About Michele Gauthier Expertise I have been showing dogs since 1957. I can answer most questions on dog shows. I have shown AKC & UKC. I can answer questions on both registries. I have also trained, taught and shown in obedience trials. I can answer questions on basic obedience training. I have owned and operated a boarding, grooming and training kennel (obedience training). And I can answer many questions on boarding and grooming. At present I breed and show and train Toy Fox Terriers. I show my toy fox terriers in UKC. I can answer questions on toy fox terriers and many questions on toy breeds, working breeds, sighthounds, and hounds in general. Working as a therapist I have also used dogs in the therapy process to improve the quality of life for patients and increase their daily living skills.
Experience I listed my eperience in the above question.
Organizations Lone Star/Louisiana Toy Fox Terrier Club, American Toy Fox Terrier Club, National Toy Fox Terrier Association. I am a former member of many all breed kennel clubs, obedience clubs, speciality clubs and American Boarding Kennel Ass.
Publications I have written in many dog club newsletters. At present I am the editor for the club paper of the Lone Star/Louisiana Toy Fox Terrier Ass. I also answer all types of questions on canines and issues that relate to them in a column.
Education/Credentials I have a degree in occupational therapy.
Awards and Honors I have been selected to serve on many all breed and speciality clubs board. I have been asked to judge several all breed and breed specific dog shows in the past. I have received recognition in the past for using dogs as a therapy media. I have won some high in trial obedience awards in the past. I have several toy fox terrier show champions and others with championship points that are now being exhibited.
Expert: Michele Gauthier Date: 8/22/2005 Subject: AKC and CKC Registration
Question Hi Michele:
I want to buy an Italian Greyhound puppy for my wife for her birthday. I found a male puppy that will be ready at the right time for $400. This is considerably less than many other places I have found so I have some concern about the puppy being legitimate.
The owner tells me that both parents are AKC registered, but the puppy is only CKC registered. We won't show the dog and are just getting it as a pet, so this isn't a huge concern but I do want it to be purebred. If both parents are AKC registered then why wouldn't he register the puppy as AKC? What should I do to protect myself? Thanks! Mike
Answer Hi, if it was me I wouldn't buy the puppy at all.
If both parents are AKC there is no reason NOT to register the puppies.
CKC stands for Continental Kennel Club. It also stands for Canadian Kennel Club. Now the Canadian Kennel Club is an excellent registry it works just like AKC does. But Continental Kennel Club in Walker, Louisiana also calls itself the CKC. And most dogs that are registered with CKC in the USA are registered with Continental Kennel Club. Now, just think about a registry that would use call letters that are identical to another well know registery. Think about that for a while. With CKC they do not require that dogs be dna'd so you don't know if the pups come from the parents the breeder says or not. With AKC you know for sure because there is DNA. With AKC you can't pick up a dog on the side of the road and register it. With CKC you can. With AKC you can't breed a Great Dane to Doberman and call it a new breed i. e. the Great Doberman and you can do some of this with CKC. See there is a big difference. Many times when people can't get dogs registered by AKC they go to CKC. Because CKC is so loose with their rules.
So the puppy you are buying might grow up to look like the parents or it might not. It might grow up to be as big as a whippet or have ears that stand straight up etc. etc. And people that don't breed don't know what puppies are supposed to look like so they can be fooled. They see a cute puppy and they buy it but when it is grown it doesn't look like the breed it is supposed to be. OR it is too big etc.
If the breeder has papers on both parents there is no reason the breeder should not register it with AKC because the over whelming majority of breeders in the USA would rather all their dogs be AKC registered. The reason some of these new registries are popping up is because some years back AKC required breeders to DNA their dogs. It is a rule. So if you buy a puppy from an AKC breeder and the puppy doesn't turn out to look like an IG you can contact the AKC. And then they will DNA your puppy and if it doesn't match the DNA records they have on the parents of the puppy the breeder will NO longer be able to register with AKC at all. Now, there are some people who can NO longer register with AKC because they have committed fraudulent actions with their breeding and registry records, and when AKC catches them they can NO longer register their dogs with AKC at all.
And just remember a registry is what it says. It registers dogs. I can become a registry today. All I have to do is start a website and say call myself the World Canine Registry (and there might already be one called that there are so many out there these days), advertise how much it costs to regsiter dogs and people will start registering with me. Even if I don't keep good records or have rules that are so lax that they aren't any rules at all. Because all some people care about is PAPERS. Many people don't know what papers mean. Many People just want to be able to say "MY DOG HAS PAPERS!!!!!". Registration papers mean a lot. THey mean that for 8 generations or more an IG was bred to an IG so what you have here is an IG. With an AKC registered IG I imagine papers go back many many and all the way back to England. That is what a good registry does it registers dogs for years and years. And it doesn't allow dogs that someone says is a Cocker Spaniel be registered as a Cocker Spaniel just because the owner says that is what it is. So as you can see this registry and "I have PAPERS" is a real game now. And especially with the advent of the internet.
So the only registry in the USA that stands behind it's papers scientifically with DNA is AKC. The registry with the best reputation in the USA is AKC. The registry that offers the most for the pet owner, breeder, show dog, obedience dog, tracking dog, flyball dog, etc. etc. etc. is AKC. And it has been that way for years.
So if I was you I would find another breeder.
When puppies are cheaper than everyone elses there is usually a problem. Buying the cheapest puppy is never a good idea to do.
