More food for thought IRT the AKC...
Here’s the deal: the AKC doesn’t at all care about their dogs’ health. Their one health requirement for registration is that a dog be up to date with its inoculations—but apart from that, the health of a given dog is irrelevant. In their own words: “AKC registration means a dog, its parents, and its ancestors are purebred. It does not indicate health or quality.”
To be sure, they’re just a registry—but they’re giving absolutely no incentive for a show breeder to take care of their dogs. In fact, the AKC almost seems actively against ensuring the quality of their breeders. They employ only nine field inspectors, who have on more than one occasion certified breeders who were jailed for animal cruelty just months later.
These overtly lax health standards have led to some kennel clubs dissociating themselves from the AKC, which of course responded by prohibiting them from showing their dogs. There’s nothing in the rules that prevents a healthy dog from competing, obviously, but to show a dog with the AKC is to support their lack of health standards. And this is awful, because there are countless professional breeders out there who care about that sort of thing, and who should be supported for doing their jobs properly.
Worst of all, this isn’t simple passivity.
The Humane Society of the United States has cited more than eighty proposed bills that the AKC has publicly opposed, all of which were designed to increase the basic care standards for dog breeding. Basic in the sense of “regular feeding” and “veterinary ” Because who needs food and medicine when you have pure blood?
https://listverse.com/2013/06/01/10-terrifying-facts-about-professional-dog-breeding/
