Protecting Breed Development
Designer Dogs, i.e. "new “breeds" are popping up everywhere, and
some “Rare Breed”
organizations like ARBA are shamelessly promoting them.
New
“registries” are also popping up to issue papers and with no
restrictions, the back yard breeders and puppy mills are jumping on board to mass
produce these “designer” dogs and a gullible public pays outrageous prices for
their mixed breed pups!
Is ARBA doing a
disservice to the world of purebred dogs? Since they seem to be the only
organization accredited with "recognizing" new/rare breeds you'd think
that they would take such a responsibility seriously. This may have been
the case when Anita first started out; however, from the research I have
been doing, that is not the case any longer!
Let's take a moment to look into other developing breeds. How many
decades did it take for the JRT to evolve into what we are familiar with
today? The Parson Russell Terrier[1] is fully recognized by the
AKC, yet the JRT[2] is not -- why? What about the Rat Terrier[3],
another breed that has just joined the ranks of the AKC/FSS? Didn't they
all originate from the same breed? Yet, each variation has gone through
decades of selective breeding, controlled by a parent breed club that
was focused on maintaining proper genetic control! The approved
all-breed registries did not become involved until the "breed" met
specific requirements -- as it should be!
If you look at the Dog Fancy magazine, their breed acceptance
policy states “Breeds advertised in this
section must be purebreds recognized by one of the following national or
international kennel clubs: American Kennel Club (AKC), United Kennel
Club (UKC), American Rare Breed Association (ARBA), Canadian Kennel Club
(CKC), Federation Cynologique International (FCI), Japanese Kennel Club
(JKC), or The Kennel Club (UK)” Those organizations have
strict requirements for breed acceptance -- well, all except for ARBA!!
How did ARBA
manage to be listed with such prestigious organizations? It doesn’t seem
to take much to get your breed "recognized" by the Slack brothers! They may have had a wonderful reputation at one time, but are they
living up to the original vision?
Fake Shiloh Shepherds:
Let's take a
look at the King Shepherd4.
Back in 19965 Shelly
Watts was court ordered to stop using the Shiloh Shepherd name for her
dogs, since she was not following the ISSR breeding rules. This resulted
in her changing her dogs' "breed" name to King Shepherds! Then she
started breeding her Shiloh Shepherds to GSD's and ARBA had NO problem
"recognizing" the progeny as a *new* "rare" breed?
Hello, what's
wrong with this picture? How many other "fake" breeds have been
recognized? I know for a fact that ARBA has allowed Long Haired GSD's
(and various GSD mixes) to be entered as Shiloh Shepherds!! Since they
were using my (ISSR) Breed Standard6,
I requested that they at least separate the classifications. They did do
this for the Empire show, resulting in 3 variations competing in the
Herding group. In the photo, the first dog is an older un-papered
(silver shiloh), the one in the middle is a 10 month old ISSR Shiloh
Shepherd puppy, and the last one is a King Shepherd. Of course, the real
one (center) won this class. Herding group, Empire Classic, July 2007)
Dog Registries &
ARBA:
The AKC7
fully recognizes 157 breeds8, with
4 additional breeds granted partial status in the Miscellaneous class,
and attempts to protect gene pool purity via their registry service and
show venues. Another 58 rare breeds have been accepted into the FSS.
The UKC9
was formed to provide for “the interest of
owners, breeders and enthusiasts who work to balance beauty and working
performance to produce happier, healthier dogs.” and
recognizes 166 breeds! They are also involved in helping constructively
helping parent breed clubs! I was very impressed after reading about
their involvement with the Chinook10!
What positive influence has ARBA had on the breeds that they
"recognize"? Although they claim to be a registry, they haven't issued
many certificates for the breeds that follow their show venues! Although
they do provide "papers" for some dogs, obviously they have continued to
accept erroneous information, therefore the database they compiled is
severely polluted!! I can't speak for other breeds, but this is
certainly the case with my breed! Unfortunately, this has also led to
many false rumors11
being spread about a wonderful breed of dog! Despite our efforts to
resolve this situation, via many letters12
and forum discussions, ARBA has chosen to ignore my pleas!
As a result,
in August I informed ARBA that they no longer have my permission to use
MY breed standard 13 and
asked them to remove it! After taking down my (copyrighted)14
version,
they just made up their "own"15
!! This case is now being dealt with via the court system, although I am
sure that ARBA will probably end up using something in order to continue
collecting revenue from the LHGSD/mixed GSD folks that want to sell
their pups as "Shiloh Shepherds" despite the fact that they are just
defrauding the public!
What ever happened to the good old days when credibility meant
something? The
FCI16
[has been in existence since May 22, 1911 and recognizes more breed
varieties than other organizations17 but
does not operate a registry. “The
Fédération Cynologique Internationale is the World Canine Organisation.
It includes 84 members and contract partners (one member per country)
that each issue their own pedigrees and train their own judges. The FCI
makes sure that the pedigrees and judges are mutually recognized by all
the FCI members.” Their mantra is to approve a parent breed
club presenting extensive genetic data and proving sufficient breeding
stock for at least 8 distinct unrelated lines. This requirement prevents
intense inbreeding and therefore bottlenecking that particular gene pool
before it is able to reach any significant expansion. It then allows
those that have the most extensive knowledge about the breed and hold
the greatest interest for the breed’s future development to control the
registry and breeders!
Any “breed” that is based on just a small number of founders is in
danger of over-inbreeding; thus drastically compromising its immune
system. A good example of getting the job done right is the Seppala18!
The Animal Pedigree Act of Canada19
has been very supportive, and with proper project leadership by experts
like Jeff Bragg, I believe this breed has a good chance of reaching full
fruition. Yet, organizations like ARBA can just "paper" any Husky mix
as a Seppala. Ridiculous, you say?? Not so!! Take a moment to read
about the Seppala Sled Dog.
Rare Breeds Development:
New breeds under development need careful, experienced guidance for
several generations in order to properly expand their gene pools, while
maintaining type. If you take the time to follow the links on this site20
it should give you a better understanding of what is involved. Then,
for more info about the variety of available "registries",
check out http://www.canadasguidetodogs.com/breedregistries.asp.
One good example of the designer dog trend can be seen upon
investigating the Labradoodle21
The original concept was exemplary, an attempt to produce a guide dog
for people that were allergic to the standard breeds being used! But the
project itself has not been easy.
http://www.alpsdoodles.org/
There are dozens of other designer breeds, some of which actually manage
to get recognized, like the Mi-Ki23
and the Kyi-Leo.24
Both
breeds created the same way, only by a different person? How many
"American" breeds25 have
been recognized by ARBA or have registries? How can these small gene
pools survive such discord?
What about the future? Well, it’s obvious that this trend is exploding
with all kinds of new “doodle” creations! Just take a moment to google
up Golden Doodle, Cock a Doodle, etc. These “mixes” that once sold for
$50 in your local newspaper are now selling for thousands of dollars,
coast to coast! None of them have been bred as per the founder's vision,
nor have they maintained a reliable database! As long as anyone can
cross breed two (pet quality) dogs, they can demand unreasonable prices
for the puppies they produce! Obviously, the money is in the NAME, not
the quality being produced!!
Breeders and
consumers need to take action! Our shelters are already overflowing with
wonderful pets that must be euthanized due to lack of desirable homes!!
SavaPet asks “Did you know that 7 million adoptable dogs & cats are killed each year
due mainly to overpopulation?” Most such dogs come from
puppy mills or greedy back-yard-breeders looking for some extra money.
This all contributes to the legislation being enacted in order limit
such practices, despite the fact that it ends up hurting the honest
breeders that are dedicated to producing a quality companion for others
to enjoy!!
Maybe
it's time that serious breeders take a stand against organizations like
ARBA? If they want to play by their own rules fine, but they shouldn't
be given any kind of credibility by serious publications like Dog
Fancy!! Maybe it's time to write some letters to the editors?? After
all, we spend our money advertising our pure breeds as per their rules,
so we have a right to take a stand against groups that refuse to live up
to the same standards!
Your comments are always welcome!
- Tina M. Barber
1
http://www.akc.org/breeds/parson_russell_terrier/index.cfm
2
http://www.terrier.com/
3
http://www.ratterrierclub.com/
4
http://www.kingshepherd.com/News_bites/News_Bites.asp
5 http://www.shilohshepherds.com/1996CourtCase.asp
6
http://www.shilohshepherds.info/issrIllustratedBreedStandard.asp
7
http://www.akc.org/
8 http://www.akc.org/breeds/complete_breed_list.cfm
9
http://www.ukcdogs.com/
10
http://www.chinook.org/
11 http://www.wolf-to-wolfdog.org/name.asp
12
http://www.shilohshepherds.info/arbaLetter.asp
13
http://www.shilohshepherds.info/issrIllustratedBreedStandard.asp
14 http://www.shilohshepherds.com/buyersBeware/tx6201685-1.pdf
15
http://www.shilohshepherds.info/arbaBreedDescriptionMinus.asp
16
http://www.fci.be/home.asp?lang=en
17
http://www.fci.be/nomenclatures.asp?lang=en
18
http://www.seppalasleddogs.com/seppala-breeding.asp
19
http://www.canadacanines.org/
20
http://www.seppalasleddogs.com/sssd-project-beginnings-1.asp
21
http://www.readersdigest.com.au/content/my-story-i-designed-a-dog/
22
http://www.laa.org.au/
23
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/miki.asp
24
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/kyileo.asp
25
wikipedia.org - Category:Dog_breeds_originating_in_the_United_States
26
http://www.canismajor.com/dog/raredogs.html
27
http://www.wonderpuppy.net/kc.asp
