The AKC Administrative Pedigree Research Service sounds like an acronym for capturing:  A) puppy mill dogs registered with a competing registry or B) pets specifically sold “without papers” by responsible AKC breeders. 

Barbara J. Andrews, TheDogPress Editor - 08|5|08

Either reason is like dropping the A-Bomb on a show breeder’s kennel!  Is the Pedigree Research Service just a sham for making money registering a million dogs of questionable parentage?  Pedigrees mean nothing; you can buy them online with AKC registration numbers copied from a show catalog... 

Many of the newly AKC registered dogs will be afflicted with serious health problems and nightmare genetics.  Some may not even be purebred.  AKC requires no photos or DNA.  AKC Board Minutes (below) state only that "dogs or litters" be from "AKC registerable stock."  Is it coincidence that this rule comes on the heels of the Name Change Rule (1) which the AKC Board approved in March of 2008?

Breeders have traditionally withheld papers to insure buyers don't breed pet puppies.  That has always been how breeders protected their breed, kennel name, and bloodline.  But when there were complaints or legal actions, AKC registered the pet dogs.  When infuriated breeders found out, that brought more action.  AKC found itself in a no-win situation.  Then, thanks to this columnist's (Canine Chronicle) monitoring of registration problems which included a  comparison to the cat associations' "not for breeding" check mark system, AKC gave us Limited Registration.

Rules (below) had to be added or changed, absolving AKC from honoring the breeder’s intent unless the breeder has a ii written sales agreement.  (2) with every party to the original purchase.  But if the original buyer (or dog broker!!) transfers the dog to someone else with whom there was no contract?  Bingo, registered breeding dog.  AKC has refused to say when the rules were changed.

This new Administrative Pedigree Research service was apparently decided by staff, with little or no Delegate input, and presumably no board vote.  The minutes are now so purposely abbreviated, we can’t tell if there was any objection even though the damage from “registerable” dogs is incalculable.   It is a slippery slope which can turn into a landslide of non-purebred or genetically defective AKC registered "purebreds", once again demeaning the meaning of "AKC Registered."

 As of August 1, three months after approval, we are still unable to find information on AKC’s website but the new registering/pedigree service charge was allegedly leaked by an AKC Delegate who shared the “FAQs” from the private Delegate portal.  The service will generate an extra $30 per transaction. How much "research" can be done in less than an hour?  Breeders spend days evaluating a pedigree before deciding on a mating... oh well, you get the point.

TheDogPress contacted Mr. David Roberts, AVP, Registrations (the person listed as contact for additional information re the new service), Ms. Daisy Okas, AVP, Communications, and Ms. Lisa Peterson, Director Club Communications.  The only response was an email from Lisa Peterson, who provided a link to the Board Minutes, which contain only the following:

"BUSINESS AND OPERATIONS David Roberts, Kristi Munchel, Mari-Beth O’Neill and Rosario Vila, AKC Staff, participated in this portion of the meeting via video conference.

"Incorporating AKC Registrable Dogs into AKC Registry
Chapter 3, Section 6 of Rules Applying to Registration and Discipline grants AKC the authority to register dogs of AKC registrable stock. Dogs or litters may qualify for registration if pedigrees show no break in AKC lineage and all dogs and litters originate from AKC registrable stock. Staff advised the Board that without objection it will begin registering dogs of AKC registrable stock lacking litter registration papers provided that the dogs are otherwise deemed registrable by staff. The majority were in favor of this proposal."

AKC’s Silence On Unregistered Dogs (3) raises questions for which there appear to be no acceptable answers.  Does this service in any way benefit responsible breeders?  Puppies sold with "no papers"  can now be registered and bred unless the breeder can furnish a AKC Rule Withholding Papers. i.e written agreement signed by all parties to the sale. (2)  So if the dog is sold, any new owner can get the papers? Huh?

The genetic and moral impact of overriding a responsible breeder’s judgment is incomprehensible to me.  No responsible breeder or Delegate can accept this.  Is that why the Administrative Pedigree Research Service was staff developed and Board approved without a Delegate vote?

How does AKC determine pet shop or BYB puppies are purebred even though the odds are significantly higher that such dogs are not from unbroken "AKC lineage"?   AKC says there is benefit for the pet buyer.  Baloney!  How many pet buyers would pursue getting AKC papers on their unregistered dog unless they intend to breed it? 

In the FAQs (which we couldn’t obtain) AKC says it gets over 400 inquires per week from owners who think their dogs are AKC registrable and 41,000 inquiries per month from owners who don’t have an Individual Dog Registration Application.  Let’s do the math, assuming even one fourth of 42,000 inquiries per month actually result in registrations.  That means over 120,000 dogs of inferior quality could enter the AKC gene pool over the next year.  That's not all.  Some of those dogs will become champions and reproduce.  So Good Breeder, how would you know that the champion with a wonderful pedigree from a reputable breeder was sold as a pet with no papers for a REASON? 

Even acknowledging the strategy of AKC's marketing department, this new service portends the end of pretense.  Will the Delegates who stopped the Petland (4) deal allow this to happen? 

Breeders have been denigrated as being "elite" but that's what all breeders of purebred animals strive to be!  Anyone can produce slaughter beef or a hack horse but only the elite can breed a herd sire or a Derby winner.  No matter how diligently you research genetics, the odds are against you when a dog that was sold with no papers is allowed to contaminate a breed’s gene pool. Your years of study are thwarted when an AKC clerk decides a genetic monstrosity "originated from AKC stock" and has “no break in lineage”.

The bomb has been launched.  We exposed massive Pedigree Fraud (5) and this is AKC's answer??? Capturing registration fees on puppy mill produce registered with a competing association means more income for AKC.  Sure, we all want AKC to thrive and have the funds to "do for dogs" but at what cost? 

Tell us and other breeders how you feel.  (poll has been removed) AKC has respected reader input in the past and we know there are good people on the Board who will listen.  You made your position clear by over a thousand opinions expressed in the Judging poll which we conveyed to AKC's Judging Operations department. 

Facts Are For Friends!  Just click here to FARF this page This puppy can handle it!  After all, he's DoodleDog's son so he knows how to handle mail. FARF makes it easy to share what you've found with all your friends.
10081 http://www.thedogpress.com/Columns/Editorials/0808-AKC-Registers-Unregistered-Dogs.asp

Got a Nose For News?  Send your report - if published you win a
$50.00 certificate good on any NetPlaces site - plus you qualify for
$100.00 CASH and the November Dog Press Journalists Award

Click to become a Dog Press Reporter