those promulgated by the USDA. The AKC has endorsed PAWS, saying it will provide important and essential protection for pets in commerce."

Whoops.  The spin came right back to the questions people want answered.  Many have said from early-on that PAWS was a vehicle driven by money.  Before long, it became even more apparent, as it is in the foregoing quote.  PAWS did not prevent this horror.  PAWS prevents nothing.  Was Mike-Mar kennels USDA registered?  Inspected by USDA?  If not, why not?  And if a third party inspection program could possibly mean AKC, well, that would be laughable were it not so infuriating.  Blatant in its failure to realize that over a litter-per-week average must mean more than "45 dogs and 8 puppies" what faith can any logical cognizant person put in AKC inspections?

How could AKC fail to tumble to the obvious?  Bulldogs, Papillons, Bostons, and Cavaliers?  In addition to Pekingese? 

"I know this guy from way back and in my opinion, he's guilty now and then!  Very few people were ever allowed to visit.  There was a good reason and I know nothing has changed" commented a very active toy group judge.  "It is surprising that he wasn't given a license to judge.  There are other examples I could cite and they do not include the Bedlington judge."

If AKC is counting on breeder apathy, short attention span, and lack of information on such disgraceful disregard for ethics and AKC rules, it has a lot of missing fingers and toes.  This time people see the light. 

TheDogPress.com is not Motel 6 but we'll "leave the lights on for you." 

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For an inside look at what USDA inspections and rule interpretations can mean, see this week's revealing guest column USDA Precision

Also the Editorial Stop A Tank re Leadership.  It is safe to say that Ms. Mickelson's bravery has identified her to the fancy as a leader!