Why the AKC is responsible for Puppy Mills

I just received an alert in my email from HSUS seeking legislation in Missouri to manage the thousands of puppy mills. Click to see their message

It's got me all worked up and I have to vent.

In my highly-opinionated opinion, the AKC should be charged a tax for every registration, and this fee would go toward paying for a national regulating agency. While the retail sales (aka pet store) of puppies is the lifeblood of puppy mills, the AKC is the also major contributor to puppy production facilities. The AKC supports their breeding practices by registering dogs bred and sold by anyone and without proof of parentage. The ability to claim they are selling AKC registered dogs is what drives these pet sales. If these dogs were not promoted as AKC Purebreds, they would not command thousands of dollars in pet stores. It's the engine that drives the whole thing. Yet, the AKC puts the onus onto the consumer with the old adage "buyer beware" as their excuse. Even the simple act of banning registrations from pet store sold dogs would at least alert the public that there is a concern on their part.

IMHO: The AKC was created to preserve and promote "well-bred" dogs. It was created by breeders who wanted to not just have a club, but show off their skills at breeding solid, healthy dogs. They wanted to preserve the breeds that men had invested money, energy and time to develop. It very quickly became a business. Instead of standing for stamp of a quality dog, the AKC has come to mean nothing to anyone with experience working with lots dogs. Dogs who are AKC are seldom healthier, and more often far less healthy on average than a so called mixed-breed dog. Just ask your vet who spends more money on vet bills.

What happened?

The AKC is simply a whore for the dog-breeding industry.  I did not know this until I started researching dog breeding. I belong to of a couple dog breed forums where one would think discussions of how to assess healthy dogs would be a hot topic. I expected to learn a lot, but instead I continue to be shocked at the lack of education on basic animal husbandry shown by the majority of these breeders. On occasion, someone puts up an "ALERT" and sends out out an APB about the apparent devil, The HSUS. They get all riled up about privacy and start posting legal tricks to use to stop any agency from entering their property. Mind you, these are breeders claiming to be small family operations. Rather than being concerned at the reasons why the HSUS can get public support for it’s efforts, they focus on trying to defame them as being extremists looking for excuses to shut them down. Even the people who I had come to believe were 'reputable' appear to support these discussions. I can't help but be appalled at how worried they are about being legislated out of business, yet not a thing is done to self-regulate their own industry. ANY other industry would be scrambling to establish regulatory guidelines to avoid government regulation. Rather than showing leadership and setting an example, the AKC excuses themselves away. Why? I'm guessing the amount of money generated from the registrations from these puppy mills is a huge contributor to their bottom line, and helps them meet self-imposed growth projections. I am quite sure these puppy-mill-kennels are also involved politically and financially within the AKC itself.

Since it's left to the public rather than the industry to regulate these unscrupulous business practices I propose that retail puppy sales should be banned nationally. It would stop puppy mill style kennels. All kennels putting out a certain number of litters per year would be charged significant fees per litter to PAY FOR THEIR OWN regulatory agency. Regulations would require the AKC to report all kennels with new registrations.  If it ups the price of an AKC dog, all the better.

I'm also disgusted with the AKC's breed groups who don't take leadership roles within their OWN breed! These breed clubs have the ability to completely control this problem, all they have to do is require that dogs can only be registered by breed club licensed breeders and kennels, and DNA proof of parentage would be required.

Dogs would have provisional registration until 2 years of age; dogs showing proof of genetic disorder clearances as well as DNA parentage proof would then get a breeding registration. Puppies bred from dogs under the age of 2 could never be registered. Those that are not cleared of genetic disorders would have to be spayed/neutered to clear their provisional status. These dogs would still be considered AKC, and be able to compete in showmanship, agility and obedience classes. The AKC would blanket the national airwaves with educational videos, tv show appearances and PBS documentaries teaching the explaining the need for these changes in their policies. Advising the public not to pay money for ANY purebred puppy without PROOF of provisional AKC registration by the breeder, and (rather than the breeder putting it up to the client to do, which allows for the current typical breeder policy allowing falsifying AKC pedigrees). The REPUTABLE breeders and breed clubs would support this by repeating it over and over again to anyone talking about PURCHASING (no, it's not adopting) a purebred dog.  In addition they would be in the forefront of informing the public of the horrors of puppy mill operations, and pet store puppies. By educating the public, the breeders would be PROTECTING their industry by increasing not only the perceived value but also supporting the price of their own product. As you can see, it makes sense not only on a moral level, but just as importantly on business level.

This seems so simple to me, and I'd always assumed that they already did something like that.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a member of PETA and I'm not a vegetarian. I feel as a society we have a stewardship over all the creatures in our care. As a nation we need to hold each of ourselves to the highest standards of humanity. It's not just important to hold our human caretakers responsible for their actions, but our animal caretakers as well. As our society has evolved, our respect for the sanctity of all life has become a hallmark. It's that respect for life that other nations may claim is our weakness, but I believe is our strength.  

End of Rant.

Victorian Era Images of Flop Eared Collie Dogs

A little bit about how I climbed onto the bandwagon..

I type nearly as fast as I think, so I tend to be a lot more wordy than I probably need to me.

MY STORY:
In 2008, I was on a quest to find a dog. I had a dog in my head. The dogs I recalled admiring and drooling over back in the dark ages of 1960's-70's when I was growing up . Some of my favorite dogs of that time were Shetland Sheepdogs and Australian Shepherds. Unfortunately, as I started looking for my own dog I was thoroughly disappointed. The Sheltie people have continued to pursue big thick fuzzy coats, and that pointy"Collie" head. I searched and searched for a breeder who was defying that trend but had no luck. In addition the Australian Shepherd has since become AKC approved and is almost unrecognizable from the dogs I grew up with as a result. Golden Retrievers, another old favorite, seem to have gotten larger, less laid back, with less refined faces, heavier bones, and nothing like the one my family still talks about to this day, over forty years later.

I refused to give up my quest, being pretty internet savvy, and unemployed I just knew I'd find the 'right' dog somehow. I was finally financially and socially stable enough to get my first dog and by all that is holy I was going to figure out what 'real' dog breed carried the traits I desired.

The more I researched, the more I found out that my idea of the perfect dog was something rare and apparently non-existent. During hundreds of hours internet research, I stumbled across some amazing pages on the histories of the Aussie, and then read about the English Shepherds. I became truly excited that there were others who had similar ideas. By the time I came across the AWFC site I was hooked and hoping I'd found a group a people actively pursuing to preserve a dog type that's never been a 'breed' but more of a 'type.

As for my personal dog search, the more I researched the more I realized I was looking for a fantasy dog. It was going to have to be mixed breed of some kind. The dog I was trying to find was somewhere between a small Aussie, a large Sheltie, some ES, and maybe some kind of spaniel. Because of my circumstances I had to have a dog small enough for an apartment, with a light-to-medium coat who shed very little and most importantly was low to mid energy. I wanted a refined aristocratic head, with a solid stop, floppy ears, good sized eyes but all those were negotiable. I wanted a smart, practical and of course beautiful dog that I could take with me everywhere. For a short time, I thought I might do well with a Miniature Aussie..but all the dogs I saw looked like they were crossbred with various toy dogs and that wasn't what I sought.

Luckily after almost a year I found THE dog for us. It took exactly 3 seconds before I knew that I would jump to the moon to get this particular pup. The interesting part is that I wanted a fixed female dog, who was adult or senior. One day I forgot to remove puppies from my search and I found a dog whose countenance was irresistible....a male puppy! Luckily, I was right to stick with my gut and he's grown into what is the perfect dog for us. He was more than I even knew I wanted or needed and I'm extremely happy. It was the search for this dog that has now started pushing me into wanting to start a line of dogs that will be preserved for the future. Right now, I'm learning about dog genetics and looking to have my male carefully scrutinized for all the basics like CEA, Hips, Shoulders...etc. Once he's been through all the screening processes, I hope to breed him with a similarly screened female, (I already have my eye on one) and start from there. I don't expect to start a huge trend or anything. I figure if Parson Jack Russell was able preserve a type of dog that no one was breeding for, then there is hope that it's still possible.

The more I've educated myself, the less I respect the AKC. As I've gotten older I guess I realized that it's pretty foolish to assume that "those people" "know what they are doing"... it started when I saw the winning Aussie with leg bones the size of a BMD, the coat of a Samoyed among other things...and the clincher was watching the winning GSD's literally dragging their backfeet across the carpet at Westminster and other big shows.

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The Old Time Australian Shepherds of the 1970's

I give up. I need a place to put all these thoughts and ideas, so here goes. In my recent quest to get my first dog as an adult I was surprised at how difficult it was to find dogs that fit my idea of 'the ideal dog'.  Not just smart, but beautiful, not to big or too small, easy to care for with a manageable amount of hair and a nice low to medium energy. I like floppy ears, and medium to light silky coats. Can't be too big for apartment or too small for a guy to walk of course. A dog who would not only be my buddy, but also my husbands. A dog that is more interested in figuring out what I want, than making me figure out what he wants.

I think my ideas of what a perfect dog is stem from a couple of experiences. One, was my first dog as a child, a Golden Retriever. "Rinny" had followed my sister home from school one day. She was an old fashioned Golden Retriever from the 60's. She had a refined elegant face, and a medium length ears, and a coat that bounced when she trotted. Silky and light gold it never had to have stickers removed, even though we lived in the country. She was ran over by a car in 1967, when I was five, and I still remember looking at her face, still smiling even then, and asking mom over and over again, are you sure she's dead?

I think the biggest influence for me was a dog that even my surly old dad fell in love with. "Caesar Geronimo" was a dog we got from a fellow 4-H club member when I was in high school. Someone's "terrier" got in with her purebred show Shetland Sheepdog. We got pick of the litter and chose a perfectly marked little guy who's perfect shaped white collar and blaze was irresistible. His markings were the spitting image of Lassie. Caesar had such a beautiful face, with a marked stop, sharp fine features and lovely round chocolatey eyes. Caesar was my 4-H Obedience dog.  Caesar was still and SMART, every move he made looked like a painting. His coat was long, but silky and seldom needed brushing even though we were were surrounded by fields of foxtails.


Everyone loved Caesar, even my mom who had steeled herself from all the animals we'd ever had. I wish I had pictures from those days, because this dog was Lassie in miniature. He had the most perfect coat. It was silky smooth, long, and with lovely heavy white collar that framed his beautiful head. Unlike a the new shelties with the thick fuzzy hair, even in the winter his coat was full without beign thick. Rather than a pointy face with tiny eyes, he had a perfectly balanced head and his ears were 'pricked' at the halfway point rather than the ends. Yep. He was a dream dog...EXCEPT..there were a few other dogs I loved too!

Those dogs were all my horse-friend's dogs. This was the 70's. Australian Shepherds were unheard of, except in southern Sacramento County, where everyone who had a horse had an "Aussie" and nearly everyone had a horse.

Aussies have always been a breed close to my heart, but I with a 30 year hiatus out of the dog world and coming back I saw a lot of strange changes. Back in th 1970's I lived in cow-town on the outskirts of Sacramento. In the southern county, Aussies were THE dog to own. They followed the cattlemen around on horseback to assist horse in cattle management, rode with you in the truck everywhere you went, and went on long trail rides with your horse club. Trail riding with dogs and camping up in the Sierra Mountains was a typical summer activity, along with rodeos and horse shows. This was a town of 20,000 people and 100,000 cows, where high school "FFA" members were the "cool crowd" and 4-H clubs abounded. The high school "it" kids wore silver-tipped cowboy boots and huge silver Rodeo Champion belt buckles . The Aussie breed was extremely popular among my fellow horsemen. While "Australian Blue Heelers" were also in abundence, there was no confusion between the two. The breed I knew in the 1970's were NOT a heeling herder and nipping dogs were not tolerated. These dogs were be in close quarters with horses, nipping simply was not tolerated as a simple nip could ruin a horse for life! Any dog who nipped was dealt with quickly and usually it meant the dog was shot, put to sleep. Few people wanted to be responsible for a kid losing a finger or worse.

If you needed a heeler for your cattle, most folks had what we called an " Queensland Heeler" or "Blue Heeler" which of course is now the "Australian Cattle Dog" and those dogs were tough, mean and very hard to work with. Only the toughest guys owned them. "Blue Heelers" were dogs exclusive to working with cattle and very few folks kept them as family dogs because of their known EXTREMELY strong urge to nip at everything..including humans, children, other dogs, chickens, ducks and sheep. They were specialists and were used for specific cattle purposes, such as branding ect. They were well known by everyone to be hard-headed 'unstable' dogs for farm or family life, mainly because we'd all been 'nipped'' by one at one time or another. So basically, you saw a "blue heeler" and you always took a step back instead of forward...

Things have changed since the Aussie became an AKC breed, and not for the better as far as I'm concerned. For example, dogs who were born with tail, were never used for breeding by anyone I knew. It was easy to tell a 'docked' Aussie, since they have a stump, and docking a tailed dog was considered dishonest and frowned upon. To the folks in my town, a "Proper" Aussie was born WITHOUT a tail, just a blank spot where the tail would go. The breeders in my town, who were seeking AKC at the time, wanted to make them a tailless dog. But things changed somewhere along the line, since I most people seem to expect that Aussies are always docked, even breeders. I had a friend who had been given a gift of a docked Aussie back in 1977 and she was always embarrassed and explained that the person who docked the tail "didn't know any better" and "it didn't matter anyway since she was spayed". In other words, docking an Aussie was considered 'cheating'. That now seems to be the standard for some reason. Maybe the gene for lack of a tail didn't work out? I don't know, but either way there are also key changes that have worked into the current AKC style Aussie.

Contrary to the current AKC Aussie mantra, that I see repeated on all the "advice" websites and TV shows, The Aussie then was never high energy dogs..not even close to what a BC is for example. They were dogs that were able to hang around the farm for days, never ancy or nervous as long as they got a decent average amount of time outside. In my neighborhood, they were highly valued to keep the stock and family safe from skunks, possums, coyotes and stray dogs which were still abundant. It was that shepherdy behavior that made them extremely popular. Aussies didn't need to play fetch, they were happy just hanging around, checking on everything, and maybe chasing a skunk, coyote or stray dog off the property. Our dogs were also expected to keep the rats out of the barn and chicken shed. However, they also could run along with your horse in the stickers and the intense heat of summer and the muddy fields of winter and never would a thistle or chunk of mud stay on their silky coats. They were always in ready mode. Basically, they were more Shepherd than Collie. They were dogs with a soft deameanor with babies, yet go out and bring in the cows if it was time. As a rule, they were not barkers, and the herding technique I saw was silent and heavily dependent on assisting the cattleman on horseback (as opposed doing all the work for a shepherd on foot,). I don't think dogs of the American West ever had duties as heavy as say a BC would have in Europe where sheep had to be moved to and from the barn daily as well as driven into town for sale.

It took almost all the last year digging into the Aussie lines, and I have found a few that still harken back to working Aussies of pre-AKC days, so it's good to know that they aren't yet extinct.