Akc Vs. Aca
 

Ok, I am very new to owning my yorkie. This may sound like a stupid question but can anyone tell me the diff. between the ACA and the AKC? I am getting to send off the papers for the ownership transfer to the ACA for my little one. I just wondered what the diff. is.

ACA American Kennel Club. For a fee American Kennel Club will register any dog.

AKC - American Kennel Club - will only register purebreed animals whose sire and dam are registered. Does inspections of AKC kennels/breeders and requires DNA testing.

:thumbup::thumbup:
It's not a stupid question, and very few people will give you a straight answer because too many people have a vested interest. The other registries are considered "paper" registries. They were created in an attempt to mislead buyers into thinking that there dog was "registered". When the AKC cracked down on breeders many of these alternative registries popped up. This is not to imply that all AKC breeders are good, but that should be the first step in finding a good breeder. If you can only register with the ACA I see no point in registering him. I only registered my dog with the AKC because I wanted to support them financially in the work they were doing in trying to raise breeding conditions.

There are good and bad breeders in any registry you find. Don't assume that the registry alone indicates an ethical breeder or quality dog. Granted, alternative registries let alot slide and allow things AKC shouldn't so you do have to excercise more caution. All the more reason for people to educate themselves on what makes a good breeder and quality representation, and focus on that and how they and the registry they decide to use best suits their goals and what they are looking for.

Congrats on being a new Yorkie owner and welcome to YT.:)

ACA is the American Canine Association, not American Kennel Club. (Not trying to start anything, just want to make sure the OP knows the difference.)

Many breeders have gone to clubs other than AKC because they do not require the DNA testing and to register a litter it is cheaper than AKC. CKC, Continental Kennel Club, (not Canadian) does not charge the breeder anything to register a litter. The cost is all passed onto the buyer of the puppy. Many breeders have found these alternate registries as a way to cut costs.

My dogs are not registered with AKC, because they are not accepted yet, not because I try to cut costs. They are registered with Germany though, and that tends to cost a lot more than AKC registration. Will I switch to AKC when we are allow? You bet ya!!!

I do know that CKC will allow the Biewers to be registered, as I sold a girl as a pet to a lady and she registered her with CKC and was going to breed her. CKC would not give me the papers, even though I still had the girl's German papers. I did not ask about it when I got her back. CKC papers are basically worthless to me.

CKC, APRi and others will register animals from mixed breedings and also will register a dog as a purebreed dog if you send pictures and a couple of signatures. The dog may be a mix that looks like a yorkie and you could get yorkie papers on it! Not credible in my book.

You're right...I completely missed that Deb mistyped that. Good catch! :thumbup:

so is it not worth the time to reg. Bruno if i can only reg. him with the ACA????

What are you trying to accomplish by registering him? Does the ACA have programs that you believe in? See this link for more information, like I said anyone can start a registry. http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/gen...ieve-site.html

Is Bruno going to be a pet, or is he suppose to be for breeding and show? If he is going to be a pet, then you don't need to get the ACA paperwork. If he is going to be for show, you need to think about getting a dog with AKC credentials ... just my opinion.

I think you might mean if you are planning on breeding.

Yes, thank you.
I show most of the puppies that I plan on breeding, as I want to make sure that I am only breeding good quality dogs. I know what I like, but the judges can sometimes see things that I have missed. I then have to decide if I think the puppy can be improved or if I need to rethink breeding that individual.

I love to read about breeders like you, that's great. :)

Bruno is our pet. I my decide to breed him later, not sure yet. I know that both of his parents are reg. with the ACA as is the litter he came from. I did not get him from a breeder. The lady I did get him from did and gave me the breeders info.

seems like everyone is saying if i cant reg. him AKC it's pointless reg. him at all. Like the ACA is nothing.

Thank you!
It was not always this way though. I started out with a yorkiepoo. (Still have her, Michelle) Then went to poodles, that I did not show (Yep, have my original girl too, Gracie). This had been a great learning experience, but with the Biewers I want to do the "right thing."

I guess everyone has to start somewhere, even if I am not proud of the past it is what it is.

I take the quality, health, and happiness of my dogs very seriously. I also check into the people that want one of my puppies for pet or breeding. I do more than just check the references that they give to me.

I know that the shows are not AKC, but they are what we have available to us at this time. The dogs are not my livelyhood (I teach school), they are my passion. I have at least 2 dogs in my bedroom everynight, more if there is not a litter of puppies in there. (have to keep most of the others out, so the mama does not get upset and they don't bother the babies.)

Those at the meet-up met Murphy, one of my boys. He is totaly devoted to me and frets whenever he cannot be with me. He has been this way since he landed in the US (how he knew right away, I will never know!)

I had better quit, as I can talk about my babies FOREVER!!!

The ACA is not nothing, but it does not hold the prestige that the AKC does. All of the dog shows you see on TV are for AKC. You will find many people looking for pets want AKC puppies.

Is it worth it to you? That is all that matters. What the harm of registering him anyway if it makes YOU happy? :) Your dog is not lesser a great Yorkie because of his registry. But I bet you already knew that.;)

My male (Tigger) was AKC reg. and my female (Precious Baby Bella) was ACA. I dual registered them with APRI. I chose to do so because APRI has excellent Customer Service, among other things! APRI REQUIRES a 3 generation pedigree in order to register your dogs & if you are coming from another registry, you must be in good standing with them. APRI also holds Dog Shows & is growing by leaps & bounds.

APRI has another registry (AKR), but it is totally separate. I would strongly suggest you check out their website http://aprpets.org and make up your own mind. You don't even have to register your puppy thru ACA 1st, just send them your paperwork & fees. Then if you do decide to breed, your pups can be registered thru them too. Good luck & don't ever think your yorkie is not purebred just because of who it's registered thru! Precious has way more AKC ancestors than she does ACA ancestors:)

APRI WILL register mixed breeds. I have done it when I was doing the yorkiepoos. Yorkie registered with APRI (dual registered) and poodle with APRI (dual registered) = APRI registered Yorkiepoo. Does not mean they were purebreed, just that they had pedigrees on both sides. AKC has been around a lot longer than APRI.

Registration or lack of registration does not make a pet any better or worse. The love it gives to its owner is the real value of a pet. No paper can make it worth any more or less to its adoring owner.

There is always going to be people that breed just to reproduce and make money whether the dogs are AKC registered or APRI (ACA, CKC, or whatever registery is convenient) What the breeder needs to be thinking of though is does the pairing try to create a puppy that fits the standard of that breed or just any "purebred" puppy regardless of what the standard says?

True that! But then you have the breeders who breed "Teacup Yorkies" making a killing off of them because of their tiny size. The Breed standards are 3 - 7 lbs, and they're breeding one & two pounders & selling them for up to $10,000! You can't tell me they are only doing this for the better of their breed (speaking in general, not at you) because they are not thinking about the health of these tiny puppies....their most likely thinking about their checkbooks.

I don't breed for the money, I breed because I love my yorkies so much and want others to enjoy them too

People that breed tinies are NOT breeding to standard. They don't seem to care for the health and well being of the tiny moms. I think you will see in an earlier post of mine that I am against breeding females less than 5 pounds. Breeding to standard though is MORE than just size. It is the whole picture. Does the dog meet the standards of the breed with no or very few faults. (hopefully the faults are ones that can be corrected when bred to the right dog)

At the YT meet-up I was surprised by all of the tiny dogs. There were standard size yorkies and a couple of larger ones, but the majority were (or appeared to be) below standard size. They made my Murphy look huge. He is my smallest dog at 4.5 pounds. All of my girls are in the 5-8 pound range. My other male is 5 pounds. I have sold girls that were either imported or ones I wanted to keep as breeders because they were not going to "make weight."

Do all of the puppies I produce have the qualities to make them breeders...NO. Very few do, in fact. Most puppies are sold as pets and must be spayed/neutered. I do not want every dog being bred, as I want my name to be associated with quality dogs. That cannot be done if all dogs are sold with full breeding rights. I have had people that did not understand this and were going to do as they liked after they got my puppy. . . . They did not get my puppy. I realize that I cannot have 100% control, as many people lie to breeders about their intent.

Back to the topic.... AKC has limited papers which should help the uncontrolled breeding problem, but some of these other registeries will allow "limited AKC" dogs to be registered with no regard to breeding intent. These people will then breed these dogs that were not to be bred using these other registries. The dishonest people find a way to use these other registries to benefit their purposes, no matter how dishonest.

That's exactly my point. Their parents may have been AKC registered, but these puppy's' offspring are not eligible so they go to one these alternative registries. Why would an ethical breeder do business with an unethical company? Speaks volumes about the breeder.


It bothers me that good breeders often have to take such drastic measures as neutering the dogs before they leave, to avoid this problem.

Been there. The IBC (in Germany) has a place on the papers where you can say that they are not to be bred and why, but when a person goes to register a litter they don't have to send a copy of that part of the book in. I have written in German "Not for Breeding" on the signature line where I am to sign the papers. I don't know if that even helps. We just try our best to keep puppies out of the hands of people that will breed them, when they said they just wanted a pet.

WOW...that is an unfair statement if I ever heard one, IMO.
That would be like condeming breeders who participate in AKC/Eukanuba sponsored events because of the allegations made against Eukanuba regarding animal testing. Just because you are still involved with a flawed company does not automatically "speak volumes" about you.
It's one thing to state your displeasure w/ a company but to insult those who don't share that opinion and unfairly assume they are all the same is just wrong, IMO. If you don't agree with alternative registries, sobeit, don't use them, respectfully state your reasons, but don't continue to insult those who do all because you judged the company for face value and assumed the worst about those who feel differently.

On second thought, I think I'll withdraw myself from this discussion and find one a little more open minded--better to keep my cool and keep from becoming insulting myself. :p Besides, from what I've seen these arguments rarely yield anything positive...:(

I am entitled to my opinion and I'm entitled to share it, in a respectful way. I think I did that. To me, registering a dog that never was purchased with breeding rights is the same as stealing and that is one huge "flaw". Obviously those breeders doing business with these other registries are going to think that's unfair of me. If you sold an AKC dog with no breeding rights and someone bred them anyway, and registered them with another registry would you think they were being "unfair"? I'm going one step further and saying that's unethical, and I would not do business with a company that I believed to be unethical, unfair is a different matter, and it difficult to appear fair to all those concerned.

I agree, nothing was aimed at any one person. An opinion was given, you gave yours also.
I have had people buy dogs without breeding rights and turn around and register them with "another" registry. This is very unethical. The association that registered the dog falsely would not do anything about it when I contacted them. Thank goodness I got the dog back, did not want or even ask the other person for these "falsified" papers. They are worthless to me, as I had the dog's original registration. I was holding it until she was spayed, but that did not matter to this other registry.

OK :rolleyes:

Furthermore, regarding "animal testing" and people throwing around this word, we should be against inhumane animal testing, not just animal testing. Animal testing is extreemly important, how will we know if products are safe? Too many companies have stopped animal testing because of so much misinformation, and don't want to be labeled as "one of the companies that do animal testing," so our pets become the guinea pigs.

It is very unfortunate that you had to deal w/ that situation. I would have been furious--as I'm sure you probably were. I do NOT agree whatsoever with registries allowing dogs to be registered with them in this manner for this reason. This is NOT a practice that I agree with and I think it is dishonest and deceitful. My point was, it's not correct to assume that EVERY individual involved with these registries is doing this. In addition, 'doing business' can include a wide variety of things...breeding under them, paying to register a purchased pup, supporting them by attending hosted events--all are considered "doing business" with them...

Yes, that's an obvous. I was merely using that as an example to illustrate my point.