Dog Registries, the "good" ones

And where I try to tone down my swearing, because I just realized how much I was writing like that. Unless there are votes for it to continue.

Anyway, speaking of North America, there are two main "quality" dog registries where the parenthood of your dog is guaranteed. In the US, that registry is the AKC, American Kennel Club, http://www.akc.org. In Canada, that is the CKC, Canadian Kennel Club, http://www.cke.ca, not to be confused with the CKC, Continental Kennel Club, which I refer to to as the ConKC since it fits.

Dogs can easily be dual registered in CKC and AKC. The CKC accepts more breeds, I believe, at this point, but the AKC's Foundation Stock Service (FSS) has more breeds than ever, but not necessarily the same breeds. The CKC has the Barbet and that's nowhere to be seen in the AKC. There are something close to 200 breeds in the US, and close to 450 or maybe a bit over internationally, to give you an idea of what you can choose from.

In the AKC, new breeds have to hang around in the FSS for a while once they've been through the hoops that the AKC asks of them, and they sit there while those hoops are held for a while. After one to three years, the AKC decides whether to give them full AKC status. The AKC takes over ownership of the studbook (which is the history of the mating of the dogs, to say it simply. Studbooks write down names of sires, dams, the amount of puppies they have. Nowadays, some studbooks kept by breed clubs even include health information in them. Notice I said breed clubs). They make sure that the dog is truly a distinct breed, and they specifically say no labradoodles or cockapoos or puggles, ever, or even those hideous mi-ki things with their shaved heads and feet, since crosses of two distinct breeds or even a dozen distinct breeds do not a breed make. While in the FSS, as things move forward the dogs are allowed to compete in "Companion Events" which are things like agility. Once the breed can do those, they may be allowed in "Performance Events" if that's what the breed does, like hunting.

No where in the AKC do you see where quality is required. All new breeds entering the AKC have to have a three generation pedigree. All existing breeds in the AKC just have to mate with an existing AKC dog to create more AKC dogs. Which is why just because AKC is tacked on to a dog's advertisement, it doesn't mean anything. The AKC does cut off bad breeders when they go out and visit after several complaints, but they don't have enough people to do that everywhere in the world, and millers have essentially given up the AKC name because the general public believes that any registry tacked onto the dogs is just as good as AKC. "Look, look, my dogs are REGISTERED!".

There is one other major registry in the US, the UKC, United Kennel Club. It's not like the CKC or the AKC. It's mainly there for performance events, and mainly for performance breeds. Some terriers are lumped into the terrier group, others are lumped into the companion group. Yorkies are stuck in the companion group, while Jack Russells are in the terrier group. Looking at the site, they do not state how many generations back the pedigrees must be, nor how long the dog has been a distinct breed. AKC expects proof that the dog has been a distinct breed for decades. The UKC though, hosts probably more events for dogs to compete in than the AKC, and you don't have to be UKC registered to do them. The UKC also holds conformation shows, but that's tricky. Many times in many breeds, there's simply no dog to show over. Points are gotten by winning over other dogs in that breed group (such as gun dog or herding or guardian dog, according to the UKC's breakup of breeds). So there's no true comparison to other dogs of the same breed, and you can get a UKC championship on your dog without ever showing over the breed of dog you own. So, want to compete more often in hunting/lure coursing/tracking/weight pull/ terrier races etc? Look for UKC sponsored shows. Just remember that a UKC breed can mean that you're getting a made up breed of only a couple generations back, since I see no where in their standard to avoid that.

Some may have heard of the IKC. International Kennel Club, which holds a huge show in Illinois every year. This is just a club that is part of the AKC, and is specific to Illlinois. In 07, over 100,000 visitors came to see 10,000 dogs show. It's huge. And a few years ago, I won two majors two days in a row at the show, thank you very much! My doggie is niiiice. He wakes me with kisses, er, he washes the morning grease off with his tongue. Actually, dog shows are often about luck and connections, but not always. My own story proves that, and I'll get to that in yet another post. Please don't confuse this http://www.ikcdogshow.com with this horror of a pet shop in NY http://internationalkennel.com/ which has at least one other website for a second store in NY, or with The International Kennel Club Consortium, for which I was unable to find a website, which is one of those "scam" registries.

The CKC I know less about, but the breed I'm in has many Canadian fanciers so I've gained some information by osmosis, since the website is not as forthcoming with information as the AKC site is. It seems a bit more friendly towards registering specific dogs from another reputable registry (more internationally than the country below Canada, and not talking simply about the AKC. I don't know if the UKC would qualify, but I'll ask). They were ahead of the AKC in giving guidelines to avoid petshop puppies, and they seem much more quick to make changes for the welfare of the dogs. But, again, a CKC on the dog's papers doesn't mean quality. It just means that it's really truly that breed.

Unless the breeders lied.

You just can't rely on those three little letters when choosing a dog. These registries were never set up to watch for the health of the animals. That's not their purpose, and that is what many people seem to misunderstand. The letters do not guarantee anything about the health or behavior of the dog your get. Letters != quality. Repeat that mantra when you go about looking for a dog. And, maybe shockingly, there are dogs that are high quality, well bred, known pedigree, in a studbook, that are not recognized by the AKC or CKC that I would personally be thrilled to own.

Note: my own shorthand for a dog that has been bred with health and temperament in mind, including any and all health tests possible and appropriate for the breed, is the word quality.