Becoming: Commercial Breeders—Not What...
BY JACQUELYN FOGEL continued
“BY WORKING TOGETHER AND LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER WE ARE GUARANTEEING THAT OUR BREEDS WILL SURVIVE. THE NEXT STEP WILL BE TO WORK WITH THEM TO CREATE DEMAND FOR SOME OF THE RAREST BREEDS DESTINED TO BECOME EXTINCT IF A MARKET FOR THEM DOESN’T GROW.”
bred them because there was a huge demand for those colors. So I started talking to her about why old-time AKC breeders did not breed for those colors, explaining that a lot of health issues are color-linked. The elimination of those dogs from gene pools had more to do with health than it did with esthetics. The general public does not under- stand that some things are rare because they are not valuable or healthy, and only view it as a snobby breeder who doesn’t like a certain color because it won’t win at a dog show. They think the rare colors make the dog “special,” and therefore more valuable. The breeder did not disagree with that assessment but said that her puppies were all healthy when they left. When I sug- gested that those healthy puppies may not all become healthy adults, her eyes got wide, and she said she had not thought about that. Typically, the only adults these breeders keep are the ones they breed. They don’t see puppies after they leave the kennel, so they don’t know how the puppies grow up. They do the best they can with their puppies, but they are miss- ing the feedback loop most AKC breed- ers have with their pet buyers. These breeders were supplying a demanded color without understanding why the color became an AKC disqualification. They work in a supply-and-demand world. For the most part, it is a rational world unencumbered by politics and personal biases. They do not view the education of the public as their respon- sibility, though that may change if they know why AKC standards are written the way they are. These breeders take great pride in raising healthy, well- socialized puppies.
The actual convention was at an exposition hall on Friday and Satur- day. More than 800 breeders attended. There were seminars and demonstra- tions on everything from whelping tools to obedience and rally training. Our ears, teeth and nail seminars were well-attended and very popular. We had between 50 and 100 spectators for all or part of each of our presenta- tions, and many people stayed after to talk about breed-specific pet trims. The dogs we worked on had been bathed and brushed, though not up to our pro- fessional standards, so I knew we had a lot of work to do to do in the area of grooming. These breeders were used to using a 10 or 40 blade and stripping off all of the coat. Dematting was a skill none of them possessed. The groom- ing may have been less than we hoped for, but the soundness of the dogs we groomed was a pleasant surprise. As pet groomers, we were used to working on the endless parade of retail-rescue dogs with multiple health, temperament and structural problems. The dogs we had at this conference were sound with good temperaments. All of them would make wonderful pets. By the end of the conference we were sold out of almost all of the sup- plies we brought, and we took orders for more. The breeders asked a lot of intelligent questions, and most planned to work regular grooming into their care routines. A couple of breeders asked if we thought any of their dogs were good enough to be shown, and we assured them they could be shown if they had good consistent coat mainte- nance. My two groomers were exhaust- ed but excited to be working with such professional breeders. Yes, many of the
breeders were also producing mixed breed puppies because the market for them was still strong, but they were also keeping strong lines of purebred dogs. The mixed breed puppies were not the result of accidental breedings but planned pairings that would pro- duce cute and healthy puppies. This was a remarkable look into breeding dogs in a rational world governed by the rules of supply-and-demand rather than the emotional world of rescues and adoptions. It became clear to me that the long- term survival of purebred dogs depend- ed on the work of these breeders. AKC hobby breeders could never produce enough dogs to satisfy the demand for pets. Rather than the existential threat posed to us by the rescue groups, these commercial breeders are our partners in producing purpose-bred dogs. By working together and learning from each other we are guaranteeing that our breeds will survive. The next step will be to work with them to create demand for some of the rarest breeds destined to become extinct if a market for them doesn’t grow. I understand this is an entirely new way of looking at the world of commer- cial breeders. We are so conditioned to view them as the enemy that we have lost sight of how important they are in our battle against the very real threat of retail-rescue. There is a huge movement within the world of commercial breed- ers to get better at what they do, and they are looking toward the AKC for guid- ance. It makes sense for us to embrace their world and work with them to pro- duce quality purebred dogs. Our future depends on howwell we cooperate. It is that simple.
50 • S how S ight M agazine , O ctober 2018
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