Eileen Stein Posted October 22, 2002 Report Share Posted October 22, 2002 References to the Jack Russell Terrier case have cropped up on several threads dealing with dual registration, and I thought it might be good to post an explanation about it as a single thread, so it would be easy to locate. Like the border collie, the Jack Russell Terrier was recognized by the AKC against the wishes of most JRT breeders and owners. This occurred in 1997. The JRTCA, the Jack Russell registry, had the same concerns as we do about deterioration of their breed's working ability as a result of AKC registration, and moved aggressively to protect their dogs by invoking what's called their "conflicting organization rule." Under that rule, no one could join or continue as a member of the JRTCA who registered their JRT with the AKC. That meant that they could no longer register dogs with the JRTCA, and could not compete in or judge JRTCA trials. A lawsuit was filed against the JRTCA by one of its affiliate clubs, which did not wish to enforce the conflicting organization rule, and by a couple of JRT breeders who dual registered and whose JRTCA membership was cancelled because they registered with the AKC. Several of the plaintiffs' claims were thrown out before trial as being clearly without legal merit. The case went to trial on the remaining claims, and the judge ruled in favor of the JRTCA. The Court held that there was no legal basis for requiring the JRTCA to change its policy, and that it was free to continue enforcing its conflicting organization rule with respect to its members and activities under its auspices. The name change of the AKC breed from Jack Russell Terrier to Parson Russell Terrier had no connection with the lawsuit. The change was proposed by the AKC parent club (the JRTAA, which will soon become the PRTAA), so that the name would be consistent with the British Kennel Club, which is now using the name Parson Russell Terrier. Some of the other overseas Kennel Clubs (e.g. Australia, Ireland) recognize two sizes of the dogs, terming the smaller one "Jack Russell Terrier" and the taller one "Parson Russell Terrier." The breed standard of the AKC JRT specifies the taller size, so there too the name change contributed to international consistency. The AKC went along with the parent club's request. So unfortunately this does not give rise to any hope that we could get AKC to change the name of their border collies, since neither AKC nor the BCSA wants to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Margaret M Wheeler Posted October 23, 2002 Report Share Posted October 23, 2002 The above is a complete if santized summary of four? years of some of the nastiest, most destructive infighting I have seen in 47 years of a very unsheltered life. I know we were in the right. However, I am still astonished that we won. Judge Ware's disapproval of us during court proceeding was palpable even in the transcripts. What a wonderful surprise his ruling was. Was it worth it? Yes or yes, because in good conscience we had no choice. Working dogs should not be registered with all breed clubs, and Kennel club stock should not be included in working dog registries. You see while we had no choice as the the why of it, we had a lot of choice as to the how of it. However, all of us are very sorry it happened and given the opportunity to avoid this battle, we would probably have tried much harder to achieve the exclusion of AKC registered stock in a manner that would not have fueled the flicker of discontent among our membership. Personally, I think that the working dog clubs should join forces and carry this battle to the AKC. We should take them to court. They monopolize the American dog community and gather huge amounts of information on American dogs which they refuse to share for the good of all. This would not be tolerated in other areas of American life. Talk about being complacent! I think it is the height of complacency to let that bloated whore, the AKC rake in the bucks and run the show while we fight amongst ourselves about who makes the odd dollar selling pups to AKC patsies. ------------------ Margaret retired terrierwoman, border collie newbie drumlins@adelphia.net [This message has been edited by Margaret M Wheeler (edited 10-23-2002).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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