AB 1634 is not breed neutral. It will effectively eliminate many breeds. It will eliminate specific lines of breeds depending upon the registry involved. The requirements it sets out can be met by a limited group of dogs. The bill creates significant uncertainty as to what breeds will be allowed as "valid", and which registries will be accepted as "recognized." The requirements do not specify the criteria or even the definitions of these terms.
The factors set out seem to use AKC as a model. While AKC is a fine organization for its purposes it does not seek to represent all manner of dogs. The focus of AKC is "the sport of dogs." AKC breeds might be able to meet the initial requirements. Even with AKC registered dogs it will harm rarer breeds by demanding good dogs be removed from breeding for failure to meet criteria that has nothing to do with good breeding practices much less what dogs end up in shelters.
For dogs registered with other registries the picture is even more ominous. And some breeds will simply be unable to meet the requirements and thus will not be legally breedable in California. While the AKC model is appropriate for the purposes of AKC it is not an appropriate model for other organizations with a different philosphical mandate in regard to either a particular breed or dogs in general. Thus while even many AKC breeds are in trouble due to the narrow requirements of this bill, breeds from other registries may have no possibility of meeting the requirements and thus the breed will end in this state. And ending those breeds will have absolutely no affect on shelter populations.
Here are just a few breeds or types that may be eliminated because they will be unable to meet the terms of AB 1634
Boerboel
Kelpie
New Zealand Heading Dog
New Zealand Huntaway
Dutch Shepherd
English Shepherd
McNab
Danish/Swedish Farmdog
American White Shepherd
American Hairless Terrier
ABCA registered Border Collie
American Bulldog
Azores Cattle Dog
Koolie
Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog
Basque Shepherd Dog
Altdeutscher Schaeferhund
Welsh Sheepdog
Dogo Argentino
Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog
Australian Bandog
Barbet
Blue Lacy Game Dog
Alaskan Husky
Seppala Siberian Sleddog
... and many more
There are dozens of dog registries maintaining records for various dog breeds. Some are single breed registries, some register multiple breeds and types. The ultimate purpose of a registry is simply to provide a central recording place for the pedigree of a dog. Most registries will require that a dog be registred as a particular breed and that both parents of that dog be of the same breed and also registred. Beyond that the requirements vary. Some are conerned only with maintaining blood line records. They don't offer competitions, and they don't issue titles. Some offer competions, but still don't offer titles. Some have extensive requirements beyond mere bloodline for registration.
Each registry differs in the degree to which it will accept for registration dogs originating from a different registry. Many registries have strong philosphical positions in regard to the policies of other registries. That results in a situation where two dogs may have the same breed name but be registered by incompatible registries. So merely finding a breed name on the list of breeds recognized by one breed registry does not mean that all dogs with that breed name will meet or fail at the same requirements under this bill.
The sad thing is that none of this debate over what breeds are registered with what organization and whether they do or do not issue titles is in any way meaningful in resolving the issue of shelter dog populations. The particular breed registriy, and the existence of titles earned by the parent dog, have nothing to do with the risk a dog will end up in the shelter. Certainly factors such as registration and competition are one means of evaluating a responsible breeder. But those elements don't address the primary problem - the person who bought or took the dog decided not to keep it.
All the complication, expense and uncertainty created by these unworkable attempts of goverment to impose a uniform solution on an ununiform problem could be avoided by a much simpler, cheaper and more effective regulartory scheme. The simple philosophy could be "if you breed it, you are responsible for it" for life and then create a means to enforce that.
A better solution would be to:
These solutions better focus on the actual problem. Animals in shelters are mostly the results of animals badly placed and the breeders aren't made responsible for that bad placement. There are other important solutions even more directed at the problem, bad decisions in getting a pet, but those are more difficult for governmental agencies to accomplish. We need to educate people before they get their pets, and we need to provide training and behavior resources after they get their pet. However, those solutions are things expensive to implement, with low direct cost recoverd. But if we can get people to keep the pets they have that will be the most effective solution. If we only change the source of the pets to commercial breeder then little will change.
Information on Responsible breeding
Check out the No Kill Solution
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Copyright © 2007
Diane Blackman
Created: May 7, 2007
Updated: June 1, 2007
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