Although I totally think AKC did the right thing in doing kennel inspections and shutting down all kinds of kennels and puppy mills, that , indeed, took their registrations waaaaay down, I bet.

I remember every month in the AKC Gazette seeing dozens of kennels shut down/fined/etc.

Let's hope that the financial gurus at AKC could see the handwriting on the wall, and live more frugally. Don't they still have an expensive NYC office? There are a lot of ways to downsize.

I would continue to show in UKC....They don't need a fancy office in NYC.

If would help if breeders would register all their pups and pass along the cost to buyers. Chip them and register the chip number with the AKC . Perhaps some administrative issues on naming but I would think every buyer would want the Kennel Name attached to their new pet.

With all the other things I do w/ my litters (CERF, vet well checks, microchip, etc), I have a hard time with the concept of pre-registering every puppy and really don't want the hassle of having to have a name from everyone in advance to do so. The retired/semi-retired couples who just want a healthy family/hunting companion often don't give a rip about AKC registration either, so I have a hard time passing on an unnecessary cost. And as for the kennel name being attached, I registered my kennel name a year or 2 ago, and now find that all registration paperwork other than my own keepers, must be MAILED to AKC as they've not figured out a way to confirm that the puppy owner has my permission to use my kennel name w/o seeing my physical signature. I think they could either have on record a permanent permission status (afterall, if I'm not proud enough of the pup to carry my name, why would I even give the paperwork to the owner?) or do similar to what they do w/ stud owners to verify the litter registrations. Sorry but there are some things w/ the way AKC is doing business that I find very inefficient.

That's an easy one. I would go with FCI. It is the one registering (or its affiliates) the rest of the world's pure breed dogs.

Oh c'mon, AKC registration is $20, no big deal. I hold all of my registrations, and mail them all in at one time. My last litter I paid for all the registrations myself so the whole litter was registered. The papers never left my hands, so I KNOW they were all registered Limited, unless they were meant to be on Full. I have the puppy buyer pay for CAR of they want it.

Since AKC is requiring all of my individual registrations to be snail mailed now (due to the kennel name thing), I don't have to worry that the Limited regs aren't fudged somehow.

I run a consulting/analytical service personally, and would find it ludicrous for anyone to send me extra samples/business just because I'm a nice person. Yes, they want to keep me around but in the end, good business people are only going to spend what is necessary. I'd rather spend the extra money on testing etc (CERFs, vet well checks, etc) than send donations (registrations on dogs that will never compete, etc) to AKC. But that's just me. I don't feel the need to cover for all of the inefficiencies there at AKC. The fact that they send our clubs separate mailings for every Rally, Obed trial, and dog show tells me how top heavy and inefficient they've become as an organization. I used to worship them... believe me, but the longer I've been involved, the less impressed I am.

Re: If Akc went out of business
Let's hope that the financial gurus at AKC could see the handwriting on the wall, and live more frugally. Don't they still have an expensive NYC office? There are a lot of ways to downsize.


Well of course they do! Duh.... how can the high AKC muckity mucks all get ringside seats at Madison Square Garden (every year) with the highest of muckity mucks from NYC, Julliard, Georgetown, NYC Administration, the "Real Housewives of NYC, etc? Ever actually looked at rigside? A lot of those highest of the high "muckity mucks" from NYC, Julliard, Georgetown, NYC Administration and those ghastly crazy Real Housewives of NYC don't compete, breed, register or show in the sport. But they do "SHOW" up and are treated like royalty by the AKC Board and Officers. They are at all the Galas, the art auction and shows. I never seen one contribute, donate or buy anything personally.

The workers are in Raleigh, the showboats are in NYC. Damn - we need to get together and form a reality show about "The Real Dog Breeders/Competitors of the US"

Cut costs - they wouldn't and couldn't even know where to start!