AKC, "to better the breed", and financial worth... - Page 3

I don't think there is real harm, and I don't think it would be very wise not to register with AKC.  For me the main problem (but certainly not the only problem),  has been their  stance on protection sports.   It looks like that's finally changing which can only be a good thing.  Time will tell!

I understand this board is mainly made up of Schutzhund people.

BUT

I choose to do Obedience, Rally, Agility and Herding with my GSD's

As bad as AKC is, its just about the only venue available that has enough trials in any given year to put titles on a dog before the dog and I die of old age.

Several thoughts in no particular order.

First, a new dogowner that goes to the AKC website has loads of correct information that he can do wonderful stuff with for his dogs. They do promote responsible petownership, health testing etc. They also seem to try to adjust to the changing market in the dogs which to me is obvious by them now adding more "working" type events or testings. Not to say that they are not watered down (the herding instinct test is kind of laughable) but still. A person getting exposed to a breed can see what it is all about and I have seen and talked to many that get hooked and proceed to the "real" registries and "real" trials. So to me that is not all bad. They then in return promote the original breed. Hopefully anyway.

Second, I hear people talk about the standards not being high enough for breeding. The breeders are the ones that decide how they use/abuse the registrations. A big club should not be responsible to have to slap everyones hand. And I am sure there is a fair amount of financial considerations with the AKC and their well being. But still, the breeders are ultimatly responsible what they do with the info gained from AKC or any club of that caliber. And although the SV has stricter regulations I know as a fact that there is a lot of trash that gets bred with titles and produces trash dogs. So no club is without faults. They give incentives and guidelines. It is not their job to regulate everything. In fact, there is no way they can.

Three. I also am involved in rescue. I attend a few of the local petfairs, rescue group affairs and make visits to the shelters. I see the result of bad breeding. Issues with temperaments, health, you name it. And of course most are backyard breeders that actually make more money than the breeder that takes the time and effort to health test, title, show, train, feeds good feeds, provides the appropriate healthcare etc. So even if it was to boil down to money in connection with AKC then it just adds one more thing that a good breeder can add to his resume. So maybe he can hopefully set a higher price for a quality pup with a good chance of being healthy and a good partner. So again, to me if used properly then AKC is not all that bad. On the flipside of that. I see really good dogs also that were bred right end up in rescue because the people buying them have no clue how to handle a working dog for example. Another tough responsibility for the breeders.

Four. I have never competed in an AKC event. None of my dogs would do well there. I have my own misgivings with AKC but as a whole I can't find them all bad. Heck, 3 of my GSD's are still not AKC registered. And one is over two now. None of my other breed are or ever will be AKC registerd for other reasons. But really, in their registry I see a lot of dogs registerd that are far from the original idea of the dog as well. Done by breeders that regardless of who they register with, do not have the best of the breed in mind.

Five. The fees of AKC are not cheap. And sometimes it may seem that the people that are of the opinion that they are better than others by importing "pinkpapered" dogs from other countries are being penalized. Heck, at the point what does the extra costs matter? Again, it is the cost of doing business really.

So like I said in the beginning I see a lot of problems with clubs like the AKC but I also don't think they alone are responsible for the destruction of a breed.