[goldieforme]

Hi, this may sound like a dumb question but I can't find exact answers online and am still confused, so I am hoping you guys can help me.

My new pup came with AKC registration papers for me to fill out and send in if I want to register him for life, however, I don't fully understand the purpose of me registering him. I have no plans to show my dog, do agility events, or breed my dog at all. I am hovering over the idea of doing therapy dog training in the future, but that's not certain - just a thought. So, do I have to register him with AKC, or is it purely for showing and breeding purposes in a way? I don't really want to spend like $50+ on something I have no use for. He is also already registered for a microchip company, so the AKC Reunite is no use to me either.

Sorry for a dumb question. I am just trying to fully understand AKC. Thank you in advance for the help! :grin2:

 

[Aidan0311]

I’m in the same boat as you. I got Aidan back in July and haven’t registered due to the same reasons you’re having. I’m not planning on showing or breeding, so unless there’s some other reason for doing it that I’m unaware of I’ll not spend the $$. He’s also microchipped and we registered with PetLink because my vet recommended them.

 

[Megora]

It's not $50.

It's more like $30-35?

No. You don't have to register your dog.

Then again, the sooner you register - the cheaper it is. Waiting until the dog is older, it DOES cost more.

It's not about showing or breeding.

You cannot show or breed a dog with limited registration. Unless you mean obedience or agility or even just getting a CGC with your dog. But those are things you get into when the dog is older (ie, when registering late would cost you like $60+).

Registering a dog with AKC - it basically is more of a pride thing. Taking pride in owning a purebred dog. And taking pride in participating even that small little bit - which is just registering your dog - which allows people to find your dog in the AKC database.

At any rate.

Have seen people quibbling about spending $30 on AKC registration. But they buy $20+ stuffy toys (that will quickly get destroyed by the dog) and they spend way too much money on leashes, collars, etc.

 

[cwag]

Rukie is registered because his breeder did it. I probably would have sent his in because we are trying for CGC. I never sent in the registration for my last girl and I never regretted it.

 

[Aidan0311]

Megora, I don’t mind spending the money if it’s something that I need to do. I didn’t think of the ability to find dogs on AKC. I’d love to find his siblings and for them to be able to find me, so in that case I’ll probably register him. I didn’t really research the benefits. Before Aidan we had 2 chocolate labs which we registered, but we never did anything with the AKC papers. That was long ago, 25 yrs, and so I didn’t research anything online back then.

 

[eeerrrmmm1]

We registered Luna because we wanted to give her a long silly official name. If she had been from prestigious lines I would've given her a serious name but she wasn't so we gave her an appropriately sweet and silly registered name.

 

[LJack]

Your registration fees allow AKC (a not-for-profit) to continue to advance the cause of purebred dogs, political advocacy to retain the right to have animals in our lives, inspect kennels for welfare compliance, research dog diseases, etc. For me that is more than enough to register but I also gain the benefit of becoming eligible to have my dog’s accomplishments recorded. They will record therapy work should you ever decide to go that route.

 

[Pytheis]

My girl was never registered, and I regret it immensely. Back then I never thought I would want to do sports, get a CGC, or care about learning more about her lines. Now I want to get into Nosework, get a CGC, and most importantly, I want to know about her parents and what titles they had (if any) and what health tests were done. I don’t have that option anymore. I can get a PAL registration for her, but I don’t have a huge motivation to since Brooklyn is perfectly happy being a lazy pet anyway.

 

[jeffscott947]

I’m in the same boat as you. I got Aidan back in July and haven’t registered due to the same reasons you’re having. I’m not planning on showing or breeding, so unless there’s some other reason for doing it that I’m unaware of I’ll not spend the $$. He’s also microchipped and we registered with PetLink because my vet recommended them.

In OUR cases (purely pets)..imo AKC is a waste of $$. I also have all of my dogs chipped and none are registered, although I was sent papers by their respective breeders (not professional breeders). I own 2 purebreds (Aussie and Golden)and one Heinz variety dog + a 4th with no history (14 yr old Border Collie rescued at 5).



Since AKC frowns on mixed breeds..I won't support them.:wink2:

 

[Prism Goldens]

In OUR cases (purely pets)..imo AKC is a waste of $$. I also have all of my dogs chipped and none are registered, although I was sent papers by their respective breeders (not professional breeders). I own 2 purebreds (Aussie and Golden)and one Heinz variety dog + a 4th with no history (14 yr old Border Collie rescued at 5).



Since AKC frowns on mixed breeds..I won't support them.:wink2:

Since AKC is a registry for purebred dogs, other than via the PAL /ilp programs (so those mixed breeds can compete in performance) of course it frowns on mixed breeds. We can't have 'everyone's equal' in everything... If I were in the the business of registering only swimmers who can do a 200IM, would one imagine the 50 Free swimmers should be supported in my registry? No. Everything's not for everyone. Everyone is not equal in all areas.

 

[DblTrblGolden2]

Here's a reason that you may have never thought of. I had a Golden 30 years ago that was everything I could ask for. He was the complete package. I got him when I was 17 years old. He lived to be over 15. I long ago got rid of every file I had on him. As I've aged and gotten smarter I realized how special he really was. I registered him 30 years ago. I was 17, I knew NOTHING, but I recently contacted AKC and was able within a matter of minutes to access his breeding. Turns out he was an Amberac dog, makes sense why I loved him so much. The fact that Amberac is still carried in some lines is interesting to me.

As we age sometimes things become more important. As a life long Golden owner it was somehow important to me to know the breeding of the very special guy that started me down this road. I now have a copy of his papers in a file with all my other dogs from over the years and will keep them there.

 

[Ksm]

I’d love to find his siblings and for them to be able to find me, so in that case I’ll probably register him. I didn’t really research the benefits.

Another benefit of people registering their dogs is that if your dog ends up with a joint disease you can have that result uploaded to K9data I believe (correct me if I'm wrong). I think this is a huge benefit because as you're searching for the parents' health clearances it'd be great to see what their prior offspring is like.

 

[Prism Goldens]

And really- it's $30. We spend $30 on nothing that lasts. And regardless of your feels on AKC they do have the stud books, so the history. And you might someday want to know that history. If you never contributed to the history it is gone for you.

 

[Sweet Girl]

When I got my girl, I didn't know what hunt training was, had heard of tracking 20 years ago but thought I had no interest, and never really thought I'd get any title at all on her. Just wanted a dog to hike and swim and play ball with.

Today she is titled in hunt and dock diving, has her CCA and CGC, and we are training towards a first tracking title. So you never know where your dog life may lead you... It's good to have your options open! :smile2: (though I will just add, you do not need to be AKC or CKC registered to compete at dock diving). Shala was born in the US, and so she is actually AKC and CKC registered, because I wanted to be able to compete her. There were a few minor hoops to jump through to get her dual registration, but it was worth it.

 

[solinvictus]

Many owners teach their dogs some cute little tricks. It is fun, it helps with training and builds a bond between owner and pup. You can get AKC titles for that also.

 

[Megora]

Since AKC frowns on mixed breeds..I won't support them.

They apparently frown so much on mutts that they went against all the breed clubs wishes by opening competition up for mutts.

I remember a time when if you had a mutt or even a so-called purebred (but had no papers), you were locked out of AKC.

AKC changed things when they created the purebred alternate registry and the other one for complete mutts so people who owned those dogs could compete in agility and obedience.... and fast forward to today, you can compete in those sports, dock jumping, rally, get CGC titles and whatever other new things AKC creates to encourage dog owners to do stuff with their dogs and show them off.

It's pretty sad that so many people's only avenue to showing off their dogs is finding stores like Home Depot, or others to parade their dogs around and hope they are noticed.

I've seen similar pet owners bringing their pets to AKC shows when they can sneak them in or the shows have "My dog can do that" and no-idea if they are registered or not, but you have the same walking the dogs around looking to get noticed.

Meanwhile you have all of those avenues where not only will your dogs be noticed, but they will be admired and you can take real pride in your dogs. Even mutts.

My opinion is AKC should remove the alternate registries and go back to only recognizing correctly registered and well bred dogs... :smile2: All the more so if people like yourself do not recognize what they've done for mutts and bad breeders.

^ The above is w/r to competing with your dogs.

Simply registering your dog does support AKC which actually is pretty active in fighting for our rights to own dogs. And own a purebred breed like golden retrievers from breeders who are trying to put together the entire well bred dog (looks, temperament, ability, and health).

And then simply registering your dog makes sense if you've already spend thousands on purchasing your puppy.

I do realize that people may have bought pups from bad breeders, spent no money at all on the puppies, and really there's nothing in the pedigree for 40+ years or whatever.... there might be less excitement about registering the dog then. Which case, don't register.

 

[ceegee]

My new pup came with AKC registration papers for me to fill out and send in if I want to register him for life, however, I don't fully understand the purpose of me registering him. I have no plans to show my dog, do agility events, or breed my dog at all. I am hovering over the idea of doing therapy dog training in the future, but that's not certain - just a thought. So, do I have to register him with AKC, or is it purely for showing and breeding purposes in a way? I don't really want to spend like $50+ on something I have no use for. He is also already registered for a microchip company, so the AKC Reunite is no use to me either.

Think about why you chose to get a purebred dog instead of adopting a mixed breed from a shelter. If you wanted a dog with the appearance and traits that a Golden Retriever offers, then you have the AKC to thank in part for that. The AKC is a registry, but it also regulates the standards for purebred dogs, with the result that people can purchase a purebred puppy from an ethical breeder and know that it will grow into the type of dog they want. You don't get that kind of predictability with a mixed breed.


So if you chose a Golden Retriever because of the breed's traits, you should register him. The cost is a drop in the ocean of what your dog will cost you during his lifetime, but your registration fee will help the AKC to continue to do its job.


Maybe you think you have "no use" for the AKC's services, but in choosing a Golden Retriever, you've actually already used them.

 

[mzilke]

rukie is registered because his breeder did it. I probably would have sent his in because we are trying for cgc. I never sent in the registration for my last girl and i never regretted it.

same here the breeder took care of it

 

[goldieforme]

Thank you to everyone who has replied! I've enjoyed reading your responses. Like I mentioned, I was semi-confused on what AKC really even was. All I really understood was that it indicated a purebred, but I didn't no really what else it was and couldn't get more definite answers for any of my thoughts.

Thank's for the knowledge! I am going to look into registering him. :grin2:

 

[jeffscott947]

Since AKC is a registry for purebred dogs, other than via the PAL /ilp programs (so those mixed breeds can compete in performance) of course it frowns on mixed breeds. We can't have 'everyone's equal' in everything... If I were in the the business of registering only swimmers who can do a 200IM, would one imagine the 50 Free swimmers should be supported in my registry? No. Everything's not for everyone. Everyone is not equal in all areas.

Key word being Business I guess.