DEMAND AKC PAPERS?

Gini Addamo © TheDogPress 09|14|09 - AKC claims “paper registries” are stealing their customers.  Give me a break!  Maybe breeders are just disgusted with AKC and rather than try to move a mountain, they go elsewhere or quit breeding altogether.  I don’t think that is the answer.  The country is in trouble because no one will stand up and fight.  The American spirit that fought for justice and freedom has decided to "let the other guy take care of it."  No one wants to sacrifice and this will take sacrificing.  It isn’t so much apathy as it is because they only need "one more point." 

 

The AKC sells papers and that's all it is.  AKC doesn't sell credibility, it doesn't sell honesty.  If anyone is interested I can make up "paper certificates" and sell them to you.  What's the difference?  Until people are willing to let go of their egos for the true sake of the dog, absolutely nothing is going to change. 

 

People are addicted to worthless pieces of paper.  Those who continue to register their puppies are no better than the AKC of today because every cent they send to AKC is a statement of approval to the organization.  Shame on them.  Until they feel guilty for their part in the enabling process, there will be no change.  The AKC wants your money, it's all they want and they don't care how they get it.  If people would stop buying into a fraud and start fixing their breeds that have been so badly tainted by the desire for the cheap ribbons and worthless papers, then it would start to impact and change the organization. 

 

Let the morons turn the .org into a mixed breed registry--it already is!  AKC has “registered anything” for years and breeders are disgusted.  It isn’t just puppy mill dogs of questionable parentage or those with horrid defects that AKC has eagerly registered.  Over the last few years, AKC has ramped up efforts to get even more of that business.  Remember the Petland deal?” 

 

How dumb can a person be to actually pay for a piece of paper like that?   The time has never been better for a purebred registry to be born.  The time is now to promote purebred dogs.  It's very sad that purebred dogs have a bad reputation.  I wish I was in a position to make a difference.  All I can do is stop registering dogs, which I have. 

 

Who else is also willing to stop paying for a worthless piece of paper?  You have to hit AKC where it hurts. $$$$$ A national campaign to Stop Registering Dogs to counter "Demand Papers" is definitely in order.  The public needs to be educated NOW.  I've been saying this forever!! 

 

The public is key to this battle and they are getting fed up, but for all the wrong reasons.  So are top breeders.  They are retiring from breeding and many are quitting the whole sport.  Entries are so bad, no one can find majors and with AKC tacking so much on to the entry fees, showing is just too expensive for most, so, the point is, why register dogs if you aren’t going to keep on breeding and showing?  It’s a waste of money and the average buyer can go online and buy a puppy registered from any number of registries that sound just as good as the once-respected American Kennel Club.  People don’t know the difference and in fact, there isn’t much difference.

 

“Demand Papers” is insulting.  The AKC has been registering “mixed breeds” forever due to disregard for its own rules.  Past field inspectors have testified that they were discouraged from doing their jobs when it was discovered doing their jobs was costing AKC a lot of money. Look at the Michael Wolf case for example.  A huge (and credible) puppy mill AKC looked the other way on.

 

There have been admitted registrations of dogs whose parentage is uncertain.  I know someone who has gone to court as an expert many times to testify that a dog was not even the breed listed on the papers!  WE have all seen so-called registered dogs that are obviously a mixed breed. Now AKC wants them to compete in “companionship events” but you know what the next step will be.  Google “designer dogs” and there are over 22 million returns!  That translates to millions of dollars at stake in Designer Dogs.  AKC knows what it is doing and where it is headed.  Do you?

 

Even the best AKC breeders find it hard to claim any kind of stature and genetic superiority.  When mixed breeds and defective puppy mill dogs have the exact same “AKC Papers” where does that leave you?  The American Kennel Club was a great idea at one time.  Today it has competition because others saw an opening to capitalize on the concept of purebred dogs. 

 

It is a little bit late for AKC to ask us to support it when it hasn’t supported show breeders for a long, long time.  AKC can cry about lost income but I don’t buy it.  AKC has more cash surplus than most for-profit companies.  Next thing we know, it will be asking for a federal bailout because as more breeders give it up, surely it will have to change or go broke.

 

I for one, am done.  I love my dogs with or without any more AKC championship titles and with or without a piece of paper that is supposed to mean something.  My last questions are simple.  How do you feel about supporting a registry that has lost so much credibility?  Are your buyers still impressed when you say “AKC registered”? 

 

I asked these questions in my March column, “What’s in YOUR name?  Where is your pride as a breeder?  Now more than ever, you need an answer.