Is your dog REALLY registered?

Is your dog REALLY registered?

<>The other night, a friend called me to tell me she'd finally found the registration papers on her boxer girl. I had seen pictures of this girl, and I'd been curious to know what her breeding was. With some hesitation, my friend said to me, "Well, she's not AKC like I thought, she's CKC registered".
Sadly I informed my friend that there was no way I'd be able to look up the parentage, since it was likely that the ancestors were unknown, if even purebred. Her dog was not legitimately registered.

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The REAL McCoy. . . . .

In the fall of 1884, a small group of dedicated breeders got together and created the American Kennel Club. The goal of the AKC was three-fold:

• Maintain a registry for purebred dogs and preserve its integrity.

• Sanction dog events that promote interest in, and sustain the process of, breeding for type and function of purebred dogs.

• Take whatever actions necessary to protect and assure the continuation of the sport of purebred dogs.

A few years ago, the AKC took a big step to maintain the integrity of the purebred dog by initiating a DNA program, requiring active stud dogs(those siring more than 3 litters a year or 7 in a lifetime) to be DNA tested. This would help verify parentage in questionable breedings, and reduce the number of false registrations. This complicated things for "Puppy mill" breeders, who often do not keep accurate records of correct parentage of their puppies, or are unscrupulous about breeding purebred dogs. AKC's tougher stance on record keeping threw a wrench into their well-oiled puppy machines.

So their solution was to create their own registry and the Continental Kennel Club(CKC) was born.

In this registry, they would gladly take any dog that was already registered by another legitimate organization, but they would also give registration certificates to dogs of unknown parentage, as long as two people 'verified' that the dog looked purebred. There are several problems with this:

First off, the people 'verifying' the purity of the dog in question are probably not qualified to make such an assessment. Most people do not know the difference between a Boxer or an American Bulldog, a Norfolk and Norwich Terrier, or the many other breeds that are distinct but similar in looks.

Secondly, the CKC is very soft on it's "Standard" for each breed, barely touching upon the finer points that make each breed distinct, and leaving it wide open for personal interpretation.

Thirdly, many times responsible breeders will not allow inferior puppies to be bred, and will either withold AKC registration certificates until proof of sterilization, or will sell the pup on a "limited" registration, so that any offspring would not be eligable for AKC registration. Their reason for doing this are because they do not feel that the quality of the puppy is nice enough to pass on, or perhaps the puppy had a health problem or severe fault that is detrimental to the breed. But the buyer, upon falling in love with their darling pet, wants to breed them anyhow, and instead of following the advice of the breeder, they look for alternative ways to register their pets and subsequent puppies. Low and behold there is a registry out there that is glad to take the money and give them 'papers' in return, regardless of the quality or health of the dog in question. In fact, the dog doesn't even have to be pure-bred to get papers, as they'll take the word of a couple of your friends that your dog is purebred.
The CKC will even register puppies who's parents are not even the same breed....

I have real ethical problems with that.

We live in a country where anti-breeding legislation is cropping up everywhere. Local governments are tired of the number of unwanted animals that are ending up in shelters, and their solution is to regulate breeders into compliance. What they don't notice is that it is the unscrupulous breeders and pet owners who are contributing to the problem, not the responsible ones. Thus the only people who are going to comply with the new laws are the responsible breeders, and the real contributors to the pet-overpopulation problem keep producing more unwanted pets. Add to the mixture the person who side-steps his breeder's advice and breeds their dog anyhow. If they don't care enough to comply with the breeder, they certainly do not care about what kind of home their pups end up in, and once money changes hands, their obligation ceases. Eight months later, that unruly puppy ends up in the shelter as a statistic. A statistic that is used to support even more anti-breeding legislation.

If your dog does not have AKC registration papers, there are a couple things you can do. First off, contact the breeder to find out why the litter was not registered. If one or more parents are not AKC registered, try to find out why, since there could have been a good reason which may be of use to you in maintaining the health of your dog. Next, get your pet spayed or neutered. If you do not know the history of your pet, it is not wise to bring more puppies into the world which may have health problems lurking in the background of your dog's parentage. If you want to breed, contact a reputable breeder and learn more about your breed, and discuss the responsibilities that come with bringing new life into the world.
If you have a dog from AKC registered parents, but the breeder has asked you to not breed the dog, please respect their wishes. They have a good reason. Discuss it further with them if you need an explaination.
If you are looking to buy a puppy, please buy from a responsible breeder, and make sure that both parents are registered with the American Kennel Club, or the recognized Kennel Club from another country. If you have doubts about the legitimacy of a foreign country's Kennel Club, you can contact the AKC to see if they recognize that club and would accept the registration from that club.

Special note: the Canadian Kennel Club is the official kennel club of Canada, and alot of confusion is arising between them and the Continental Kennel Club, since both use the same acronym "CKC". Be especially wary if buying a puppy from Canada, to ensure that you get proper Canadian Kennel Club registration papers.