Pages 16 & 17....interesting reading AKC take on auctions.
http://www.akc.org/pdfs/about/specia...VBC_finalA.pdf
Recommendation: The committee unanimously recommends that all dogs going
through auction be at least 8 weeks old and microchipped.
Background: The High Volume Breeders Committee addressed the issue of AKCregistered
dogs being sold at auction as frequently and with as much fervor as any
subject under discussion. There was general agreement on several points:
1. Auctions are not an appropriate venue for selling purebred dogs.
2. Auctions are a blight on all dog breeding and on the commercial industry in
particular, and many commercial breeders we spoke to in that community
would like to see them eliminated as well.
3. There is really no positive aspect of these auctions.
The objections to dog auctions go beyond just the care and conditions of the kennels at
which these sales are sometimes held. Today many auctions are held at places of
business designed expressly for that purpose! Often, very young dogs, even those not
yet weaned, are sold, and many of the other dogs are sick, old and in bad physical
condition. Many committee members felt that dogs ought not to be sold under conditions
16
that prevail at livestock auctions. Others felt that the auctions themselves give an
unfavorable impression that can be used against all dog breeders and the AKC.
The committee very quickly realized that the formulation of rules that would be in the
best interest of the dogs and the AKC was a much more difficult task than we imagined.
It would be a simple matter to prohibit the sale of any AKC registered dog at an auction
with heavy penalties attached. But what would prohibit a breeder from selling a dog at
such an auction without its registration papers and then merely sending in the transfers?
What would prohibit a breeder from using papers from another registry where it is dual –
registered at the time of the auction and then forwarding the AKC papers to the new
owner later? Unless an AKC investigator was present at every auction to review the
paperwork of every dog sold and to follow up through the final transaction, this could not
be done easily. It was also the committee’s opinion that even having our inspectors
present at the auctions would give an appearance of legitimacy to the activity that we
wanted to eliminate.
Additionally, if a breeder wanted to sell dogs at auction, then he could simply remove
them from AKC’s registry and move them into one of the many other competing ones.
The committee agreed that this was in no one’s best interest, certainly not the dog’s,
whose well being would then not be subject to our care and conditions requirements.
The committee then discussed the possibility of allowing our dogs to be sold at
“dispersal” auctions but not at “consignment” auctions, and thereby reduce the hardship
on the breeders who were already in dire straits and on shelters that might receive their
animals, However, the committee learned that many kennels appeared to be “going out
of business” frequently for the purpose of merchandising their dogs. USDA noted the
same trend and has recently tightened its policies regarding dispersal auctions.
Hanging over all of these discussions was the knowledge of the difficulty of enforcing
any rules we might formulate, given the loose organization of the auctions themselves.
All committee members agreed that we did not want to introduce rules that could not be
comprehensively enforced.
Much of the discussion concerning auctions was based on an assumption that fewer
AKC dogs were going through auction than turned out to be the case. While the larger
number made the auction activity more disturbing, it also made the possibility of
eliminating them much more complicated. This constitutes a large number of dogs that
would be leaving our registry and therefore beyond our oversight.
The committee voted unanimously to require that all AKC dogs sold at auction must be
at least eight weeks old and microchipped, but it was not viewed as a solution to the
problem, just the best option currently available. The committee members suggest
continued scrutiny of this problem so that better solutions can be found.