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Demise of the AKC


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Dear Doggers,

Patrick Burns is - perhaps prematurely - dancing on the AKC’s grave. http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/. Like we sheepdoggers, Patrick comes from a dog culture (working terriers) outside the Dog Fancy. We were and are lucky.
Before the Dog Wars, the AKC was (as one New York judge noted) “the dog experts” : the authority on all things dog. Since they controlled not only dog shows but retriever and obedience trials if you were active in dogs, you were probably a “Dog Fancier” and while you might whine about unfair judging and discriminatory rule changes, you’d best not go public with your complaints.
Mark Derr’s unfavorable Atlantic article was the single dissenting note and he and the magazine were threatened by the AKC whose directors were very powerful, very rich men.
When the Border Collie community was stalked by the AKC ( recounted in The Dog Wars) no Border Collie owner with gravitas - not one - wanted AKC “recognition”. It made no sense if you cared about the wellbeing of the breed. Our objections carried no weight AKC officials immersed in the Dog Fancy. They didn’t even know which Border Collies registries were current. They asked us.
So we fought back.
I remember telling AKC directors: “Your business IS your reputation. Unless “AKC reg” and “From AKC Ch” is thought to indicate high quality, your registrations are scraps of paper. You don’t want this fight.”
They said, “uhhuh.”
For the AKC recognizing the Border Collie was a Pyrrhic victory. They gained a couple thousand annual registrations and their reputation took a hit from which it never recovered. The New York Times and Time magazine’s cover told the world: “The Emperor has no clothes.”“ The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is their final bastion. Once the public sees Westminster as the freak show it is, the AKC will fade into distant memory.
I’m of two minds: mostly I’ll be glad to see it go. It’s policies have hurt dogs and dog owners for a very long time.
That said: I do worry about the Dog Fanciers who aren’t all or even mostly awful people and some of them know an awful lot about dogs.
Where do you go when your church dies? How will you keep dogs without those beliefs (however false and harmful) that buttressed those beliefs?
A couple weeks ago I visited a brilliant Maryland obedience trainer. She’s won OTCH’s with CHOWS and her students are winning with more trainable breeds. Though never a dog shower she bemoaned the decline of the AKC which had established a competition from coast to coast which - in fact - was and is a pretty good test of what an ‘obedient’ dog should be able to do. My scare quotes are because obedient and mannerly are not quite the same thing but withal that if, as some have suggested, a (non-AKC) CDX could get my dogs into hotels, trains, buses, trains and restaurants, I’d get one.
While agility and other dog activities thrive, AKC obedience is dying with the parent org and a spate of frantic last minute rule changes isn’t helpful.
I told my friend that when the AKC dies, she could have all the obedience matches she wanted and organize away matches with other enthusiasts.
She said: “If a dog comes to me from California with a CDX I know what it can do.”
Point taken. I can understand why she’d value all-breed national obedience standards. All pet dogs are not created equal but what we mean by “an obedient dog” shouldn’t depend on its breed or place of origin.
“Still”. I argued, “Sheepdoggers have no rules for our trials and no titles but the best dogs are known and valued - even though they’re trialed under vastly different conditions, and trial hosts are free to organize their trial. If I wished, Margot, I could appoint you - who’ve never run a sheepdog - to judge my trial. Cultural pressures would prevent my doing so; not a rule book, list of certified judges or AKC rep.”
Although this brilliant dog trainer has seen dog trials. indeed, has kept score at mine the concept of dog people arranging their own events and making rules depending on circumstances was, to her, anarchy.
There are a lot of people like her, so while I’m glad to see the American Kennel Club die, I won't dance on their grave.

Donald McCaig

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While I bemoan the AKC as an organization, some of the very best "dog people" I know are associated with it - within the realms of the performance sports, not within the show ring. They do their very best to promote good dog handling (our local AKC affiliate club provides puppy, family dog, and some performance/dog sports training to the public as well as club members, and their puppy and family dog classes are outstanding because the instructors are outstanding) and when and if they breed, they do so with integrity and the best of reasons and choices within their sphere.

 

You can have wonderful citizens under a corrupt government, and eventually, that government will fail - what will take its place?

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The good dog people running obedience cannot see life without the AKC as an umbrella organization for their events. However, they know how to organize and run events (they do it all the time), they know the rules they run under now, and if/when the AKC is no longer sanctioning their performance events some of these good dog people will look to agility, fly ball, and us to see that an event sanctioning organization can exist outside of a breed club. They will then organize their own event sanctioning body, free of the AKC. They won't simply stop obedience training because the AKC is gone and they will continue to want to compete to assess their dogs.

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Donald,

If you presented this idea to her as though sheepdog trials were completely free-flowing disconnected events where anything goes, I understand her hesitation. However, we have an organization that oversees trials, complete with a rulebook (okay, it contains many "guidelines," but there are several nonnegotiable rules outlined within), and puts on a national event in which dogs must qualify to be able to compete and tracks points dogs earn in pursuit of qualification. Leaving the AKC behind does not mean embracing chaos without any national standards; it just means developing a more appropriate organizing body.

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... However, we have an organization that oversees trials, complete with a rulebook (okay, it contains many "guidelines," but there are several nonnegotiable rules outlined within), and puts on a national event in which dogs must qualify to be able to compete and tracks points dogs earn in pursuit of qualification. Leaving the AKC behind does not mean embracing chaos without any national standards; it just means developing a more appropriate organizing body.

There you go again, ruining a perfectly good story with facts. :D

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pot-head-gone-to-pot.jpg

 

That meme was worth the click!! Now back to your regularly scheduled discussion.

 

Seriously - which post are you referring to, specifically, on the blog? I'd like to read it, but I can't seem to find one on the topic.

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You can have wonderful citizens under a corrupt government, and eventually, that government will fail - what will take its place?

 

Another government. Which might be better. For awhile. Until they get greedy and power-hungry.

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Dear Doggers,

Ms Laurae writes: "If you presented this idea to her as though sheepdog trials were completely free-flowing disconnected events where anything goes, I understand her hesitation. However, we have an organization that oversees trials, complete with a rulebook (okay, it contains many "guidelines," but there are several nonnegotiable rules outlined within), and puts on a national event in which dogs must qualify to be able to compete and tracks points dogs earn in pursuit of qualification. Leaving the AKC behind does not mean embracing chaos without any national standards; it just means developing a more appropriate organizing body.'

 

The AKC is an authoritarian legalistic organization where individuals - unless they're rich memebers of the Westminster/Westchester Kennel Clubs - instruct competitors in whatever AKC venue what and not to do. I've been present when AKC reps explained rule changes to their unruly, childsih competitors. Naa da naah naah.

 

While the most accompished sheepdoggers have more influence than their numbers, sheepdogging in North America is a "rule averse" intensely democratic culture . Yes, there are formal rules how to qualify for the National Finals and a few rules about behavior at trials.But

"These guidelines were generated by a collaborative effort of a number of well-known
handlers and judges. They are not intended as hard and fast rules that must be strictly
obeyed on all occasions. As noted in the ISDS guidelines “Judges must take into
consideration all the relevant circumstances and adjust deductions accordingly”. The

HA cannot overstate this point."

 

This deference to the real world and real dog work is absent from the extensive AKC rule book. https://images.akc.org/pdf/rulebooks/RG9001.pdf

 

Enjoy.

 

Donald McCaig

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Ok, let's do this.

...

While the most accompished sheepdoggers have more influence than their numbers, sheepdogging in North America is a "rule averse" intensely democratic culture . Yes, there are formal rules how to qualify for the National Finals and a few rules about behavior at trials.But

"These guidelines were generated by a collaborative effort of a number of well-known
handlers and judges. They are not intended as hard and fast rules that must be strictly
obeyed on all occasions. As noted in the ISDS guidelines “Judges must take into
consideration all the relevant circumstances and adjust deductions accordingly”. The

HA cannot overstate this point."

 

I think it's a bit disingenuous to say there are only "a few rules" in our intensely democratic culture. Off the top of my head, there are very specific rules about how the draw is done, about how you break ties, how you file a complaint, how the courses must be set up for finals, how many days in advance you need to apply for sanctioning (sanctioning? Is that democratic?). In fact, there is a RULE that any trial co-sanctioned with, amongst others, the AKC, will lose its USBCHA sanctioning.

 

So yes, the actual judging may be presented as guidelines, but the organization of sheepdog trials (I don't compete in cowdog trials so cannot comment), at least HA trials, most definitely has rules. Further, there are regional stockdog associations that sanction trials (usually co-sanctioned with the USBCHA for open and nursery) and they have their own rules (ex. what classes are offered aside from open and nursery, who can run in these classes, membership requirements). Not as rules-based as kennel club stuff, certainly, but also not completely lawless either.

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I see where Donald is coming from on this, all you have to do is field a phone call from someone new into sheep dog or cattle dog trialing and have them ask you what they should expect at the trial they are planning on attending in Tennessee next weekend. If it was a AKC trial you could ask what course was announced and give them a pretty good idea, but if it was USBCHA you would have to tell them to get in touch with the event host or someone who has attended that particular trial on a regular basis to find out what to expect course and rules wise.

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My guess is that the decline in AKC registrations has more to do with an increased number of choices than with the public believing that the AKC is the evil empire. These days the AKC competes with rescues and non-AKC breed registries. Rescuing a dog is cool, trendy, and a lot cheaper than buying a purebred. Now there are "hybrid" registries and registries for pitbull type dogs....

 

I compete in agility. Although agility appears to be thriving, the number of entries in local shows that I attend has actually decreased. This is because shows hosted by the different venues compete with each other on the same weekend. During show season, we frequently have a choice between AKC and CPE or AKC and USDAA on the same weekend.

 

Choices dilute the number of entries and registrations.

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Dear Doggers,

 

Ms. Airbear is correct that sheepdogging isn't "lawless". But neither is it rule bound and there are no "handler tent lawyers". She goes on to say:

 

"Off the top of my head, there are very specific rules about how the draw is done . ."

 

For the National Finals, yes. Otherwise, none.

 

"about how you break ties . . ."

 

Perhaps for the National Finals. Otherwise, it's up to the host.

 

,"how you file a complaint"

 

True.

 

"how the courses must be set up for finals"

 

?

 

"how many days in advance you need to apply for sanctioning"

 

True

 

" In fact, there is a RULE that any trial co-sanctioned with, amongst others, the AKC, will lose its USBCHA sanctioning."

 

True.But, should I wish I can hire my wife as judge, my children as setout and produce thirty sheep for a hundred dog entry. My sheep may be sickly, wormy, ancient or so dog broke they'll trot around my small course from memory. I can arrange the running order so my dogs run when the sheep are fresh (or utterly exhausted). I can set up a course where dogs must run through agility tunnels to get to the sheep or goats. I can have drive panels or pull through panels or my fetch panel can be my drive panel. I can set my panels 10 feet apart or forty. I can award prizes according to who finishes fastest. I needn't have a pen and shed. My outrun can be 50 yards or 500. I can limit entries to ten dogs or 110. I can lay my course out so the judge cannot see important parts. I can call my first trial "Classic" or "National Championship" and charge whatever entry fees I think the market will bear.

 

But: every trial host wants to put on the very best trial he or she can. The competitors are our peers.

 

Come to think of it, there are rules for sheepdog trials. It's just that many sheepdogging rules are subtle and almost all are unwritten.

 

Donald McCaig

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Well I don't really see why obedience couldn't just make it's own governing body/venue similar to USDAA or whatever other independent agility venue exists. There's rulebooks. People know the rules (rulebooks and trial premiums) and how things will be judged and what is required at each level. It's just not tied to a kennel club.

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My guess is that the decline in AKC registrations has more to do with an increased number of choices than with the public believing that the AKC is the evil empire.

 

. . .

 

Choices dilute the number of entries and registrations.

 

I concur.

 

With Agility, Rally, Musical Freestyle, Rally FrEe, Flyball, Treibball, Barn Hunt, Nosework, Lure Coursing, Dock Diving, Tracking, Earthdog, DiscDog, Trick Dog, and others growing in popularity, the traditional AKC sanctioned events have some stiff competition these days. And most of these sports exist primarily outside of the AKC, even among those that are offered by AKC.

 

Around here Barn Hunt is taking the dog sport world by storm. It has even finally woo'ed a few AKC-only type folks that I know out into something that is not sanctioned by AKC.

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Nosework and barn hunt are the big two here. Both very inclusive for all kinds and ages of dogs too!

 

Plus, performance events are just plain more fun than conformation showing. AKC is still the main agility game in town in my area. We don't have nearly as many trials as some places.

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Rally here in the UK was introduced by 2 different organisations, one of which I don't know anything about. The other was our APDT but they didn't have the resources or the network to get it established so it was taken over from them by the KC and is now growing.

 

There are very quiet rumblings in the obedience world and a few more forward thinking handlers are laying the foundations for a change. I don't know how far they want to take it though. There aren't that many people doing competitive obedience so a split might not be economically viable.

 

We have several agility organisations here but none remotely comparable to the KC in numbers, scope and prestige. Any independent show going head to head with a KC show could come off with a bloody nose unless in the south where clashes are deliberately engineered to keep entry numbers at the KC shows from going through the roof.

 

Flyball is not KC run except as a Crufts competition. Most flyball competitions are overseen by the BFA.

 

Conformation? What's that?

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My guess is that the decline in AKC registrations has more to do with an increased number of choices than with the public believing that the AKC is the evil empire. These days the AKC competes with rescues and non-AKC breed registries. Rescuing a dog is cool, trendy, and a lot cheaper than buying a purebred. Now there are "hybrid" registries and registries for pitbull type dogs....

I had similar thoughts while reading the article in the Canine Chronicle (link provided by Mark in post #6).

 

The author listed several other dog registries as competitors to the AKC and as the reason why there has been such a dramatic decrease in purebred dog registrations. I thought he missed a huge competitor to the AKC when he didn't include rescue dogs as an AKC "competitor". Adopting a rescue dog is very trendy and provides a "warm and fuzzy". If people are no longer buying purebred dogs, opting for rescue dogs instead, it would make sense that fewer litters would be produced.

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Increased number of choices, including rescues and shelters doing LOTS more marketing and outreach to let the public know there's even more alternatives.

 

And the availability of dogs from pet stores, (also known as puppy mill outlets) is jumping all over the impulse purchasers.

 

Ruth and SuperGibbs

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Dear Doggers,

 

I've no doubt rescue and shelter placements are coming at the AKC's expense. Adopting a pet is seen as a mark of moral superiority and, indeed, when people call me inquiring about Border Collies I direct them to rescue and/or their animal shelter.

 

But this is a consequence of an important change in pet buyers' perception: "AKC reg" is no longer seen as a mark of quality.

 

Donald McCaig

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I disagree. Quality does not even enter into the discussion. This is a simple matter of being outnumbered and outmarketed, and there is a huge accessability issue as well.

 

Around here, one can walk into the county shelter and adopt a vaccinated, vetted, and sterilized dog for under $50. And if they don't like what is in the shelter, they can drive to a rescue group's facility and adopt one of those dogs for $100-$150 or walk into bigchain petstore to buy a can of fishfood and walk out with a dog from one of the multitude of rescues showing their wares in that single location. And if non of these dogs suit someone, they can inquire about a CKC "purebred" litter advertised in the local paper and bring a puppy home on the same day.

 

All without doing the homework needed to find an AKC "responsible" breeder not to mention the waiting time for the litter to hit the ground.

 

 

 

 

But this is a consequence of an important change in pet buyers' perception: "AKC reg" is no longer seen as a mark of quality.

 

Donald McCaig

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