Sunday, December 16, 2012

Is Registration Important - What registration is best


Around the world of the purebred dog that is much talk and discussion on registration.  It is part of the foundation that makes our Doberman possible.

While AKC registration and pedigree does not guarantee the quality of the dog, certainly a  lack of one  indicates negligence on the part of the breeder as they did not care enough to even try to get quality to start with.

Starting here in American we have AKC - American Kennel Club that is the only official registry that means anything in America -

1.   It is the oldest registry dating back to 1884.  It was established as a way for breeders to verify and track the dogs they bred and to assure their bloodlines and show off their breeding stock.  Breeders had kept meticulous records up to this point of what they bred but communication was not what it is today so many of those records died with the breeder.

2.  Without a registry it would be impossible to know parentage, or linage and track and follow what it produces.  AKC developed, maintains and set the gold standard for purebred dogs in America.

3.  AKC sets  Show schedules, history, breed, and holds all breed standards.

4.  AKC set the rules and guidelines for a breed to become eligible for registration with AKC

5.  AKC has member clubs across the states to promote and hold dog shows and events under the AKC umbrella.

The purebred dog fancy is all about pride of accomplishment and AKC registraton -  Breeding always to better the breed that is our passion.

FCI - established in 1911 maintains Show schedules, history, breed in Europe and had 86 members countries who reg dogs under the FCI guidelines. 

CKC -  Canadian Kennel Club - is the approved club in Canada for registering and showing dog.

Kennel Club of G B - is the approved club in England

Australian Kennel Club - approved in Australia

These clubs share a common bond and have a reciprical reg agreement.  In other words a dog that is AKC reg automatically qualifies to be reg in any of the above registries and vice versa.
This is crucial when considering importing.

What I call sub registries:

UKC - United kennel Club - again a long standing club that was primarily designed for the sporting dogs to hold field trials.  They do have their own registry and if you dogs line is registred with them - the like AKC puppies can be UKC registered.  It does not mean that they will qualify for AKC registration however.  But UKC has a strong reputation for setting standards and guidelines.  AKC dogs can qualify for UKC registration but UKC reg dogs do not qualify for reg in AKC.  

UDC - United Doberman Club - founded in 1990 when AKC and the DPCA did away with the working dog sports - some DPCA breeders broke away and formed the UDC.  They require any dog that participates in their venues to be either AKC, FCI or one of the above approved reg. 

IABCA -  International All Breed Kennel Club -  is not actually a club as it does  not have member clubs.  It was started here over 25 years ago and until just a couple years ago held shows under the guidance and rules of Union Cynologie International which conducts shows with Euro style of judging.  This is a German Based organization with ties to dog organizations around the world.  A dog must be reg through one of the approved registries to qualify to show in this venue.

In the past few years there are some very unscrupulous clubs that have popped up as a way for people who made a big mistake and got an unregistered dog to reg their dog.  Their biggest failing is they do not require valid registration from any of the above clubs to become reg in their registry.  Send money and a picture and if your dog somewhat resembles the breed you are trying to reg - it is reg.  It is a meaningless registration because they are not recognized by any of the official registeries.

Reputable breeders who breed to improve the breed would never have one of their dogs reg with one of these registeries.   If you care about a breed, want to breed the best, and work to improve the breed then you certainly want to start with a registry that is approved and recognized around the world because of its long standing history and integrity. 

How could anyone be reputable if they breed dogs that meet no standard, are not recognized by the parent club such as DPCA and are usually of very poor quality and conformation?  If anything goes then why not get a mutt???  If quality does not matter to anyone why even try to claim a dog is a certain breed when it lacks approved registration?

All dogs carrying these registries are from BYB.

Some of those fly by night cubs are CKC - very clever scam artist to come up with a name that mimicks the CKC - Canadian Kennel Club which is a reputable club.

NKC -  Natioanl Kennel Club
APR -  American Pet Registry
APRI- American Pet Registry Inc
WWKC- World Wide Kennel Club
Dog Registry of America

I am sure there are others but I hope you get the idea.  If you want to claim a slim hope of having quality then I am sure you would want to start with the Registration of the dog.  Any breeder breeding less than the best is surely in it for the money and I can't tell you how often I have had someone call me and the first thing they want to know is are the dogs AKC reg.  This tell me some one got scammed along the way by buying a dog from and unscrupulous registry and then finding out they could not do anything with it.