Just got this about the AKC

[calgal]

Hi All,

Made up my mind before reading this that I was done doing any AKC shows or getting a dog with AKC registry..........The AKC has been doing some serious advertising in various pet trade magazines promoting their puppies in pet shops.

I also am not attending any trade show since Lambriar, Hunte and now the AKC will be there selling their pups, haven't in the last 4 years.

There is a big show next week, Superzoo in Las Vegas............when I'm asked why I'm not going, I tell them the truth.

Probably some big protests will be organised at upcoming AKC shows to expose to the public to what they are all about.......and if I have time I will join them.

Linda

[calgal]

> THIS MAY BE FORWARDED AS YOU LIKE
>
> Three marketing ideas that could never be approved by corporate management:
>
> 1. A brand of beer, promotes with slogans like "It's the water" and
> "Brewed with pure mountain spring water" could contract with the local
> sanitation authority for recycled water. "A cold refreshing brew will
> cost you a penny less!"
>
> 2. A fast food chain might reach out to the community with an aggressive
> program to hire ex-convicts. "Behind bars to behind the counter."
> Paired pictures in the stores, one taken in prison garb, one in the
> store's uniform.
>
> 3. The AKC could sign a contract with a chain of pet stores under which
> they would strongly promote AKC registration of new puppies in the store.
>
> OOPS! Scratch #3 from your 'could never happen' list, because according
> to today's list emails, it HAS happened.
>
> What's wrong with all three of these ideas is the same. In each case,
> the core of the corporate image and good name would be badly damaged by
> the marketing action: The idea of purity and clean tasting beer by using
> water that came from a sewer, no matter how well purified and
> sanitized; the safe, wholesome family image of a fast food restaurant by
> knowing that your burger was being served by a felon; and the AKC's
> image of puppies lovingly raised in a home setting, by a well-known link
> to pet store sales.
>
> In all three cases it isn't the fact that causes the problem, but the
> endorsement and giving of publicity. All water is ultimately recycled,
> there are surely ex-cons working in many restaurants, and pet stores
> already sell AKC registered puppies. It's the organizational
> ENDORSEMENT of the idea that does the damage.
>
> We need to be clear that not only is commercial breeding and pet shop
> selling of puppies perfectly legal and appropriate, but the AKC has for
> years registered such dogs and should continue to do so. There will
> always be people for whom a pet shop dog is a better 'fit' for one
> reason or another and if the breeders meet AKC standards for care and
> conditions and for registry integrity then their puppies should be
> registerable just as any others.
>
> But when the AKC is seen as specifically endorsing pet shop sales, then
> the AKC's name -- which depends primarily on home breeding and is its
> second most important asset -- is damaged. Damaging the corporate name
> is the worst possible business sin and this marketing decision is right
> up there with the worst ever made. Someone -- or maybe a couple -- of
> people at the top of the AKC ought to be looking for new jobs about
> tomorrow.
>
> Beyond that, we see again an AKC board that can't locate any part of its
> anatomy. AKC management has been floundering for a decade, unable to
> identify its customers and TREAT them AS customers, rather than as serfs
> who smell bad and don't pay enough taxes to support the fetes and
> banquets at the castle. Yet the board has never (that I know of)
> replaced any top officer. Most policies and even major changes of
> direction are simply decided by leadership and handed to the board with
> "This is the way it's going to be, so get over it." And the board
> has nodded and gone back to sleep, seemingly unaware of its duty to set
> direction, make major decisions, and supervise the performance of
> management.
>
> With maybe two or three exceptions, that board ought to be replaced.
> The toadies, the AR-lites ("Puppy mills are THE problem!") and the just-
> in-it-for-what- they-can- get folks need to go, and they should be
> replaced by people who care about the future of purebred dogs and who
> have enough business sense to do their jobs as board members.
>
> The tone of what has been coming from the delegates today suggests that
> they may be ready to start cleaning house. A lot of the anger over this
> issue comes from the arrogance with which PAWS has been handled, the
> judges' conflict of interest policy, the change to the AKC mission
> statement and other recent issues, in which it became clear that AKC
> leadership simply didn't care about the fancy, or -- seemingly -- about
> the future of purebred dogs.
>
> A housecleaning can't begin too quickly. HOWEVER it's important for
> clubs and delegates to remember that as bad as the current board of
> directors is, there are far WORSE people out there. Animal rightists,
> and AR-lite types are found in most kennel clubs and some are
> influential in the show world. These people would very much like to
> take over the AKC and the result would be disaster. We could wind up
> with an AKC that not only didn't support the fancy but actively promoted
> more laws regulating home breeding because "WE HAVE TO FIGHT PUPPY
> MILLS."
>
> Delegates will need to consider board candidates with great care,
> looking for a positive view of what the AKC should support and do,
> rather than a list of things it should be against, for business common
> sense (with experience a plus), and for a genuine love of purebred dogs
> and appreciation of the place of dogs in today's families.
>
> I said that the AKC's name was its second-most important asset. Its
> MOST important asset is the home breeder and small-scale fancier because
> these are the people who can do the most hands-on and generally the best
> work of producing quality purebreds, putting them into good homes, and
> making sure those homes succeed. The quality image of the AKC is
> supported by running a clean registry but that image is built and
> refreshed by home breeders in our daily contacts with our puppy owners
> and prospective buyers, in our showing and performance activities, in
> our relations with our communities, and in the planning we do for
> litters to minimize health and other inherited problems and to conserve
> our gene pools.
>
> A new board of directors ought to build bridges to the AKC's breeder
> customers. Those bridges must be two-way: there are things we need in
> order to promote the future of purebred dogs, and we're going to have to
> give the AKC the resources it needs to do the work. In a time when our
> need for the AKC is greater than ever, it's ridiculous that the
> organization is reduced to grubbing for money in all the wrong places.
> The money they should be spending to promote the interests of the fancy
> should be OUR money, not money from VISA, Cherrybrook, or Petland
> Discount. But we can hardly be expected to send more dollars to finance
> an organization that treats us with contempt and works against our
> interests as often as for them.
>
> Walt Hutchens
> Timbreblue Whippets
>
> THIS MAY BE FORWARDED AS YOU LIKE
>

[GSD]

The good ol AKC I suppose they might as well join the BYB's and mills they're concerned with nothing more than making money. They're record of breed preservation and such speaks for itself and now this??? I won't be attending an AKC event anytime soon.

[D.Schäferhund]

Hi
This is unbelievable...
is there any written proove of that other than this email?
would be interested in original sources, that needs to get out there....
you know for foreign dogs they want DNA test but promote puppy sales in a petstore, that bites....

[MatthewG]

I've been reading on another form that the AKC has signed an agreement with Petland. If you search on google you'll find a lot of out rage.

[GoldenPup]

I heard of this too...but haven't heard anything from AKC yet. If it WAS false they would've put something out about it by now....right?

All I can still think is "wow".

GoldenPup

[sammy]

There's a chain of pet stores that acquire puppies from high volume / "commercial breeders" and they are AKC registered. They sell AKC registered pups because CKC will not register a dog sold in a pet store. The pups are shipped at 6 weeks mostly from North & South Dakota. They pay only about $50-100 for a pup and sell them for > $800 -1000.

[Dog_Father]

Sad to say but just follow the money and the reason for this insanity is clear.



Once again we as responsible dog owners have been sold out by those who are supposed to care, ala PETA's stance on Pitbulls...

[D.Schäferhund]

i decided i am not registering with with AKC anymore...

[Tiffany0204]

I had a friend who either was a) lying or b) uninformed because she told me she got her Bichon Frise in a petstore, but she had all the CKC papers for her.

?

[Ritz459]

Originally Posted by Tiffany0204

I had a friend who either was a) lying or b) uninformed because she told me she got her Bichon Frise in a petstore, but she had all the CKC papers for her.

?

There are two types of CKCs...one is the Contenintal? Kennel Club, and the other is the Canadian Kennel Club. (I think.) One is a reputable registration place, and the other is...well...puppy mill centrel.

(And I am so sorry for my spelling mistakes...I just can't spell today. I don't know why. I keep having to backspace and redo words because I'm spelling them wrong!)

[GSD Keira]

all I can say is wow........they're going to promote the same things i thought they wanted to stop.