Good evening board.

I do not often post here but I thought I would share with you an event that recently happened to me.

I am sure that many of you have either had, or know of somone that has, been taken advantage of by a dilute kennel or breeder. They have been relentless in attempting to obtain excellent stock for their programs.

Though this has not yet happened to me, I decided to contact AKC to ask a few questions about how they could control the issue of falsification of AKC paperwork in regards to the color of the dog registered.

The silvers are sent in as chocolate and the charcoals are sent in as black. I am unsure of what the dilute gene does to the yellow color.

AKC told me that if they receive written complaints stating that these individuals and kennels own Labradors that are not the color stated on their AKC registration they will inspect the kennel for that reason. If they do not receive a complaint they do not look into it even if they are visiting as a routine investigation.

The associate then asked if the National Club was thinking of proposing a change on the standard to include those colors. I said that they were not. His reply was that the National Club can pressure AKC to enforce the standard if they choose.

I am curious to find out why the National Club has not done this? Petitions could be signed possibly to enforce it, but how?

Labradors that are dilute do show a slight chocolate in color and AKC informed me that they would allow this to be called and registered as chocolate. Some are true silver in color and those and the charcoal dilute would not be allowed.

Do you think that it could possibly be time to unite and also ask the National Club to do something to help us concerning this situation? Finally turn in complaints? Require the DNA testing for the dilute gene?

I am just thinking out loud here of course but I personally think that as breeders that uphold the standard we could do SOMETHING?

Your thoughts please.

Please share your thoughts on the subject. 53 views and no one provided any comments.

My concern would be with AKC saying they would stop them. I think the breeder you speak of has her AKC kennel inspection report on the website. I know I was told she has hundreds of dogs. Also AKC lets the puppy mills register all of those as well. I think that is even worse!

I am actually not speaking of any particular breeder, but of the problem in general and so every breeder that supports the breeding of dilutes.

That is what AKC said: That if the National breed club doesn't seem to be worried about it they will not enforce. If the kennel they are inspecting has dilutes and they have no complaints concerning that they will not look at it. As long as they can provide proper breeding and record keeping paperwork they will pass the inspection.

I didn't realize that the AKC has any power in enforcement of breeding practices (which would include the use of the dilute gene from Weims).

The OP is talking about the AKC enforcing the "standard" which of course leads to breeding practices and would open Pandora's box for a multitude of things. JMO

This has been hashed out with the AKC years ago. AKC only cares about the stud book, not what the dogs look like. This happened before DNA testing. So now, dam and sire of silvers can be proven to be AKC registered labs by DNA because their ancestors were slipped in before DNA testing. AKC told them to register them as chocolate. So they do. If the parent club added silver as a color on registrations which would not change the standard at least we would be able to see it in pedigrees which would be helpful in deciding who we might sell to but won't do anything else for anyone. Nothing else will change anything. Silvers are still DQ in the show ring and always will be. Silvers are still being registered as Labs and always will be. Just like parti poodles, white boxers, dogs with one testicle, Labs with brindle and other mismarks, Labs that are below and above standard height and anything else that's a DQ as long as the parents are registered. So why worry about something you can't change?

EXACTLY!

I read where pet owners can DNA test their mixed breed and get an ancestory list. Since the Weim and the Lab have been typed, wouldn't this put that question to bed?

http://dog-dna.com/breeds.php

Try running it on one of your registered Labs first and see what other breeds it comes up with!

Different labs offering the DNA testing to determine which breeds your dog is "made up" of will show different results. Each lab tests for a varying number of breeds and not all breeds are listed w/in their catalog. So, you could have a lab/boxer/Am Staff mix at one labratory result, and a lab/boxer/poodle/great dane result from another labratory. It's good propaganda(money making) testing for the average pet owner . . but still not conclusive enough to be considered "very" accurate. I believe the article I read on these tests was on the CNN or MSNBC website this week.