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AKC'S PETLAND CONTRACT

The American Kennel Club's deal with Petland pet shops proves $$$ and puppy mill profits mean more than hobby breeders, a SELL OUT on everything AKC has stood for!

Oct 2017 update (Sept 2006) | TheDogPress

Where is our hindsight? Can't we see what has already happened? It is the ultimate hypocrisy. You’ve been conditioned to abhor puppy mills and pet shops. AKC "said" the worst offense for breeders was to sell puppies to a pet shop. Whoops, they hid the alliance with puppy mills for decades but TheDogPress writers blew the lid off AKC's puppy mill history.^{1}

Then the High Volume Breeder Committee^{2} tried to convince show breeders that puppy mills had evolved into wonderful high-tech breeding facilities with animal husbandry methods we should adopt in our own “breeding programs." All of that is best viewed with yesterday's hindsight.

Just over a decade later, puppy mill and pet shop outrage is hard to find. Purebred "puppies for sale" sites are all over the internet. Pet shops are no longer taboo. AKC's Petland deal

When breeders rejected that ridiculous concept, the American Kennel Club totally reversed itself, telling us “High Volume Breeders need to be educated, taught a better way.” So puppy mills and Petland Pet Shops were crammed down our throats and many, eager to swallow anything AKC handed out, accepted the taste. Only TheDogPress readers knew about the AKC-Hunte Puppy Mill History and that Hunte Corp's biggest customer is Petland.

By 2015 Petland Pet Shops^{2} were a global enterprise!

When AKC revamped its website to accommodate puppy mill advertising, we did not shove the plate away because we were told AKC couldn’t “not” accept ads from "commercial breeders" any more than AKC could deny them registration. AKC is a "private club" blah blah blah. Blinded by anything that might adversely affect our ring careers, we gulped down course after course of tainted fodder a hog would have walked away from. If that offends you, throw those 20/20 glasses away and click out now.

Talk about a double-cross! AKC was working on a "new contractual relationship" with the Petland chain of stores (120 in the US, with 20 more planned for 2007). Most notably, the difference between Petland and PetSmart or PetCo is that Petland sells puppies! Puppies that will be represented and sold under the auspices of AKC. Thousands of puppy mill puppies that are AKC registered at time of sale. Registered right at the register. Sounds like a sales slogan to me. Big profits to AKC as so many pet puppies otherwise never get registered.

What a sell out, giving Petland a leg up on the other pet shop chains which quit selling puppies because AKC said it projected a bad image! How’s that for long-term planning ? How long has AKC been setting itself up to command an industry? The Petland contracts cuts UKC and other competing registries off right at the point of sale while guaranteeing Petland something they could never get from the United Kennel Club anyway.

It was done quietly, buried in the Treasurer’s report. When a few Delegates raised questions, they were essentially told it was none of their business. The contract was signed, sealed, delivered. No input was sought, nor would any have been accepted from the Delegate body.

What makes AKC think it can trample the traditions it has espoused for over a century? What makes the AKC Board of Directors think the Petland deal will be accepted by the fancy.

OK, it is a test. Obviously AKC expects us to either leave or roll over. The fact is, AKC doesn't need us bothersome show breeders. AKC expects us to acquiesce over Petland with little more than a whimper or whine. If 10, 20, or even 50% of show breeders walk away, our absence won't be noticed. There will be that many more newbies to fill the ranks. A lot of us quit breeding or switched registries when AKC sold us out for the power of PAWS..

The comparatively few dollars generated by show breeders are insignificant compared to puppy mill income so eagerly welcomed by AKC. What fools we have been! AKC brags about its new bottom line and we cheer dutifully... Petland is sure to increase profits. You happy about that?

What about Pet Insurance (promoted by AKC - for a piece of the action), Animal Rights Legislation (supported by AKC) neither one affecting the commercial breeder who is exempt under USDA. The Animal Rights movement is picking up steam and TheDogPress has repeatedly asked AKC or any club to provide documentation that AKC has done anything more than give a rah rah for clubs that fought AR law. We ran a highlighted notice right on the Front Page of TheDogPress.com. No one responded affirmatively but several clubs and legislative groups reported that AKC provide no financial help at all. None. Zip. Now comes Petland...

The Petland Pet Shop/AKC Contract: Let's see, how does that work? AKC gives no real support in fighting the animal rights strangle hold on private, hobby breeders. Zoning regulations and Limit Laws never challenged by the Big Dog on behalf of the little dogs - the citizens. The long list impacts ONLY SMALL HOBBY BREEDERS. USDA "high volume breeders" are already zoned, licensed, etc.

Look at the cleverness of it all! Show Breeders can take it or leave it. AKC has thrown down the gauntlet. What will we do? While we may have a lifetime invested in the sport, most of us have other income, other professions. We will just keep our core dogs and “get out” of the sport. AKC breathes a sigh of relief. Troublemakers gone. No one to bitch about puppy mills, Petland deals, or the passage of PAWS or NAIS.

The commercial breeders will be good little supporters because their livelihood depends on being able to market millions of “AKC Registered” pups through pet shops. Only the most quick witted will have grasped the basic fact. Puppy Mills are already regulated. PAWS would not have affected them at all. The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is no threat to them either. Illegal search and seizure? No big deal to millers, it has never happened to them!

If you feel cheated, betrayed, “sold out” to your worst enemy, but you still believe in purebred dogs and you don't want to see AKC involved with a puppy mill outlet like Petland, there is a solution. You just gotta be brave and insist your club Delegates represent you. Americans fought a successful revolution in order to be free of suppression. The sell out to Petland is treachery, betrayal, and suppression of our right to sell healthy, carefully bred dogs. What can we do?

Barbara "BJ" Andrews on AKC's deal with Petland pet shops We are more than the sum of our numbers because without us, where will families buy a quality pet? We are far greater statistically than the pioneers who forged the Constitution. Can we be less brave? Remember, they formed a United States by telegraph and mounted messengers - we have the internet!!! We only need the courage of our convictions to overturn the Petland deal. AKC isn't quite ready to stand without us. It will be soon but right now, we still have the power of the pocket book and public opinion.

We can't ever go back to “the good old days” but we can show respect for the true purpose of breeding and exhibiting dogs - and we can stand up to the Petland deal because it is a sign of what's to come if we roll over now. Postscript: We did. Explore the truth below... you weren't supposed to know.