26/07/2021
Should I register my Biewer Terrier with the American Kennel Club (AKC)? Since the Biewer Terrier is not yet accepted by the Canadian Kennel Club (CKC), owners of Biewer Terriers in Canada often have that exact question. But let’s set that aside just for a moment and talk about dog registries in general.
In Canada, it is against the law to claim a dog is a purebred if their breed is accepted by the CKC, but the dog has not been registered with CKC. There are many other registries out there, but they just do not hold the same value and long-standing reputation of CKC registration. The CKC is the premiere purebred dog authority in Canada because they uphold the rules and regulations of the Animal Pedigree Act of Canada. There is a huge difference when comparing the CKC to other registries. A random person can start a registry, make a list of dogs, and issue so-called registration papers. Would you rather register with CKC, which is held to a strict governmental mandate to ensure only top-quality purebred dogs are registered, or would you rather a non-regulated, random person listing your dogs on their computer and claiming they are a registry?
Let’s use money as an analogy. Our dollar has value because of its federal backing. We don’t hold Monopoly money to the same standard as real currency because we know it doesn’t hold the same value. It is the same with the CKC as a registry. It has value because of its government backing with Agricultural Canada and its long-standing reputation as the premiere registry of purebred dogs in Canada. Registration papers from a random registry often isn’t worth the paper it is printed on.
So why would anyone in Canada use a registry other than the CKC? You are highly unlikely to acquire a quality dog from a backyard breeder, high-volume commercial breeder, Kijiji, or, worse yet, a puppy mill. Most of the time, these types of puppy producers use non-regulated registries to register their dogs/litters/puppies in the hopes of looking
