ABCA disciplinary action against Bill and Gloria Barnes

[Mike Neary]

Unanimous action by the board of directors of the ABCA at a board conference call on May 19, 2015 resulted in the following disciplinary action:

 

The ABCA has permanently barred Bill and Gloria Barnes (Barnes Border Collies) of Braxton, MS from ABCA membership for submitting false registration documents to the ABCA. Effective May 19, 2015, their registration and certification privileges are revoked. As of that same date, Lady (ABCA #344534) and Buddy (ABCA #398685) are de-registered, and littermates Bella Ishee (ABCA #344534), Oreo Cookie (ABCA #344535), Lucy (ABCA #344536), Sketch (ABCA #398680), Toby (ABCA #398681), Chief (ABCA #398682), Rusty (ABCA #398683) and Tuff (ABCA #398685) are placed on non-breeding status.

 

Mike Neary, 2015 President

American Border Collie Association

[Tommy Coyote]

Wow. Does this happen very often?

[Debbie Meier]

Nope, don't think so.. I think this is the current list of all breeders http://www.abcbordercollies.com/

[Liz P]

Do breeders like this get investigated because puppy buyers question the pedigrees of the pups they buy?

[SS Cressa]

What is the difference between expelled and barred?

 

And when this happens is it all the dogs they have produced? Or just the current ones? If i had bought a dog from them (i did NOT) would i have to worry about my dog getting ban from ABCA?

[juliepoudrier]

Stella,

The actual wording (see Mike's post) of the expulsion states which dogs are affected. So two dogs had their registrations revoked, and their littermates were placed on nonbreeding status (i.e., the owners of those dogs will not be able to register any litters).

 

So if you had a dog from a different litter, your (the general you) dog would not be affected. If I were the owner of such a dog, though, I'd wonder if they falsified one pedigree what guarantee is there that they didn't falsify others? The answer is that there is no guarantee, so the owners of any dogs from the Barneses will just have to wonder if the pedigree they have in hand for their dog is actually accurate.

 

Liz,

I assume someone has to relate suspicions to ABCA and provide enough evidence to support the allegation that ABCA feels justified (cost/manpower) in investigating. I would guess the folks who actually are disciplined are just a tip of the iceberg. How big that iceberg is anyone's guess. I'm sure there are more than a few "oops" litters out there whose parentage is questionable, even if folks aren't deliberately falsifying. I'd like to think that people are honest, but this latest action just proves that at least some aren't.

 

J.

[juliepoudrier]

P.S. Stella, maybe Eileen can explain the difference in wording between the Barneses being "barred" and all previous folks being "expelled." There may be some legal explanation....

 

J.

[Eileen Stein]

The difference between barred and expelled: If you are currently a member in good standing, you are expelled from membership. If not -- if for example you are in arrears in your membership fees -- you are barred from membership. The result is the same.

 

Julie is right about the process. It is complaint-driven, and the ABCA president makes an assessment of whether the complaint is credible or not before initiating an investigation. You can find the rules governing disciplinary actions here.