THE BUBBLE
KENNELS, COSTS & CREDIT REPORTS
By Stephanie Hunt-Crowley
L ooking back at the past year, we have seen things get pretty much back to normal after the COVID years. I say “pretty much” because there is probably no way to get back to where it was before. Some things have changed—and not all necessarily for the better. It has become increasingly difficult for owners and breeders to get vet- erinary attention on short notice, and emergency clinics are tighter than they used to be, with many refusing to perform an emergency C-section without also performing a spay. I hope these problems can be resolved in the coming year. The differences in attitudes that are now paramount and which affect ev- ery aspect of dog breeding, showing, and ownership, not just since COVID but over the whole of the last 50 to 75 years, are striking. This has been reflected in the drop in AKC regis- trations, litters born, and purebred dog ownership. I have covered most of these in the past year already, but when you look further back at the
I see comments on social media over and over that dogs should always be pets first and show dogs second, and the idea of having a kennel is met with derision. I see this as a very di- visive issue. Both show dogs and pets should have optimal care and atten- tion, but this concept is used to vilify those who have—horror of horrors—a kennel building, and who do not keep every single dog and puppy in the house 24/7/365. Fifty years ago, the breeders who were the lifeblood of the dog world were the people who main- tained enough dogs to have a breeding program with a new litter (or two or three) every year. They had dogs be- ing shown in all age groups and were able to provide other breeders with fresh bloodlines. Yes, that did mean that with medium-to-large breeds having litters of anywhere from 7 to 12 puppies, they could not all sleep in the house at the same time and needed the infrastructure which al- lowed for it. Some breeders would convert a double garage into a liv- ing area for their dogs, others would
20th century and the changes from how things were then and how they are now, these decreases have not been helping. I have been thinking a lot about the words that we use, and not just words like “fur baby” and “pet parent” but the broader terms which affect the opinions of people in general. Let’s take the word “kennel.” Fifty years ago, a dog kennel could have been a wooden doghouse like the one in the Snoopy cartoon, out at the end of the garden in a backyard, or it could also have been a boarding kennel, set up with divided pens for each dog, or a family of dogs kept for showing or breeding and sharing a bloodline. The latter could have lived in the house or there may have been a kennel build- ing, from the humble to the luxuri- ous. Today when we refer to the great kennels of the past, we think of what they accomplished, not how the dogs were housed or even the number of dogs that were maintained. Now the word “kennel” has almost become a dirty word.
18 • T op N otch T oys , J anuary 2024
Powered by FlippingBook