“WHEN A JUDGE STOPS BREEDING, all of us lose a huge reservoir of experience, knowledge, and advancement of their breed and the sport in general.”
reason to stop breeding. This does not advance the sport of pure bred dogs. Judges should keep breeding and by so doing stay current on changes in breeds and continue to mentor new exhibitors in the sport. When a judge stops breeding, all of us lose a huge reservoir of experience, knowledge, and advancement of their breed and the sport in general. THE AKC CAN HELP. The AKC should encourage judges to keep breeding and stay in the game as much as possible. While many judges were once breeders, times change and breed standards evolve. To become an AKC Breeder Of Merit, a breeder must have been involved with AKC events for five years, earned at least four conformation, performance or companion event titles, be a member of an AKC parent club, certify that application health screens are per- formed on their breeding stock and demonstrate a commitment to ensur- ing that 100%of the puppies produced are AKC registered. It is not enough to just be an AKC judge. We all need to mentor, develop and encourage newcomers to the sport if we expect to have a sport in ten years. We’re in the best position to do all of that as breeders; producing dogs that meet breed standards and placing great dogs with new owners who will be the life blood of our sport’s future.
used to be respected in the same way that teachers used to be respected. Many respected successful judges in the past continued to be top breeders. There was no question that they knew what they were doing as they judged in the ring. Most of these judges were also very generous with their time to explain why they judged the way they did when asked by an exhibitor. Why? Because they were also mentors and they respected the exhibitors just as they hoped they would be respected. BREEDERS AS MENTORS. Good breeders are also great men- tors for the people to whom they have sold a dog, whether a show dog or a pet. They stay in touch with their new owner families, recruit new show homes where possible and under- stand that there are no dumb ques- tions from new members to the fancy. They understand that the future of the sport is dependent upon a growing pool of new dog owners and exhibi- tors. As breeders we try to encourage new owners to become more involved beyond just having a dog. Where we used to concentrate on conformation competition, we now promote multi- ple avenues for training such as ther- apy, water trials, scent work, obedi- ence, agility and other activities. We know that an owner who participates in these areas is more likely to join a local dog club, go to dog shows and be- come an advocate for pure bred dogs.
WHERE ARE THE PURE BRED PUPPIES? Yet, the sport is struggling and breed- ers are disappearing. With over a half-million new registrations each year with the AKC, over 5,000 dog clubs with an estimated 150,000 members, there are less than 10,000 AKC Breeders Of Merit in the whole country. Where do we think the dogs are going to come from to support dog shows and registrations? At a recent AKC Legislative Confer- ence on the west coast, one of the pre- sentations dealt with “Professional Breeders, looking to the future—it is time to change the narrative”. The AKC’s relatively new program is to encourage and work with commercial breeders who breed in much larger numbers than the average Breeder of Merit. We get it—more dogs, more registrations. They estimated that of the ten million puppies born ev- ery year, commercial breeders pro- duce 30% of the total, while “hobby” breeders only provide 3%, 44% from rescues and shelters, 4% pet stores and the rest—who knows? Unfortunately, the trend has been that once a person becomes a judge, they tend to stop breeding. The AKC has rules that are designed to limit the perception of a conflict of interest for a judge, yet some judges use this as a WE NEED MORE BREEDER-JUDGES
T op N otch T oys , J une 2019 • 53
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