To the average person who loves dogs, the rules and regulations of some nationwide dog registry associations like the American Kennel Club (AKC) can seem unusual, to say the least. You could be excused for thinking that a puppy registered by the American Kennel Club would be a healthy, high quality purebred, yet this isn’t always so. You can really only be sure of getting a pedigree puppy. The AKC does not make sure the puppy’s parents are free from health problems that may be latent but genetic. Additionally, it does not regulate the standards of breeders and their establishments. To many dog lovers, this can be a shock. It’s natural to expect that a prominent dog association such as the AKC would be interested in breeding out genetic illnesses, and making sure dogs who are constitutionally strong and healthy are bred. And it shows why some breed clubs, such as those for the Australian kelpie dog breed, have decided not to implement the requirements for AKC registration. This makes them ineligible for recognition by the American Kennel Club as a distinct breed, and these dogs may not compete in the many American Kennel Club official dog shows. What is does mean, is that a breed’s health and working dog qualities are protected.
The American Kennel Club effectively wanted to restrict the natural and healthy genetic variation of breeds like the Australian kelpie. Pedigree dogs seem to be produced from a decreasing gene pool. And this is particularly true for those most concerned with champion lines. The result has been that a lot of these dogs can no longer do a lot of the things their ancestors once did, such as hunt. It has also resulted in a lot of genetic health issues, as a result of injudicious inbreeding to keep the lines ‘pure’. Dogs are bred back to their grandparents and parents, all because it creates dogs that help win dog shows. On their website, the University of Wisconsin write:
“First, the AKC defines quality in a dog primarily on the basis of appearance, paying scant heed to such other canine characteristics as health, temperament, and habits of work. Over the years this policy has led to destructive forms of inbreeding that have created dogs capable only of conforming to human standards of beauty. Many can no longer perform their traditional tasks–herding, tracking, hunting–while more than a few cannot live outside a human-controlled environment.” (Source)
Of course, this isn’t the reason some dogs aren’t recognized by the AKC as a separate breed. Many of the smaller breeds are not recognized as they are smaller versions of larger dogs, and the American Kennel Club doesn’t recognize the distinction. This is the case with dogs like the small German spitz and the toy Manchester terrier.
In any case, unless you want a show dog, registration by the AKC is not as critical as getting a good quality dog from a breeder who breeds with the health of the dogs in mind, as well as to preserve the dog’s natural abilities. Breeders who breed mostly to achieve a certain look are more likely to follow breeding practices that don’t support a dog’s wellbeing. And it could result in dogs that have less than desirable temperaments as pets. Whilst this might not be true across the board, for all breeders, in the long run, sustained inbreeding can only result in long term problems for a breed.




















