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AKC pulls out of Petland agreement

Karlin

Administrator
Staff member
Subject: Petland Agreement Withdrawn by AKC

Agreement with Petland in order to facilitate the registration of dogs that
are already AKC registrable.

AKC's Board of Directors and management believed that this agreement would
have helped to further the mission of the AKC. Promoting responsible dog
ownership to new puppy owners, implementing our care and conditions
policies, and exposing more dog owners to AKC educational programs and
services would have had even greater reach.

In the past few weeks we have received many comments about this agreement,
both positive and negative. We have listened to the concerns and because
this issue has become so divisive, we believe it is in the best interest of
our sport and the American Kennel Club not to go forward with this
initiative.

Ron Menaker, Chairman of the Board
Dennis B. Sprung, President and CEO

Thank goodness for this.

US members will know Petland is one of the huge pet store chains that sell puppies in their stores.They are supplied to them by one of the huge corporations that sells puppies raised in massive puppy mills. Including lots and lots of cavaliers.

How the AKC could ever lend legitimacy to battery-farming dogs, a social animal that will live alongside a family and needs the early socialisation a breeder and family provides, not early life in a small cage, was always beyond me. This is before we even consider that fact that thousands of breeding stock animals will spend a LIFETIME in those same cages and runs with little quality of life, churning out puppies. There are hundreds of ways for the organisation to promote good pet ownership and responsibility without this totally unethical agreement they were going to make. I'd like to see them a lot more active in keeping an eye on breeders they give AKC registration to, for example, rather than giving blanket approval to a select group of puppy millers. :x
 
Thank the Lord! I guess the AKC hasn't totally lost its mind after all. I find pet shops to be totally appalling, especiall Petland. There are two Petlands within a few miles of me, and I've recently been to both stores just to look around. The first store I went to was in a nicer area of town and had two CKCS for sale for $1100. The smaller CKCS had a runny nose.

The other Petland was even more despicable. The dogs were downright dirty, and their cages had feces stuck to the bottom. I held a little Brussels Griffon whose coat was matted and coarse.

What amazed me most of all is that the people shopping in these pet stores are absolutely ignorant to what really goes on with these puppies. Dog lovers like those of us on this board need to get out there and inform people about the scary truth behind pet shops!
 
I said it in the other forum and I'll say it here.

AKC really wanted this arrangement. We must all be vigilant that AKC doesn't start this all over under a different name in the future.
 
Absolutely. I find it all really disturbing. I know there's a good financial incentive for them, and I see how they might view it helpful to encourage best animal care practice in a twisted around sort of way -- but neither of these things fits with a proper role as the national kennel club in the US and a stewardship role for dogs. Mass farming dogs goes against everything that is known about offering an adequate life to the dogs used for breeding and to prepare healthy, happy puppies for homes. The USDA already doesn't have enough inspectors to insepct all the other mills that get AKC registrations and have USDA approval (not that that means anything) so how were they going to enforce some higher standard of care on Petland's suppliers rather than lend a veneer of legitimacy and respectability to battery farmed dogs? I can understand how breeders and people who show and have been involved with dogs for years must feel shocked and betrayed by that plan.

Money spent on national education programmes on buying from good breeders, on how to find a puppy, on dog care, on responsible ownership, and on spay/neuter education and working with breed rescues would do much more for raising general dog welfare than giving AKC recognition to Petland suppliers and puppies.

If I were the board of the AKC I would also instead be putting money into establishing a proper inspectorate that might work alongside the USDA inspectors and start to ensure some sort of quality of operation at the large facilities already registering thru the AKC. Something that would be a cross between ISO certification for quality crossed with minimum standards used for childcare -- eg ratio of humans to dogs cared for, regular human/puppy interaction; no more than three litters per adult; cannot keep more breeding animals than can be rehomed at a certain age; breeding animals guaranteed a certain amount of daily interaction and exercise by trained staff... etc etc. It won't ever happen of course on either side because the market is too lucrative for cranking out puppies and getting the money in from registrations.

Same happens here in Ireland where the IKC has made some small strides but the fact that the club has not cracked down on CKCS breeders who submit info to the puppy gazette decribing their litters as 'black and white', 'red', 'red and white with freckles', etc -- not even knowledeable enough to know the breed colour terms -- says everything about how qualified the breeders are.
 
I know of a vet clinic that had an arrangement with a Petland here. All the recently bought puppies were supposed to be seen at this vet clinic. A ton of these puppies (if not all!) had upper respiratory infections and some came in with diseases like parvo. Seeing these puppies was absolutely heartbreaking. I made the mistake of walking into a Petland and almost stole a Cavalier puppy, URI and all. It was so painful to return him and I learned my lesson about going into petstores...
 
Thank goodness this did not pass. Sure puts AKC in a bad light. Yes, we must be vigilant that this doesn't come up again!
 
KingstonsMom said:
Thank the Lord! I guess the AKC hasn't totally lost its mind after all....

Bravo to the breed clubs for their strong activism on this issue.
 
It is still disturbing to me that they came sooooo close. :x I agree with Bruce, we have got to watch what AKC does from now on. I do not trust the organization like I used to. :(

Thank God enough people spoke up!
 
What I hope is that other more productive avenues will be explored for educating mass breeders and dog owners -- there's no reason why this would need to involve an arrangement with Petland to give certification to their puppies...
 
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