The contract between Petland and AKC shouldn’t be a surprise to us in the fancy.  But, this whole affair has been a debacle and should wake up every dog person in the USA!  Editor's note: the contract has since been "retracted" by AKC

When you join any club, most of them provide you a copy of their Constitution & By-Laws.  Not when you become a delegate.  Why?  Because it is becoming more and more apparent that AKC is violating their own rules – why would they want to publicize that!  This Petland debacle is not the only thing they’ve done recently without consulting anyone in the fancy first!  (Like the Judging Conflict ‘policy’!)   

Thank God, AKC woke up and saw the handwriting on the wall (or rather the internet, their phone messages and incoming mail!)  They had indeed crossed the line with this latest trick. 

AKC changed their minds and backed out of the Petland deal.  Everyone wants to commend them for that.  I’m hesitant – they shouldn’t have done it to begin with, why should I commend them?

What is appalling is the information from the pro-publicity, which is still out there! 

In my opinion, every AKC Member Club needs to question their delegate.  There are actually delegates who did not know that pet store pups can be registered. Are they also not aware of the auctions conducted amongst the commercial breeders where registrations are taken care of on the spot by an AKC representative?  Are they not aware that there are actually whelpings at these auctions and everything is sold, part and parcel. Do they think there is no such thing as a purebred dog in a shelter (kill or otherwise?)  If your delegate has not arrived into this century, they should be replaced – immediately!

There are delegates I spoke with personally who haven’t got a clue about what breeds are being sold in pet stores (all they know, and all they care about is that ‘their’ breed isn’t – [the hell with the rest of us]). 

Was your delegate for this contract arrangement?  If they were for this contract, then their focus is on the revenue and not on the dog – they need to be replaced immediately! 

One illustrious writer cited the history of his own show dogs purchased from pet stores; his article admits that was back in the 1940’s.  (Shoot, back then you could buy a dog from a Sears Catalog!  I remember cutting those ads out and begging for one myself.)  But, hello!  This is 2006 – 60 years later.  The MASS produced puppies showing up in today’s pet stores barely, if at all, resemble the breeds they are labeled to be.  And as to their condition – that’s another story!

My own daughter, three years ago, was in a pet store in Nebraska and she frantically called me.  They had a Newfy pup in the store, advertised to be a male.  She was trying to investigate (as she has been taught to do) and asked to see the pup up close.  Despite the fact it was thin and very afraid, she managed to convince the pup to roll over for a belly rub.  Much to her surprise and dismay (and much to the embarrassment of the pet store staff) the pup was not a male, but a female with a severe umbilical hernia.  I doubt she would be permitted back inside that store if she still lived in Nebraska, as I’m proud to say she gave them the old “Beverly’ what for!

It has become apparent that the delegate body (and the AKC Board are delegates) has amongst its population those that do not have a clue.  Why they remain delegates to a body supposedly devoted to the purebred dog and the sport that revolves around the purebred dog is a mystery to me.  The number of member clubs who are either geographically or economically unable to have a personal representative serve as a delegates is higher than you would suspect.  I’m sure their delegates are quite capable and serve each club’s requests, but without roll call votes on delegate business, who’s to know who is voting how?  And, I was very surprised to see the number of delegates who do not publish their phone numbers or any ‘quick’ contact information.  (I know there’s no requirement to be computer literate and have an e-mail; but it’s really hard these days to communicate without one!)

Again, this Petland ‘situation’ is over.  But, the underlying cause of the situation is not and based on what I have seen, it is not going to go away, only get worse.  This is just the tip of the iceberg!