Monday, October 15, 2007

ah, life

Car accidents, punctured lungs, 6 blood tranfusions, defibrillations took up my time the last couple of weeks. Not me, a close relative.

I'm working on all the bad registries I can find. There are probably more than I can ever list, however. Generally, none of these have any guarantee that your pet is actually a purebred. They may have shows, offer pedigrees, etc but they do not track anything and go simply based on what the owners say. They are most often used with puppymillers and BYBers, because it gives a false sense of legitimacy. It's also cheaper than AKC, especially now with AKC rules requiring DNA testing on animals that have been bred a certain amount of times. The AKC also randomly visits breeders, especially large scale, and does DNA tests, which have resulted in many of them being dumped from AKC membership. Not a single one of the bad registries do that.

American Canine Association It says it tracks veterinary health, but no where on the page does it allow for searches on health status, unlike OFA. However, it's the only registry endorsed by Petland, which says a lot.

America's Pet Registry, Inc. This is the old site. The new one is a work in progress. It was founded by retailers of pets (commercial breeders and resellers) and is "dedicated to the preservation of the professional pet industry", as the site said in at least one incarnation. You can buy a pup through them, and have no recourse if the seller doesn't want you to have contact information on them.

American Purebred Registry Registers any dog or cat, no proof of purebred status

Animal Registry Unlimited They register all animals, encourages cross breeding. Discounts for bulk registrations.

Continental Kennel Club The biggest crap kennel club out there. In it's early days, they accepted photos of animals that were not dogs as dogs. It accepts fake breeds, like like Mi-Ki, as a purebred. Gives discounts for bulk registration, registers dogs not recognized by other registries

Dog Registry of America, Inc. Just another registration that registers anything, even if you have no registration papers. If you want to create "new blood lines", which they mean to be if you want to create a labrapekadoodleuggle, you can. A selling point is that they don't and won't ever require DNA.

Federation of International Canines NOT to be confused with Fédération Cynologique Internationale. This site also accepts registration based on a person's oath that the dog is what they say it is. It caters to commercial breeders, offering a discount if you register a shitload of dogs at a time.

International Kennel Club is simply a pet shop that sells puppies. Their sister store is here.

National Canine Association Slightly better rules than the others, but accepts dogs as purebreds from scam registries. The "slightly better" seems to come through as requiring rescues to be altered. It allows "breeds" like the Mini Pei, aka Miniature Shar-Pei, which isn't a breed, any more than Miniature Aussies are.

National Kennel Club You just need a vet or an NKC official to look at your dog and voila! It's a purebred and gets full status. The AKC has something similar, you send in a few pictures of your dog when applying for ILP. But your dog does not get full status. It has to be altered. Any dog with an ILP can't be shown for conformation. It may participate in obedience, agility, that sort of thing.

North American Purebred Dog Registry I'm just putting quotes in from their Foundation Stock page, which sums up the crappiness of this registry. First section,
Domestic canines of unknown ancestry that are used in the development of a breed shall be permitted for registration purposes within the Foundation Registry only. Non-domestic canines , pure species or non-domestic x non-domestic hybrids are considered non-domestic and are to be registered in IPDBA's affiliate for non-domestic canines, the International Progressive Exotic Breeders' Alliance (IPEBA), Canine Division.
Non-domestic canines? That means they are allowing wolf hybrids and coyote hybrids. Even worse,
Progeny of crosses between domestic and non-domestic canines shall be accepted for General Registration as a domestic dog.
Anyone who has owned a wolf hybrid knows that they are anything but a domestic dog and have major issues living with people.


Purebred Canine International Registry Service has become APRI. APRI has swallowed a few other registries to become the monstrosity it is.

United All Breed Registry It has a lot of things supporting "pet professionals", which is another term for commercial breeders. They run this Gold Label Pets program, which is apparently supported by the USDA (not necessarily monetarily). It certifies breeding facilities. The only breeders that have facilities are large scale breeders, which are commercial breeders.

United States Department of Agriculture Only has large scale, commercial breeders that must register in the US to carry out their business. It gave a lot of money to the Hunte Corporation, probably the biggest millers in the US. More on this in another post.

Universal Kennel Club International Caters to commercial breeders, has no code of ethics and is proud of that. It doesn't like to penalize anyone and has only kicked out five members in over 65 years of existence, registers mixed breeds for breeding purposes.

World Kennel Club Registers all dogs that are purebred, which don't have to be registered with any other kennel club coupled with not having to even know the name of the sire or dam.

World Wide Kennel Club Registers any dog recognized by any other registry, as well as any purebred, new breed, or rare breed. New breed is just a euphemism for things like labradoodle, puggle, boggle, etc.

35 comments:

Cat said...

AKC does not guarantee dogs are purebred and DNA testing proves nothing but which parents sired your dog. If I breed a yorkie to a maltese and have them both DNA tested, then DNA test the pup, the results will come back that the pup matches the parents and will mention nothing about the pure or mixed breed status of the dog. AKC will NOT do anything about a breeder falsifying papers even if you have proof and only need DNA to back it up (our titled stud was not bred to some BYB dog in Georgia but AKC sure wont take the litter of his record and those pups are having pups now with incorrect pedigree!). AKC could care less about accuracy as long as they get their money! Do your research on AKC too before bashing the other registries!!!

Cat said...

- Not that I would breed a maltese to a yorkie, just using that as an example. I personally know of three dogs that are mixed that are AKC registered and DNA tested, siring pups right and left. Anybody ever wonder how the merle gene showed up in Poms and Chihuahuas? It wasnt a random mutation, it was the result of crossing them with shelties!

colorisnteverything said...

An example of this is probably my dog who is an AKC papered 22 lb "shih-tzu". Yes, 22 lbs people and I mean this is his healthy weight. He has the longest back I have ever seen on a shih-tzu and also his top knot doesn't grow out like a shih-tzu. We are SURE he isn't a purebred - most likely Lhaso cross, but he has papers.

However, it is funny that there are so many bogus registries out there! I had absolutely NO idea!

Cat said...

Gotta add to, AKC has two new programs available (to make more money for them!). If your dog's DNA comes back and is NOT a match with his parents, it doesnt matter, breed him anyway and register the pups. The only restriction they put on it is that you cannot show the offspring for three generations (same damn rule most of the so called "bogus" registries use) and that the offspring must be DNA tested before being bred, until the 3rd generation. They also now allow large breeders (20+ litters a year minimum) to "catchup" their registration for a very low fee, if say a dog has APRI papers but has AKC dogs in his 3-4th generation, you can submit pictures of the dogs inbetween that were not AKC registered in order to get AKC papers on your dog!

Irantfordays said...

Just because they are purebred doesn;t mean they are good examples of the breed. Razor's Edge pitbulls are pure bred they simply kept breeding the biggest pitbulls they could find until they had fat monsters now known as american bullies.

Irantfordays said...

AKC may not be the best registry ever but it's better than all the other with the exception of maybe the UKC in America at least. My favourite is FCI natural ears and tail for the win.

Chester's Mom said...

http://www.dogsindanger.com/aboutus.jsp

Great website! Check it out.... this is the "in your face" version of petfinder. Each animal has a countdown clock showing their remaining time.

Irantfordays said...

Sorry I don;t think it's a great website. We all know dogs up for adoption are in danger. To me having a count down clock is tacky much like PeTA's usual tactics to grab onto bleeding hearts.

2ters said...

I wholeheartedly disagree that this website is "tacky."

Knowing that animals "die" in shelters is a vague, abstract thing. Seeing faces, knowing about individuals can really drive the matter home.

There are wonderful dogs of *all* breeds that die in shelters every day. Hey -- if seeing a particular face on that website encourages someone to adopt from a shelter as opposed to plunking down too much money for a sick puppymill product at a pet shop -- I am ALL for it!

Irantfordays said...

Yes but we already know they are dying. Who in their right mind doesn't know dogs in shelters aren't being put down? If an adopter doesn't know this perhaps they are a bit too naive to be a pet owner.

Knowing a dog has one more day to live is simply going to push people to get a dog that doesn't match up with them all that well.

None of the shelters in my area use this site and I'm glad of it. I'll stick with petfinder thanks.

What adoption websites DON'T show you faces of the animals? How close the animal is to death should not be the reason for adoption. A dog that matches you, works with your lifestyle etc. should be the factors in adopting.

How is adding a death clock doing anything but letting you know oh that poor baby will be dead tomorrow? I would like to see any rational reason for having a death clock as an aid for adoption that isn't countered by above points. If the dog isn't right for you you should NOT adopt it because it's about to die.

2ters said...

None of the shelters in my area use it either -- that doesn't mean that it isn't a good thing!

Sure, shelters publish pictures of animals on Petfinder -- when they have time -- which is rarely. Even then it is generally only a small percentage. I'm a volunteer with a local shelter, and I am responsible for uploading animal pictures and bios to petfinder.

Perhaps you don't like the "guilt trip" technique, but stark images and stories like these often mobilize transports, rescue groups etc. to work with the animals in danger. Because of communication, publicity and good work with transports and rescues, my local area has practically become a "no kill" (or very "low" kill) community. I like to believe this can happen in *many* more places than mine...

colorisnteverything said...

Sorry, I highly disagree with you on the website posted above.

I think it is wrong. Sorry. There are too many pets in the world. It's a fact of life. I don't want to see dogs die. I had one die in my arms once. She was a much-loved greyhound that had been rescued from being people food in Mexico. Her heart wasn't working great and her quality of life was no longer good. We let her go. It was the hardest thing to be a part of, but at least I knew she was okay.

I wish dogs had to die, but some inevitably will. I will probably never adopt from a pound for a number of reasons. I want a dog that has better history and that has been watched and fostered to make sure that he/she will fit into my home. The worst thing on earth is getting a dog and having to give it right back, right?

I plan to get a dog when I graduate and as a young professional, I will need a dog that matches my lifestyle. It saddens me that dogs are going to die, but I don't want to be part of the problem adopting dogs just because I "didn't want to die".

It doesn't matter what you do, the puppy mills will still be turning out dogs left and right. We need to stop them rather than post dogs on the internet with a deadline.

The closest ones to me are in Kentucky. I am not driving two hours to save a pitt mix from death only to find out that he/she isn't potty trained and needs tons and tons of things that I can't give him/her. I think it is terrible for a dog to be in a home that doesn't really love it. It is a huge commitment and if it isn't working, it only hurts the dog.

This sort of thing only spurs on parents who run out and buy the first dog they can at the drop of a hat. We researched for months before adopting our greyhound. We did the same with our shih-tzu. These sorts of sites scream "come get me now - whether you and your 3 and 5 year old have time for me or not".

colorisnteverything said...

I meant to say "I wish NO dogs had to die."

That was a bad error on my part.

melodiousaphony said...

"Who in their right mind doesn't know dogs in shelters aren't being put down?"

Well, actually, not all shelters put down all the animals if they cannot find a home within x amount of time.
Some shelters put them down ASAP.

My dog is from a high kill rate shelter in GA. Did I set out to adopt a dog that was guarenteed to die if I or someone else did not adopt him/her right away: yes. Why, might you ask, did I not support a no-kill shelter in my state? Because at this time, it was the way I felt I could give back the best. I am persuing a degree in veterinary medicine and when I am able to, I plan on providing at-cost services to no kill shelters and those that work entirely based on foster homes. But at this time, I'm still slogging through my pre-req's and I wanted to know that I was helping a dog that would have otherwise died in a horrific manner (gas chamber). I love my $20/fee $don'twannaknowhowmuch/post-adoption-fixing-up. She's an awesome dog and I got my fax in an hour before she was suppose to be put down.

So I think count downs COULD be useful. Personally, I went through a volunteer coordinator to find her, but maybe countdowns really let reality sink in for some people.

melodiousaphony said...

PS to my previous post:
I just wanted to address finding a dog to fit my lifestyle.

As a concern, I completely respect this, and what I did _does not_ work for everyone and for those it won't work, it's not fair to either the people involved or the dog to even try. I had a back-up plan for my dog if she did not fit into my life style (which was certainly a risk, she is by an professional eye's observation, a lab/bully type mix). However, I do completely respect those who know this route won't work for them and thus don't try. You need to do what works for you so your dog and you can have a successful relationship. If I had children, etc., or ever planned to, I think I would have tried to go through a breeder or adopted a very young puppy (my dog was ~ 8 months when I got her).

robyn said...

Hi, I've just found this blog--good stuff. I'd like to see some info about Amish puppymilling, if you haven't researched this already. Everyone thinks everything Amish is just WONDERFUL, and I've both seen and heard of shady stuff from both Amish and Mennonites.

Thanks

colorisnteverything said...

Really? If you had kids you would try an get a puppy? I never want to own a puppy. I don't want kids either (which is convenient because I most likely can't have them) but at least I know my limitations. I know that having a brand new puppy would be too much for me. We never got puppies at my house because my mother said that she was done with potty training when she finished my younger sister. Of course, you will have accidents which is fine, but training one shouldn't be taken on by the faint of heart.

My you are brave. LOL. I am glad that people get puppies, but the thought just makes me nervous.

melodiousaphony said...

"Really? If you had kids you would try an get a puppy? I never want to own a puppy."

Yes, I would... thankfully, I have no desire to ever have children ::grin::.
My reasoning is that I would prefer to know a dog's lineage and have met it's parents so I could understand it's temperament and, in theory, perhaps avoid what genetic defects I could (my aunt's dog has severe hip dysplasia (sp?!) and though I understand it's not necessarily genetic, I'd like to try to avoid things like that with children as it is quite heart breaking). Temperament is somewhat genetic, so I'd like to know what I'm working with especially if I had children. All else fails, adopting a puppy would be preferable to me if I had children as it is, as they say, a "clean slate." As someone who was part of retraining a horse with plenty of excess baggage (can you tell what blog I leaked over from?), I know it is _possible_ to do, but I also put myself in some danger doing so and I think that having a dog with baggage + young children would not necessarily (exceptions always exist of course) be the responsible thing to do.

And yes, I have had a puppy-puppy before. Now, I've had the pleasure of house training an older puppy (thankfully, she's a people pleaser).

... and pardon my totally off topic rants :)

2ters said...

colorisnteverything,

In your statement "...I am not driving two hours to save a pitt mix from death..." -- you are already indicating that you don't have a clear idea about the animals in shelters.

In my area, we are far more likely to have labs, beagles, or some other type of "huntin' dawg" than pits or pit mixes. And who is to say that you cannot love one of these poor castoffs? One of mine was literally "me or the freezer" -- and I absolutely love her to death...and she has *far* more issues than most of the other dogs we place.

Perhaps you need something that will "fit in" neatly with your lifestyle. That's certainly commendable that you recognize that. There are many others out there, however, that may be willing to work a little harder with some of these critters, and we certainly won't love them any less.

In addition, working to save shelter animals *certainly* doesn't preclude working against puppymills! In my area, we also get a lot of "spent" breeder dogs. Some of them probably are so terribly under-socialized that they will *never* make good pets. However, I will always remember one old mama min-pin that had spent her life cranking out pups. We brought her to an adoption event one day -- and she stepped out of her crate to a whole new world that just *fascinated* her! It was inspiring to me to watch her "come to life" at a point when her life was probably 2/3 over. Folks that refuse to consider shelter or rescue dogs really miss out, in my opinion...

colorisnteverything said...

I never said no rescue dogs. I don't want to buy from a breeder. I think you misunderstood my statements.

Both my dogs were rescues. If you had read that, you would have seen. I won't buy from a breeder, but I want more background and want a more socialized dog. I want to know about the health problems and issues that the dog has.

I think it is commendable that people do get dogs at shelters, but I can see why people don't, just the same.

The reason I said "pitt mix" was because that was the first dog that came up when I searched for my school zip code. It was advertised as a "springer" mix, but I knew it was 1/2 pitt and I knew that no one would probably adopt the poor thing just because they have a bad rep. People don't get that they aren't people agressive. However, they are too big for an apartment (where I will probably live) and up your home owners' insurance big time - as do rotties and the like (also can be GREAT dogs). It's sad that the dog won't be adopted, I admit, but if people would A:
spay and neuter
and B:
stop buying from crappy breeders or pet shops (which turn my stomach inside out), then we wouldn't have all these unwanteds.

I know all about rescues needing good, dedicated people as I am friends with several women back home who are very much in charge of animal rescuing in the area. However, these are no-kill and they put the dogs in foster situations.

I have nothing against buying a dog from a pound, but like I said... I can see why people don't.

melodiousaphony said...

I do hope the owner of this blog will touch the "Pit Issue" or at least BSL... as it does touch me (I live in Boston, MA and have a pit mix, registered as a lab mix).

As for pibbles in apartments: I live in an apartment. My dog is kept well exercised and is quite awesome to have in an apartment. Bully dogs, as I have come to find out, don't tend to bark! What more could my downstairs neighbors want.

I am lucky, though, she is only about 35 lbs and not expected to get much bigger :)

As for a springer... keep THOSE the hell away from me. Spaniels drive me up a wall (and I have lived with a cocker, so I'm not totally without experience with them).

2ters said...

That's cool!

Our shelter also allows fosters too...

Rosie said...

You had me worried on that first sentance!! Good to see you're back.

Some of those registeries are so ridiculous.

colorisnteverything said...

Well, when you are a new graduate trying to support a horse and make endsmeet, you have a teeny tiny apartment. Most of the ones in this allow dogs under 30 lbs. I also can't have a dog with fur because of my asthma and allergies. I probably should have said that earlier. we didn't have many problems with the greyhound, but we did have some and my doctors recommend I only get a dog with hair.

Did anyone hear about the whole Ellen thing?

Rosie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
melodiousaphony said...

"Well, when you are a new graduate trying to support a horse and make endsmeet, you have a teeny tiny apartment."
I'm 23, doing a post-bacc, and live on the third floor of a three family with 2 cats and my dog. However, she is only 35 lbs and I'm moderately insane. I've got the horse thing happening too, but I also live in a shitty part of Boston which makes things (financially) more feasible. However, I completely understand even with similar situations, mine is not the same as yours and what people can handle is completely different. I just didn't want you to think I did not understand, to some degree, the complexity of balancing things. If I were in my post-grad, pre-back-to-school job, there would be no dog whatsoever.

Ellen things? I hope it's not bad, I generally like her!

colorisnteverything said...

Oh, well, that's cool. No cats for me. Can't trust them. They truly scare me. Plus, I am very much more allergic than I am with dogs.

Ellen, I actually usually love her, but I don't know about this. She and Portia (who I also like) had adopted a cute little mutt from a dog rescue. However, it didn't fit in with their other pets and she handed it off to her hairdresser and their daughters, who were fit parents for the dog, but had not been approved by the rescue. I totally understand why the rescue was pissed. She violated her contract and they had a right to take the dog back. I think they should just approve the family and give the dog back, though. She was crying on national television over it.

Cat said...

Ellen thing - Typical rescue on a power trip, not interested in doing what is best for the dog. The dog was adopted to Ellen for $600 and was NOT neutered yet, she had that done herself! What sort of rescue charges a fee that high and lets a dog leave their care unaltered? Not a legit one! Then she paid for training, etc and they showed up with cops to snatch this dog from the child's arms and adopt it out (another $600 fee!) to another home already! This rescue also owns and runs a pet store. Makes me wonder were the dog orginally came from, pup that didnt sell? It is a Brussell Griffon and Poodle mix, cute little "designer dog"...

citydog said...

RE: the Ellen thing, the rescue does sound sketchy. Ideally, she would have contacted the rescue, explained the situation and said she had another home for the dog, then they could have gone and evaluated and approved the hairdresser's family and spared the drama.

As for getting a "clean slate" puppy to have with kids, I disagree. As a trainer and someone very active in fostering and rescue, I think an adult dog with a known history is preferable. You never know what you're getting with a puppy, no matter how well bred it is, there is that element of chance. With an adult dog, you know what you've got for temperament.

citydog said...

There is DNA testing available now that will confirm the breed(s) of your dog, not just parentage.

Cat said...

Citydog - that is not offered or approved by AKC. The type testing that AKC uses only vertifies the parentage, not the breed.
I would like to see them pick up the breed test but I doubt they will, they have already changed their rules on kicking out dogs with DNA that doenst match because of all the fuss when they had to throw out entire bloodlines. More money in it for them if they do not allow the breed DNA test to have an impact on registration.

http://www.metamorphixinc.com/products2a.html

colorisnteverything said...

They also own a pet shop? Geez. I didn't hear that! Doesn't sound like much of a resucue. The part about it not being fixed makes me think this is just a ploy.

There were two greyhound rescues in our area when we got our greyhound and we went to the one farther away because the closer one "adopted" dogs out right off of the truck - unspayed/neutered. My parents thought that was more than "odd" and my mom's friend, who runs a legit rescue, said that was a bad sign. They closed down a couple of years later and no one really knows why, but we all have some suppositions.

Amy Ellen said...

I am a first time reader of this blog and have found it interesting, however, I would like to comment on the statement that wolf hybrids have issues living with people. We had a wolf mix and she was the BEST furry friend we have ever had. We never once had a problem with her.

She loved my husband and I and our 6 kids. In fact one of our kids has downs and she would sit quietly and allow him to investigate her teeth. He was going through a phase and loved teeth.

And before anyone gets all up in arms and say OMG you hideous parent, I grabbed him away the first 50 times and then realized after paying close attention to the dog she did not mind and in fact he also learned to walk better by holding onto her tail and following her around.

She loved him and was very patient with him. One of my favorite pictures is her sleeping on the couch and then my Andrew sleeping with his head on her hip on the couch. She was protective of the whole family and once she realized whomever was at the door was greeted by us happpily she would become very friendly and investigate them.

We miss her everyday now that she is no longer with us. And even though my schnauzers are great, yes schnauzers with my 6 kids, we will forever have a special place in our hearts for our Ginger Pie.

Thoughtfully
Amy Ellen

Unknown said...

I, also, want to comment about the wolf hybrids. I owned a 97% Timberwolf and 3% Siberian Husky mix........GREAT DOG!!!! In fact, I would really like to get another one. I miss him alot. I think the wolf hybrid is like any other breed or animal. You cant breed a nasty tempered animal and expect nice temperaments on the offspring. There are many wolf hybrids out there that are wonderful. I even met my wolfs sister.....she was a total sweetheart. They look scary...but most are very gentle. And great with families.

Labella said...

Years late, I know.. But your comment about no such thing as mini shar peis any more than there are mini aussies...

Ummmm... 7 years later, the miniature australian shepherd was recognized as a breed by the AKC.. No, not under that name. Under the name north american miniature shepherd, with a bogus history.. but they are mini aussies.
Just wanted to point that out.