For as long as you’ve been in dogs, you have been conditioned to abhor puppy mills and pet shops. The worst offense for show breeders was to sell puppies to a pet shop. Now the American Kennel Club contracts with Petland to market puppies through its nationwide pet shop chain.

Barbara Andrews © The Dog Press

09|13|06 - The High Volume Breeder Committee tried to convince show breeders that puppy mills had evolved into wonderful high-tech breeding facilities with animal husbandry methods we should adopt in our own “breeding programs.”

When breeders rejected that concept, the American Kennel Club's totally reversed itself, telling us “puppy mills, (High Volume Breeders) need to be educated, taught a better way.”  So puppy mills and Petland were crammed down our throats and many, eager to swallow anything AKC handed out, accepted the taste.

When AKC revamped its website to accommodate puppy mill advertising, we did not shove the plate away because we were told AKC couldn’t “not” accept ads from “them” any more than AKC could deny them registration.  AKC is a "private club" blah blah blah.  Blinded by anything that might adversely affect our ring careers, we gulped down course after course of tainted fodder a hog would have walked away from. If that offends you, click out now.

It is the ultimate double-cross. AKC has entered into a "new contractual relationship" with the Petland chain of stores (120 in the US, with 20 more planned for 2007). Most notably, the difference between Petland and PetSmart or PetCo is that Petland sells puppies!  Puppies that will be represented and sold under the auspices of AKC.  Thousands of puppy mill puppies AKC registered at time of sale. 

What a clever strategy, giving Petland a leg up on the other pet shop chains which quit selling puppies because AKC said it projected a bad image!  How’s that for long-term planning to set up AKC to command an industry? That cuts UKC and other competing registries off at the point of sale while guaranteeing Petland something they could never get from UKC anyway.  

The Petland deal was done quietly, buried in the Treasurer’s report. When it was spotted by Delegates who raised questions, they were essentially told it was none of their business. The contract was signed, sealed, delivered. No input was sought, nor would any have been accepted from the Delegate body.

What makes AKC think it can trample the very traditions it has espoused for two hundred years? What makes the AKC Board of Directors think such actions will be accepted by the fancy?

Obviously AKC expects us to either leave or roll over.  The fact is, AKC doesn't need us bothersome show breeders and in any case, we will acquiesce with little more than a whimper or whine. If 10, 20, or even 50% of show breeders walk away, our absence won't be noticed. There will be that many more newbies to fill the ranks.  Forcing the point home, AKC will increasingly treat us like a “puppy mill” if we register more than two or three litters per year.  We’re already “inspected” by AKC (how many puppy mills does it actually inspect?) and don't forget, we would have been licensed under the PAWS act AKC tried so hard to get passed.

The comparatively few dollars generated by show breeders are insignificant compared to puppy mill income so eagerly wooed by AKC. What fools we have been!   AKC brags about its new bottom line and we cheer dutifully….

There are staggering implications for show breeders in light of Pet Insurance, Animal Rights (supported by AKC) Legislation that forecloses on the individual breeder leaving only the commercial breeder exempt under USDA.  The Animal Rights is picking up steam and TheDogPress has repeatedly asked AKC, or any club to provide documentation that AKC has done anything more than give a rah rah for clubs that fought AR law.  No one has replied.

AKC and The Petland Pet Shop Contract from 2006 to Present.  No club or group can show us any tangible financial support from AKC to help in fighting the animal rights strangle hold on breeders.  Add to that, zoning regulations, pushed by local law makers and never challenged by the Big Dog on behalf of the little dogs - the citizens. Hmmmm. The new AKC Vet deal which I predict will so adversely impact the small show breeder as to put him “out of business.” The list is long.

Look at the cleverness of it all! Show Breeders can take it or leave it. AKC has thrown down the gauntlet.  What will we do?  While we may have a lifetime invested in the sport, most of us have other income, other professions. We will just keep our core dogs and “get out” of the sport. AKC breathes a sigh of relief. Troublemakers gone. Now compare that to HVB, Commercial Breeders, i.e. puppy mills. 

As show breeders leave, we hand the market to puppy millers on a silver platter engraved by AKC, even without the  passage of PAWS and NAIS. The commercial breeders "CBs" will be good little supporters because their livelihood depends on being able to market millions of “AKC Registered” pups through pet shops.  Only the most quick witted will have grasped the basic fact.  Private show breeders are doomed.  Puppy Mills are already regulated. PAWS would not have affected them at all. The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is no threat to them either. Illegal search and seizure? No big deal to millers, it has never happened to them!

Have you tried shipping a large breed lately? Isn’t hindsight wonderful? Think back even before 9/11/2001.  Who benefited from the “federal regulations” that mandate a 70 pound German Shepherd must be shipped in a 4’ by 4’ box in order to meet those regulations?  It is suddenly being enforced by the few airlines that still accept live cargo.  Why?  Hunte Brothers has an immense fleet of trucks to move produce to the marketplace where pups are sold to local buyers. "High volumne breeders don't ship bitches to be bred.  Now the puppy mills no longer have to ship puppies.

Was the timing of the Hunte Puppy Mills alliance with JB Hunt Trucking and the inception of insane federal regulations against live cargo coincidental?  Do your own thinking. And having done so, if you feel cheated, betrayed,  “sold out” to your worst enemy, but you still believe there has to be a solution, stay tuned.

Americans fought a successful revolution in order to be free of suppression. We have the right to keep and bear arms because our founding fathers recognized the possibility of threat to individual freedom and a healthy nation. Not by an enemy. No indeed, it was to protect ourselves from a government out of control!  This is oppression of a greater scale than imagined by our forefathers. 

It's a rather good analogy, don't you think?  We are more than the sum of our numbers because without us, families can no longer buy a quality pet.  We are far greater statistically than the pioneers who forged the Constitution.  Can we be less brave?  Remember, they formed a United States by telegraph and mounted messengers - we have the internet!!! 

We only need the courage of our convictions.  We need a surge of outraged dog owners who can replace cowardice and caution with bravery and dedication.  A grassroots group who believe saving AKC is worth the effort.  To preserve AKC for the people and the purpose for which it was founded.

It's not about going back to “the good old days.”  That's never possible.  This is about respect for the true purpose of breeding and exhibiting dogs - a love for dogs and what they mean to mankind. 

Don't you wish we had Davy Crockett and Kit Carson to make this last stand for us and for what we believe in?

Barbara J. Andrews, Editor-In-Chief

If you're not sure what all the hoopla is about, read the AKC Letter To Puppy Mills and note AKC advertising in the puppy mill trade magazines. 

Read the double feature page AKC & Judge Kodner Support Puppy Mills and if you think we are being harsh, just go to the Petland Contract Index

then let us know what YOU think!  Send your:  Letter to the Editor