Claire Bear

What is even more hilarious is the attitude of some ANKC breeders towards the general public and “puppy buyers”. It reeks of elitism and driving away the general public at a faster rate. With things like detailed complicated contracts, limited registration, desexing at 8 weeks and co-ownership also off-putting. It’s like viewing every puppy buyer as an aspirational puppy farmer or BYB. Is desexing at 8 weeks in the best interest of the puppy or breeder? Even tubal ligation on a female puppy will produce adhesions , guaranteeing when a full Spey needs to be done later it will be more complicated. To top it off vet surgery doesn’t commonly use laparoscopic techniques , it’s not widely available and probably cost prohibitive. No wonder “adopt don’t shop” and rescuing dogs is gaining popularity. The majority of dogs in my middle class neighbourhood are oodles. I don’t blame them for buying a cross breed poodle, they are readily available. The general public aren’t going to wait years for the occasional litter bred by ANKC breeders.

Just looking at the ANKC 2024 registration numbers with 48,820 recorded. This is a drop from 69,335 recorded in 2018. I tried to find the estimated number of puppies bred in 2024, it somewhere between 500,000 and 550,000. This means ANKC members are now breeding less than 10% of puppies sold in Australia. ANKC membership numbers keep falling, now sitting at 27,000 in 2024. Houston, I don’t think we have a problem. I know we have a problem!