By now you’ve heard about it. The question is, how did it strike you??? 

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 ever be guilty of selling puppies to or through a pet shop. Now comes the American Kennel Club, revealed as a hypocritical master of delusion!

The High Volume Breeder Committee successfully convinced the fancy that puppy mills had evolved into wonderful high-tech breeding facilities with animal husbandry methods we could well adopt in our own “breeding programs.” Even as that concept was being promoted, AKC’s next marketing step was prepared. When people took issue with the HVB committee findings, AKC sold us another bill of goods ... “puppy mills, (High Volume Breeders) need to be educated, taught a better way.”  So HVB were not only crammed down our throats, we 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. Being so insulated from the truth, we accepted that and more. We now have just seen AKC, being a "private club" can and does do anything it wants to!  But then blinded by our belief in AKC aversion to any miscreant thought that might adversely affect our ring careers, we gulped down course after course of tainted fodder a hog would have walked away from. Sorry if that offends you. There’s more.

So now 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 they sell puppies at Petland!  Those puppies will be represented and sold under the auspices of AKC, with pups being registered online at time of sale, etc.  The clever strategy gives Petland a leg up on the other chains which long quit selling puppies because AKC said it projected a bad image.... How’s that for setting one’s self up to command an industry? Do you sense long-term planning?

The Petland deal was done quietly, then buried in the Treasurer’s report. When it was spotted by several 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.

That is the way AKC does things lately.

The question is why? What makes AKC think it can ride rough shod over the very traditions it has espoused for two hundred years? What makes the Board, with but one exception, expect and get such actions accepted by the Delegate body and the fancy?

The obvious is that AKC expects us to either leave or roll over . We acquiesce with little more than a whimper or whine. So the real question is WHY????

There have been a few clubs that said “Whoa! We don’t like this (depending on what “it” was) but individually, it was no big deal. If 10, 20, or even 50% of the fancy walks away as passive individuals, does that even get noticed? No. There will be that many more newbies to fill the ranks.  And remember, we will increasingly be treated worse than a “puppy mill” if we register more than two or three litters per year. We’re already “inspected” by AKC and we would have to be 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 back by AKC. The screws are being tightened by escalating AKC strategy and financial planning. What fools we have been..... AKC brags about its new bottom line and we cheer dutifully….

Now think about the staggering implications for show breeders in light of Pet Insurance, Animal Rights Agendas (supported by AKC), Legislation that forecloses on the individual breeder (leaving only the commercial breeder exempt under USDA).  Think about the Animal Rights move sweeping from country to county, state to state and that TheDogPress has repeatedly asked AKC, or any club or group to show us any tangible financial support in fighting those strangle holds on breeders.  Thank about 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 but the ability to absorb and connect the dots in one sitting is limited.

Look at the cleverness of it all! The result being - 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.  The market has been handed to millers on a silver platter by AKC, even without the (so far) passage of PAWS and NAIS. The "CBs" (there's that acceptable acronym again....) will be good little supporters because their livelihood depends on being able to market millions of “AKC Registered” pups through their pet chains and private outlets posing as home breeders.

Only the most quick witted will have grasped the basic thread so far but stop and think. 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!

While you are mulling that over.... 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? Big enough to turn around in without touching the sides and stand up in without ears touching the top of the crate??? 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. "HVB" no longer have to ship puppies. Was the timing of Hunte trucking and the infliction of insane federal regulations against live cargo coincidental? Perhaps.

Well, do your own thinking. And having done so, if you feel inclined to walk away from it all, run, don't walk. If however you feel cheated, betrayed, “sold out” to your worst enemy, and you believe there has to be a solution, stay tuned.

There are those who believe we are still Americans. We authored and 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. 

We are more than the sum of our numbers because without us, the average family can no longer expect to buy a quality dog - or cat.  Don't forget, this affects cat owners and breeders too.  Extrapolate "us" as an overwhelming majority of the American population - dog and cat breeders and owners.  We are far greater statistically than the pioneers who forged the Constitution Of The United States Of America.  Can we be less brave?  Are your constitutional and God-given rights any less important than those of the early settlers?  Who had to form a union by telegraph and mounted messengers?  We have the internet!!!

There are solutions. We don’t need guns. We only need heroes and the courage of our convictions.  There is already a surge of outraged dog owners who are replacing cowardice and caution with bravery and dedication.  A grassroots group who believe saving AKC is worth the effort.  They are making a private (and in some cases, a public) commitment 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.  It is not about gold and glory, not even "old glory."  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 step over the line in the sand and make this last stand for us and for what we believe in?

Barbara J. Andrews

Managing Editor

For more on this subject read the March 2006 AKC Letter To Puppy Mills and watch for current AKC advertising in the puppy mill trade magazines.