Dog breed societies serve a variety of roles, but their most important
objective is to preserve integrity of the breed they are focused on.
Dogs breed societies also serve to promote the popularity of their
breed, provide sponsorship for dog shows, educate owners, breeders,
and prospective owners about the breed, and breed research to address
health issues.
"About the Labrador Retriever Club, Inc." The Labrador Retriever Club,
Inc. (2005) http://thelabradorclub.com/aboutlrc/
The breed standard defines the characteristics of a particular dog
breed and is the method dog breed societies use to preserve the
integrity of their breed. It is viewed as an ideal that breeders
should seek to approach with their dogs. A variety of methods are
used to enforce the breed standard.
Registries, which are dog genealogies, ensure that individual dogs
that are registered as being of a particular breed were bred from
parents that were both registered members of that breed. The American
Kennel Club is the largest such registry in the United States. The
American Kennel Club also investigates complaints that a registered
purebred dog is in fact not a purebred. "What do you do if you are
notified in AKC registered dog is not purebred?" American Kennel Club
(2004) http://www.akc.org/about/faq.cfm?page=8
Dog shows are another important aspect of maintaining the breed
standard. Dog shows allow members of a breed to compete against one
another to determine which one best conforms to the breed standard.
Because people interested in purebred dogs are often interested in
showing them in competition, they are desirous of obtaining dogs that
are bred to the best meet the breed standard. Because of this demand,
breeders are incentivized to breed their dogs with the objective of
breed standard conformance. Those who are most successful can sell
their dogs at higher prices, so they are eager to produce dogs that
conform to the standard.
"The only significant difference between purebreds and mixed breeds is
that purebreds, because their parents and other ancestors are all
members of the same breed, generally conform to a specific ?breed
standard.? This means that you have a good chance of knowing what
general physical and behavioral characteristics a puppy of that breed
is likely to have."
"Differences Between Purebreds and Breeds" Fox Valley Humane
Association http://www.foxvalleypets.org/dogs/?details=17&page=271
This predictability is a primary reason why purebred dogs are
appealing. In addition, most shows limit entrants to being those
registered as members of a particular breed by a particular registry.
Therefore, a dog must be a purebred to compete in most shows.
Sincerely,
Wonko |
