First, the big one: the American Kennel Club, or AKC. This is one of the most esteemed and highly regarded dog registries, recognizing over 150 distinct breeds of dogs, as well as numerous varieties within certain breeds. The AKC maintains a working standard for each breed, describing the ideal dog of that breed; the goal of all good, ethical conformation breeders is to strive for the unattainable perfection that is the working breed standard. I'm not going to touch the debate of working- versus show-lines, that's a topic for another day.
The AKC is a great breed organization for many reasons, not the least of which is a genuine dedication to purebred dogs and the breeders of purebreds.
Next on the list, the Canadian Kennel Club, or CKC. In many ways the CKC is similar to the AKC, though the CKC recognizes more pure breeds (about 170) than the AKC currently does. Just like the AKC, the CKC maintains a working standard for each breed; most standards in the CKC are identical or very similar to the AKC standards, but some breeds do have key differences between the registries.
Like the AKC, the CKC is a respectable, admirable registry that also promotes conformation showing and titling of worthy dogs. It is not unheard of for some very dedicated breeders to maintain dogs that are dual registered in both the AKC and CKC.
Now to take a left turn and talk about the United Kennel Club, or UKC.
Some people do not like the UKC but frankly, I do. The UKC does sponsor and promote conformation showing (they usually refer to it as "bench showing" though, regardless of whether or not the show is actually a benched show) but their primary focus is on working dogs. They host, sponsor, and support a LOT of working events, such as field trials for various disciplines. Because of this, the UKC breed standards (of course they maintain a standard for every breed) is generally more lenient than either the AKC or CKC in terms of "wear and tear" or "field blemish." Let's be real, hunting can take it's toll on a dog. My dad's current German Shorthair has a scar on his nose from when he ran headfirst into a downed barbed wire fence that was hidden in the brush. If he was worthy of conformation showing, no judge in the AKC or CKC would put him up, he's got scars and field blemishes. The UKC looks past that, since a dog that has been blemished doing what they were bred to do is not to penalized unless it obscures the conformation of the dog.
The UKC also allows mutts, mixed breed dogs, and purebreds without a pedigree or ancestry to be registered under their "Limited Privilege" registration. This is so that dogs of questionable background can still compete as working dogs. However, they curb would-be scammers from claiming their mongrels are "pure" for the purposes of breeding by requiring proof of the would-be Limited Privilege dog's status as neutered/spayed.
Personally, I am a fan of this. I know there are some provisions in place by other registries so that mutts can compete in certain non-conformation events, but nothing quite so organized and well-done as the UKC Limited Privilege registration.
So, three breed organizations, three great registries founded on the belief that striving ever towards perfection (though sometimes disagreeing on what perfection is) and three respectable clubs for breeders of quality dogs to utilize in their ongoing quest for improvement and preservation of their breed.
Seems legit, right? Yep!
However, there are some really crappy breeders out there who prey upon ignorance and assumptions from would-be dog owners. Many laypersons can't even tell various breeds apart, much less pick a good specimen out of a lineup of crap. Whether it be through ignorance or a lack of ethics, some breeders reassure buyers that their puppies are high quality solely based on the fact that they come with registration papers.
Enter the CKC. Not the Canadian Kennel Club, but the Continental Kennel Club. The cynical part of me strongly suspects they chose their name so that they have the same abbreviation as the Canadian Kennel Club.
The Continental Kennel Club is essentially nothing more or less than a way for breeders to try and sell dogs. They accept every breed in the universe as well as mutts and designer dogs. No seriously, the Continental Kennel Club accepts over 400 breeds. Unlike the AKC, UKC and the real CKC, there is no division into categories or groups based on utility and function in the Continental Kennel Club. There are no working standards, either; on the Continental Kennel Club's site, they have a "description" of each breed, but it is super freaking generic.
I'm of course obsessed with Afghan Hounds, and I have most of the AKC standard for the breed memorized, so I went ahead and looked them up on the Continental Kennel Club website.
This is the Continental Kennel Club's description of an Afghan Hound's head and bite:
Not only do they NOT have any working standard (and how could they, given that some of their "accepted breeds" are MUTTS with no standardization whatsoever!!!!) they don't do anything for the dogs. They supposedly have "events" (could they get any more freaking vague?!) but haven't updated their "events" section since July of 2011. I could find NO mention of conformation judging/showing, field trials, or any sort of working trials of any sort.
Their most recent dog event reads like this:
July 24-29
Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association of Texas
Conference
Booth#420
Workshop on July 28th
Arlington, TX
For more information, contact
Barbara Stevenson
1-800-952-3376 ext 103
www.continentalkennelclub.com/cctp
The gist of it is, that the Continental Kennel Club is a steaming pile of dog dooky. It should be renamed the Continental Kennel Crap, to be honest. Any breeder who claims their dog is super snowflake special because they are registered in this "Club" is (best case scenario) totally ignorant about everything ever, or (most likely) trying to jack up their prices because their dogs are "papered." Sadly their website looks legit, so a layperson might be fooled even if they did a quick internet search.
Did I mention they allow just ANYTHING to be registered?! You could have your designer dogs registered here, because they have no dang standards or ethics! Heck, I'm pretty sure I could register my cats as rare, purebred felidoodles, and they'd accept it.
Oh my god I have to try this now. No seriously. I think I'm going to try and register one of my cats with this piece of junk. We shall test exactly how craptacular their screening processes are!!!!
Furthermore, the Continental Kennel Club seems to exist solely to try and suck money out of people for imagined benefits. They have this silly "Gold Club" for any dog who's owner forks over some money (I called their Toll Free phone number to inquire as to how much cash you have to throw at them to claim your dog is a "Gold Club" dog, but sadly it's around 6 p.m. on a Saturday and their hours are weekdays only; there many be an addendum to this post when I get ahold of these clowns on Monday!) and then you get all sorts of "perks," like a bumper sticker saying "I love my dog" and some questionable dog treats. Also 10% off of all your Continental Kennel Club merchandise purchases for one whole year!!!! Yeah, I'm wearing my Not Impressed face, too.
Not all Kennel Clubs or registries are equal, and it's about time we purebred dog fanciers, breeders, breeder allies, and all dog owners stood together to both support legitimate clubs like the AKC, UKC, and Canadian KC, and to educate laypersons about disreputable trash like the Continental Kennel Crap. It may sound like alphabet soup, spouting off the abbreviations of all the decent, ethical organizations, but it goes so much deeper than the letters or names. These organizations are one of many tools with which responsible, ethical breeders use to preserve and improve their bloodlines. The word needs to get out that the Continental Kennel Crap should never be mentioned among those ethical organizations, and must instead be spoken of for what they are: a tool for greedy, ignorant, or just plain unethical breeders to scam people out of their money.
Just remember, if a registry allows such stupid crap as Labradoodles, Goldendoodles, or any such designer dogs to be papered without requiring them to be stripped of their ability to reproduce, they are a giant pile of dog crap masquerading as a bouquet of roses. Don't stick your nose in that.
Seriously gonna see if my cat will be accepted into their dog registry........
As always, thank you for reading. Look forward to more posts coming from me tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that and the day after that...