 After approving the
name change rule in March, the
AKC Board approved the Administrative Pedigree Research Service
which to many breeders, is an acronym for
capturing:
A) puppy mill dogs registered with a competing registry or
B) pets specifically sold “without papers” by AKC breeders.
Barbara J. Andrews
©
TheDogPress
08|5|08 -
Either
reason is like dropping the A-Bomb on a show breeder’s kennel!
Whether you agree or not, make your comments and VOTE below when
you have weighed the information.
Breeders have traditionally withheld papers to insure the pet
dog doesn’t produce “registered” puppies. That has always
been how breeders protected their breed, kennel name, and
bloodline. But when there were legal actions, we're told
that AKC began quietly registering those dogs. When
infuriated breeders found out, that brought more action.
AKC found itself in a no-win situation.
Then, thanks to this columnist's monitoring of registration
problems which included in-print comparisons to the cat
associations' equitable registration system, (Canine Chronicle
AKC gave us
Limited Registration. And all was good, until now.
Somewhere along the way, Rules (see below)
were added or changed, absolving AKC from honoring the breeder’s
intent unless the breeder has a written agreement with
every party to the original purchase. But if the
original buyer (or broker!!) transfers the dog to someone else
with whom there was no contract? Bingo, registered
breeding dog.
AKC has refused to tell us when the current rules were passed.
Perhaps one of our Delegate readers knows and will share that
information, (anonymously of course).
It is a slippery slope, which in my opinion, can turn into a
landslide of non-purebred or genetically defective AKC
registered "purebreds". What AKC quietly accomplished is
now dressed up with an ambiguous new name, under a policy (?)
based on a rule (?) that seemed okay on its surface but like a
peeling a rotten banana, looked pretty bad when exposed.
The new Administrative Pedigree Research service
was apparently decided by staff, with little or no Delegate
input, and presumably no board vote. Because the minutes
are now so abbreviated, we can’t be sure if there was objection
by anyone on the board even though the damage derived from
generations of questionably “registerable” dogs is incalculable.
As of August 1, three months after approval, we were still
unable to find definitive information on AKC’s website regarding
the revolutionary, history-making new service. It was
allegedly leaked to one publication by an AKC Delegate who
shared the “FAQs” from the private Delegate portal. The
service will generate an extra $30, $10 of which is said to pay
for the pedigree research to determine if the dog originates
“from AKC registrable stock.” 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.
So 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 “no comment” response raises questions for which there
may be no acceptable answers. Does this service in any way
benefit responsible breeders? We're left to assume that
puppies sold with “no papers” due to the possibility they carry
a serious genetic fault or were of overall non-breeding
quality
can now enter the breeding gene pool unless the breeder can
furnish a written agreement to the contrary and prove that all
parties to the sale know and signed the contract? And
here's the big catch - any subsequent owner-applicant
would have had to sign a non-breeding contract or the breeder's
contract is negated and the dog could be registered. Huh?
The genetic and moral impact of overriding a responsible
breeder’s knowledge and judgment is incomprehensible to me.
Consider this; you had a signed contract on a potential carrier
of a serious genetic disease yet that dog somehow winds
up a puppy mill? Or a carefully scrutinized buyer falls on
hard economic times and easily registers the pet dog with
another registry so he can breed it to a horrid non-AKC
registered dog owned by a neighbor? All of those puppies
and their puppies can then be AKC registered?
Now you understand why no caring breeder trying to play by the
rules, protect their breed and the integrity of the purebred dog
can accept this artfully named program.
Nor can any Delegate. Delegates are elected to
uphold the specific concept of purebred dogs on which AKC was
founded and chartered. Is that why the Administrative
Pedigree Research Service was staff developed and Board approved without
a Delegate vote?
What is the impact of registering “puppy mill” puppies so
commercially created they weren't even AKC registered? 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?
With this new service, it's a walk in the park for greedy pet
owners or a nice family uneducated about "responsible breeding."
Is that why AKC hasn't really done its job educating the public
on the advantages of owning a purebred AKC Registered
dog? Has AKC inadvertently blown the lid off something
that was only a myth anyway?
Even acknowledging the strategy of a well-run corporation’s
marketing department and fiduciary responsibility, this new
service portends the end of pretense. Will the Delegates
who stopped the Petland 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.
You run into enough unexpected genetic problems no matter how
carefully you research but the odds increase astronomically when
a dog that was sold with no papers is allowed to
contaminate a breed’s gene pool. Ditto a puppy mill or backyard
dog that some clerk at AKC decides originated from AKC stock and
has “no break in lineage” according to a pedigree the buyer
didn’t get? Gimme a break.
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 and/or questionable genetic quality
could enter the AKC gene pool over the next year.
But wait, some of those dogs, bred by top breeders but sold as
Limited or Papers Withheld, 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?
There will be more on this subject. The bomb has not even
hit the ground for breeders and Delegates who will never accept
bypassing ethical breeders as a good thing. Capturing
registration fees on puppy mill produce registered with a
competing association means more income for AKC and we all want
it to be able to have the funds to "do for dogs" but at what
cost?
Tell us and other breeders how you feel. 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 which is taking
appropriate action. AKC does listen.
We encourage you to speak out again.
Click
YES – Registration Service
if you approve the new service.
If you have reservations or do not approve, click
NO – Registration Service.
To follow
this developing story, go to
AKC Silent On Non-Registered Dogs
FYI: Chapter 3, Section 6 of Rules Applying to Registration
and Discipline states in part:
"For the purpose of registering
or refusing to register purebred dogs The American Kennel Club
will recognize only such conditional sale or conditional stud
agreements affecting the registration of purebred dogs
as are in writing and are shown to have
been brought to the attention of the applicant for registration.
(emphasis added).
The American Kennel Club cannot recognize alleged conditional
sale, conditional stud or other agreements not in writing which
affect the registration of purebred dogs, until after the
existence, construction and/or affect of the same shall have
been determined by an action at law."
The only contracts that the AKC
will enforce will be the withholding of AKC registration papers
until a dog is paid for or altered, if
the terms are clearly set out in the bill-of-sale and signed by
all parties involved in the sale of the dog, (emphasis
added) this is required by our rules.
Also see the new rule allowing
owners to
change the name of their dog which was approved in March
2008 and which not all breeders appreciate!
Barbara (BJ)
Andrews
Handy links:______________________
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