If you read the year end financial reports from AKC (posted on their website) you will learn alot. You might want to also get added to the dog press (
The Dog Press - The ORIGINAL Unaligned News By & For Breeders, Exhibitors Judges, and Handlers in The Dog Show Fancy) as you will learn a great deal from breeders and the judging system (or lack of). Once you understand the pet industry is over a 94 billion dollars industry then things start falling into place.
You will get very angry as you read many of the articles BUT I think there is still a place for a good registry. At this time and place it is AKC but even that is not a guarantee that you have a purebred dog but it is probably the best. I know that AKC is fighting for their life but as far as I am concerned they are going to lose unless they start protecting dogs. People are more computer saavy and all the information is out there if people want to dig. I believe dogs are coming out of the livestock stage and people are starting to demand kinder ways of living for our pets. ARe we there yet...NO ... but it has already changed in Europe, England and I think eventually it will come to the US. The pedigree business is BIG business (look how much $$$ they make and spend in a year AKC) and really start to question some of these amounts. They make it sound so pretty (marketing 101) but people are starting to see through their BS and demand more from this organization.