The Role of Kennel and Breed Clubs in Combatting Uncontrolled Breeding

Kennel and breed clubs are professional organizations for purebred canine enthusiasts. They do their best to promote enjoyment of dogs, especially dogs within any specific breed they cater to, as well as promote higher qualities of dogs. Dog shows and athletic events aid in this enjoyment as well as raise interest in dogs to the public at large.

Questions have been raised about whether these are good organizations or not because of the kinds of dogs that are encouraged may not be the healthiest possible animal. Breed standards for many breeds encourage unhealthy extremes of canine traits, some preventing the animals from functioning normally.

While these extremes are very unfortunate and it is the breed club or kennel club's job to make a more suitable breed standard if problems persist, but it is not the club's job to regulate breeding itself. Yes, there are irresponsible breeders out there who capitalize on breed enthusiasm and don't keep the genetics or the welfare of the dog in mind.

Unfortunately, irresponsible breeding isn't unlawful so there's little that can be done about the breeding itself. Even if the club bans these dogs on whatever grounds they deem appropriate, there's nothing to keep the breeder from peddling their puppies off to the unsuspecting public and continuing their bad practices. In instances where the bad practices step outside the letter of the law, there's something that can be done about them. If the issue is merely failure to breed from quality bloodlines or breeding for extremes of genetic traits, there's simply nothing that can be done about it.

What does fall under the power of the kennel club or breed club is to make it more profitable to be a responsible breeder than an irresponsible one. Sadly, some people own top-of-the-line dogs for money and recognition alone and the number of culled puppies in a litter don't bother them as long as they get one or two that will excel in the show ring. If the clubs require healthy animals with traits that don't reach an unhealthy extreme, those are the animals breeders will be aiming to breed. Responsible breeders are already doing this, so it becomes important to give irresponsible breeders that incentive to follow the path that's best for their dogs.

It would be wonderful if every breed club and kennel club could test every single breeding animal for common genetic diseases and disorders as well as ensure they are prime specimens of the breed, then only accept puppies from those animals that have passed strict registration tests. Unfortunately, this wouldn't really work in practice. While some registration guidelines must be adhered to, the kind of testing and evaluation that would turn it into an elitist but very healthy club would be far too time-consuming and the cost would likely be astronomical. This makes it very difficult for clubs to even touch close to controlling breeding.

Physical exams should be encouraged within every breed club and kennel club, and registration information should be kept on any animal that doesn't pass basic health examinations. These animals and their offspring would then be disallowed from registration and showing within the club. This would only eliminate the animals from the breeding pool that are already showing a genetic disorder, but it would help the disorder to slowly die out. True, there is still nothing keeping a breeder from breeding these animals for sale as pets, but it does significantly reduce profit potential and make it much more financially sensible to simply re-home the animal that didn't pass its physical and replace it with a dog that has a clean history and bill of health.

Irresponsible breeding is a problem that definitely needs to be addressed by the animal enthusiast community. However, it is a personal issue and, in the extremes, a legal issue. Breed clubs and kennel clubs can do some to educate the general public and encourage responsible breeding, but the sad fact is there's really nothing they can do that would effectively combat irresponsible breeding directly and they should not be pressured into expending resources toward that untenable end.