Agreed. Unfortunately show entries across the board have declined, I would guess because of the poor economy. Add a new event like agility and you’ve just increased entries. I’m not sure it has much to do with the AKC as with the Westminster Kennel Club who hosts the event that is AKC sanctioned (ie it meets AKC requirements for a benched conformation show). AKC agility events don’t allow unregistered dogs, unless they’ve recenlty changed that rule? But there are others that do, USDAA for example. All the reasons Salamander listed for getting a pure bred dog andnot a rescue are absolutely correct. And while I help out with Shorthair rescue when I can, if someone asks me if they should get a rescue dog or a pure bred dog, I always recommend a pure bred dog from a reputable breeder (I don’t know what a “fancy breeder” is as mentioned in the article) over a rescue unless the person is a very experienced dog owner that knows how to deal with possible behavior issues.
Westminster is quite an experience. The benching portion is really horrendous, with the dogs having to basically stay in the assigned crate area all day while hordes of people walked through the already cramped areas to get a close up look at the dogs. They have a few wood chip stalls for the dogs to pee & poop in, my GSP didn’t want to step foot in the nasty things and waited all day and let loose the second we got outside at the end of the day. The carpeted show rings are really nice looking for TV, but the dogs always slip on it and never move their best. But, it’s exciting to do the show once and overall I’m glad we entered.
“AKC agility events don’t allow unregistered dogs, unless they’ve recenlty changed that rule?”
Check out the AKC’s “ILP”/now called “Purebred Alternative” registrations.
http://www.akc.org/reg/ilpex.cfm
While the dogs cannot be bred or shown in conformation, they may qualify for all other AKC sanctioned events.
For your $35 [!] and two photos, you can “register” a dog who looks “enough like” a recognized breed.
From what I’ve heard, they’re quite liberal in their visual interpretation of purebred.
“Fancy breeder” is a back-handed snipe at all the people who devote their lives to a breed because, in the liberal mind, they are the people who are somehow, employing tortuous logic, responsible for all shelter dogs.
IMO, the people who are intentionally breeding “designer dogs” should be beaten with a stick.
When I was a teen, a woman near my house mass-bred “Cockapoos” and got insane sums for those poor dogs whose feet never touched grass, being quartered in what could only generously be called “chicken coops”.
The Cockapoo craze started the whole “WhateverPoo” madness and now there are hundreds of bizarre “breeds”.
The *only* good to come of that is mixing the tragic Pugs with something that actually has a functioning muzzle, allowing it to finally breathe normally.
OTOH, with a “Puggle”, you now have a dog who is not only stubborn and willful, it takes off after small animals when it gets the chance.
*sigh*
It's because they never allow Labs and Golden Retrievers to win! ;*)