Is the AKC a dying breed?

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I've spent virtually (no pun intended) all day scouring the internet for evidence of the AKC's current state of health. I've been everywhere from the AKC Gazette online to Terrierman's blog. (Now there's a fun place. If you haven't, go check it out.)

 

Anyway. Most of the information I was able to come up with was past its expiration date, but I'm happy to report that the AKC was looking pretty puny and underfed nearly everywhere I looked.

 

Does anyone have recent 411 on this issue? And what do you suppose will rise in it's place should AKC-rex go off to the land of extinction with the other dinosaurs?

[jdarling]

Not so fast, Kemosabe. Have you pulled up the ANNUAL REPORT from last year? While their income seems to be declining a little bit each year, they are far from extinct, unfortunately.

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The thing that stood out for me was the steady decline in registrations since 1997. This was attributed to everything from the economy to animal rights groups.

 

Thanks for the link. Interesting reading...

[Sue R]

I think another thing that contributes to the decline in registrations is competition - and I'm not sure that's a good thing because much of that is what I would call useless "registries". They offer "registration" and "papers" for just about everything - mutts, mixed breeds, designer dogs, purebreds (of dubious descent). They are oriented totally towards backyard breeders and irresponsible breeders. But they are cheap, don't ask too many questions, and take your money. There is not even a pretense of striving in any way for "quality" - and at least with AKC (and other more responsible, "traditional" registries) there are some people truly striving for what they feel is quality.

 

And for what it's worth, there are a lot of quality breeders in AKC - people who breed and strive for healthy, sound, tempermentally-solid dogs. Not everyone is into the show ring mentality or the make-a-bundle-of-bucks mentality. There are some who have good dogs, make careful breeding decisions, only breed when they want another pup for themselves and have good buyers for the other pups, and so on.

 

I am anti-AKC; anti-show ring; and definitely against the kennel club mentality when it comes to "dogs with a purpose". But I know there are many fine people who have AKC dogs and are members of AKC, who produce small numbers of carefully-bred pups from their own proven dogs and bitches, bred to similar quality animals. I think AKC's issues are management-driven - there are people at the top that are guarding their own interests by driving the AKC show juggernaut; there are judges who place animals of extremes at the top in classes (because extreme is where it's at, whether it's coat, wrinkles, color, flat faces, etc.); and there is a great motivation to produce "what people want" even if it's what people shouldn't want and dogs don't need to be bred for - like characteristics that are accompanied by health issues while having an appearance that is popular in the public eye, or a loss of useful practicality.

 

Sorry, this is veering off-topic...

[Tea]

Sue

 

 

 

What a fair reply.

 

 

 

This might be off topic too in reguards to folks selling to pups to people who want to do other venues with them. I had to remind myself that if this happens to not judge anyone without talking to them personally or seeing/reading their contract.