In Dennis Sprung’s message last month, he referred to the fact that AKC registrations were down again, as we all suspected. Sheila Goffe has also presented a report on the problems facing purebred dogs in Europe, where animal rights activists claim that breeding purebreds results in health issues and deformities. Breeds have been banned in some countries for what they call “torture breeding.”
The important question now is not what can we do about it, but how did we get here in the first place? Confucius said, “Study the past, if you would divine the future.”
I decided to break things up into 25-year segments, starting at the end of World War II. That was when dog breeding and showing became something for everyone, not just for the wealthy and people with massive estates. WWII had a devastating effect on the purebred dog population in Europe. Breeders had to regroup, replace what they had lost, and continue with a very limited population of dogs. They looked towards the US and other countries for dogs to revive their populations. In the UK there were two weekly dog newspapers, Dog World and Our Dogs, which contained breed columns, educational articles, and advertisements. The back pages had classified ads, and these were supported by breeders from established kennels to someone with their first and only litter. These were for purebred puppies only. They also produced annual issues in December where breeders of all breeds could promote their kennel. These glossy publications and the weekly newspapers were sold to the public at news agents like W. H. Smith.
In the US, there were glossy magazines where breed note columns had display advertising in the side columns, and classified advertising in the back. I subscribed to (American) Dog World and Popular Dogs, which came by post.
Crufts and Westminster dog shows became places where visitors would come from all over the world, looking for puppies and/or adult dogs for their breeding programs. Both shows also had huge audiences of pet owners and curiosity seekers. I remember going to Crufts long before I showed my first show puppy. Breeders at these shows would make connections with potential buyers and people looking at different breeds out of curiosity. Back then, there was no such thing as requiring puppies to go to show homes only. Future pet owners were welcomed. Newspapers would send reporters and photographers to interview those attending the show, and photos would appear in the daily and national Sunday newspapers. Some of the photos would end up with wire services and would be seen in newspapers as far away as Australia and Hong Kong.
The message from that era was that any form of advertising and publicity was welcomed. The 1970s were the peak of popularity for dog shows and this continued into the ‘80s. Then numbers started to decrease, but few people noticed. And then there was a major change with the advent of the Internet, first with bulletin boards (bbs) and then with the introduction of e-mail groups. The DDAL (Doris Day Animal Leage) initiated court action in 1998 to bring all breeders under the aegis of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). They failed, but members of the show dog community found the Internet to be a great medium with which they could promote their own agenda. There were those who fought the animal rights activism, and those who backed the next assault on the legal rights of breeders by AR organizations, stating, “If you are not doing anything wrong, it will not hurt you.” They demonized breeders who dared to advertise in magazines or on the Internet.
It is now 2024, 25 years since we left the 20th century behind. Dog show entries are often pitifully small, AKC registrations are disastrously low, and there are fewer new breeders than at the end of WWII. I remember, 20 years ago, when we were faced with some upcoming legislation, people warned about the camel getting his nose under the tent. Right now, it’s not just his nose but his head and ears.
Since then, the public has been fed a diet of anti-breeder rhetoric, from “adopt don’t shop” to claims that mixed breeds are healthier than purebreds (debunked by UC Davis). Most of the dog magazines that we remember from the past have all gone out of print.
When I searched for magazines available to the public today, there were thumbnails for magazine after magazine dedicated to pitbulls or cute furry-faced puppies of indeterminate parentage. While we sit in our ivory towers, secure in the knowledge that we are preservationists, we forget that 90 percent of us were once “those people” who were pet owners with no clue about dog ownership. My own parents were “those people!”
Meet the Breeds events have been a great example of what can be done, introducing people to different breeds, providing a welcoming environment for everyone who attends, but it is not enough. There needs to be a planned PR campaign aimed at the people who have never been to a dog show or spoken to a breeder of show dogs, hunting dogs, or working dogs.
We have lacked active public relations campaigns that promote the fact that purebreds are healthy, they are predictable, and for those who simply must have something unique, there are some rare breeds that are in danger of extinction if no new fanciers are found in the future.
While all of this has been going, doodle breeders have used clever advertising to promote their product, while breeders in the show community have been refusing to advertise to the public. It is time that we got rid of the idea that breeding a single litter a year justifies having a red PM tattooed on one’s forehead. There is NO overpopulation of well-bred, purpose-bred puppies, but there is a glut of “pitties” and “pomskis.” If someone has the time and the facilities to breed a litter from qualified parents, they should. But if they are afraid that the puppies will not all be out of the kitchen or dining room by eight weeks flat, they should not.
It was over 10 years ago when there was an online discussion on Facebook that we needed to have a PR campaign, but the idea fizzled. Perhaps the time has come to revisit that topic again.
