Another Look At Saving the AKC

by Vickie Haywood

Diane Sandberg first asked the question.  I ask, is it worth saving? If you think not, then you must also believe the sports involving purebred dogs are not worth saving.  I happen to be one of those that believe in the intrinsic basis of the sport of dogs.

Conformation: The proving ground of each breed. When the correct end of the leash is what is being judged, by a knowledgeable “keeper of the breed”, it could be a valuable tool for the serious  breeder.

Performance Events: Gaining a rapport with your chosen breed in any performance event can only be a good thing. Involving oneself in a dog activity be it therapy work, obedience, hunting, field trials, agility, tracking, fly ball, freestyle - ANY sport or activity  that has dog and handler interacting can only be good for the dog, the handler and the breed, not to mention the health of each, mentally and physically.

Is THAT worth saving? I believe so.  BUT….  AKC is not the only game in town.  IF AKC can be fixed, then I will personally continue to support the organization that I have dedicated my life to, through the breed I have dedicated my life to.

My proposals:

FIRST AND FOREMOST: Find a senator or congressman who agrees that PAWS is detrimental and get him/her together with all the top people who oppose PAWS and WRITE a COUNTER BILL.  For the time being, we won.  The bill is said to be tabled, and if we keep at it and watch carefully it may stay tabled.  If we don’t, they’ll slip it in under some other bill when no one is looking. Every month lesser bills are popping up all over in state legislation, and serve to weaken any effort to counter PAWS.  Our efforts are strung out over many places, and that is exactly what the AR movement wants..

A counter Bill should include: The age limit of which an animal can be sold any time by any person/business must be raised to a minimum of 12 weeks.  Yeah I know some people will scream at that, especially giant breed or terrier people but the point is puppy mills ship EARLY and fudge on ages.  It’s the “so many litters born on Monday because shipping is on Tuesday” syndrome.  The other thing is they need vaccinations before shipping and vaccinating 6 week olds is too dangerous to the health of the immune system.  So if you believe in Dr. Jean Dodds, or any low level vaccination protocol, then letting millers vaccinate and ship before the pups are old enough to have the vaccines is against the whole idea. Yes I know that some breeders do things different but in order to get a decent law that covers the mill situation, a law we can all live with, some of us will have to suck it up and do things a little different.  With the new vaccination recommendations a puppy should not be transported for sale anywhere in the US prior to receiving the minimum of distemper and parvo at 9 and 12 weeks (per Jean Dodds).  Setting this age limit will greatly hinder mass producers through transporting and selling cute little balls of fluff in pet stores.

No animal may be imported /exported prior to the age of 6 months.  There are lots of benefits to this rule. It will insure that babies are not shipped into this country with doubtful vaccinations, getting sick from traveling, etc. If someone wants to fly to a foreign country and buy something and bring it back, it should be at least 12 weeks old and a maximum of four animals per person accompanying them.

No animal sold through a PET STORE can be sold with breeding papers. This takes the decision out of the hands of AKC and into the hands of USDA. If they want to play with fire we can play with fire right back. 

Why does the AKC need more money?   Why do they need a surplus of money left over?  Why do they need investments?  Why do HSUS, DDAL AND PETA need so much money, all of these in 501 c Accounts? What do they need excess money for???  No non-profit needs several million left over in the bank at the end of the year...How can a non-profit be allowed to invest and make more money?

AKC needs to take a serious, hard look at the way they register dogs...  not all dogs are alike and not all papers are alike.. ALL breeding dogs must have DNA on file, period.

All breeding dogs must be tattooed, period.  They do it in Canada, we can do it here.  Chips are fine but I see no need to make chips mandatory, (or profitable) (see RFID) as long as there is a permanent ID involved and DNA on file for breeding dogs.  Some brave soul somewhere needs to convene a hearing on AKC sales practices and money making.

I just do not think an organization that many accuse of mail fraud needs to be in business.  Everyone wants AKC to just find a way to get realistic and truthful.  The PUBLIC has a right to know where the pup they buy comes from and the only way to do that is to color code papers...  I have long said there needs to be a different type of registration for commercially bred pets... Their papers can be orange....either issued by AKC (or any other registry), or by USDA as part of some inspection/transportation process) 

In the case of a dog that has a title at either end of the name and produces offspring, the pups get blue and white papers like now.  Any dog with titles at BOTH ends gets a different color paper and if you breed 2 dogs that both have titles at both ends the resulting pups get different color papers.

Every dog that has permanent DNA testing for ID or disease has the test noted ON THE PAPERS with DNA number and the lab doing the testing, like Optigen or OFA, Pennhip, etc..

This is all aimed at Public recognition...

      If they see orange they KNOW the dog was commercially bred

      if they get papers with DNA numbers they KNOW the pedigree is correct (eventually)

      if they get a pup with Dual Title color registration, they KNOW the breeder is caring enough to have taken the time to get the titles.

      And the testing is obvious.

The 12 week sale age limit and the above would go a VERY VERY long way to change puppy selling and purchasing as we know it today.

Putting a 6 month cap on export/ import will all but curtail inferior quality animals coming in to this country. If you really want a good dog from a foreign country, who would spend the bucks required to go get it and bring it back at 8 weeks? And, it could go a very long way with disease issues.  I personally think this part is vital as we are having so many traveling diseases that could be imported.

So, does anyone out there know a senator or congressman brave enough to write a counter bill that will actually have some meat on its bones, that can actually help the plight of commercially bred pets, and is willing to take on the AKC and the pet industry?  It would be helpful if the person was a dog person, and it would be helpful if all the people involved in opposing PAWS would have a conference and write out a master plan. Instead of spending all their energies opposing PAWS - write a counter to it!!! Then present a fully intact plan to a member of the congress to counter PAWS.....

But then, elections are coming and pets are a hot topic right now...

The very best way to defeat PAWS is to get Senator Santorum out of office. Support Bob Casey..maybe he has the balls to take on the task!!!

Vickie Haywood Vickie@TheDogPress.com

June 2006