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Katherine Hanley
A. Duran
English 1010
December 7, 2016
Do Dog Shows Promote Breeding?
Every year the American Kennel Club puts on the Westminster Dog Show and more and
more dogs end up in shelters, homeless. While in animal shelters, the unwanted dogs sit in their
kennels, waiting for a forever home. Some get lucky, while others are sentenced to death.
Approximately 2.7 million animals are euthanized each year, and roughly 1.2 million are dogs
(aspca.org). This may bring you to the question what do animal shelters have to do with dog
shows? Animal shelters are the dumping grounds for the animals bred for these dog shows, the
ones who dont get selected and never find homes and are resigned to sitting in feces infested
cages in puppy mills. So, the real question is, what do dog shows have to do with breeding?
In Worst in Show: The Dark Truth Behind the Westminster Dog Show published on
alternet.org, written by the Humane Society of the United States on February 16, 2016, the
author explains how breeders and handlers keep their animals, in recent months, two former
AKC Breeders of Merit were reportedly found to be keeping dogs in dismal conditions. The
Humane Society seems to have followed and investigated the AKC many times and found that
[I]n 2012, an AKC champion malamute breeder was charged with animal cruelty after
161 emaciated and diseased malamutes were found on his property. Under oath, he
testified he felt confident he was obeying all laws and the stricter AKC rules, since an
AKC inspector had twice recently found him to be in compliance. He was convicted of
91 counts of animal cruelty, and sentenced to 30 years in prison with 25 suspended.

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Although this is only one breeder out of millions, he claimed that the inspector from the AKC
had recently claimed him to be in conformity. This article is important for many people who are
interested in breeding or in dog shows to read. Many people dont understand the depressing
truths behind backyard breeding and puppy mills, and even though someone is an AKC
registered breeder, this could possibly mean animals are kept in disheartening conditions.
Overall, this source helped reassure my feelings about any dog show. I feel that it is a good
source to use mainly for its primary information and the Humane Society of the United States is
a reputable organization.
Continuing on the same path is, Whats Wrong with Dog Shows written by Doris Lin,
re-written and updated by Michelle Rivera, published on July 20, 2016. Generally speaking, this
article is meant to expose the AKC and its dog shows for their wrong doings, which is why Ive
chose to use it. Rivera poses the question why then, would animal rights activists target the
AKC? This organization appears to care deeply for the welfare of dogs? She goes on to explain
the obvious breeding problem that comes with the AKC organization, With three to four million
cats and dogs killed in shelters every year, the last thing we need is more breeding. The author
illustrates another way of thinking, stating that The more reputable or responsible breeders will
take back any dog the purchaser does not want, at any time during the dogs life, and some argue
that they do not contribute to overpopulation because all of their dogs are wanted. While this
may be true, it presents another question: what about the millions of unwanted animals already
in shelters? The source helped my understanding of the real breeding problem in the United
States, it confirmed my feelings on breeding.
I explored, Safety Concerns Stoke Criticism of Kennel Club written by Mary Pilon and
Susanne Craig, published February 9, 2013 on nytimes.com. I have chosen to use this article to

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expose more AKC registered breeders who are malnourishing their prized puppies. For
example, Margaret and James Hamilton were a seemingly perfect couple for raising and selling
purebreds. The key word being, seemingly, soon the couple was brought up to police and
[W]hen the local police entered a home in Burien, Wash., in October 2011, they
wondered what standard the Hamiltons were being held to. The police said they found 38
dogs that were under Jamess care, mostly Chihuahuas, living in small crates filled with
fur and feces, the cages stacked on top of one another in a dark basement, according to
court documents. A radio was blaring, drowning out the sound of barking, and many of
the dogs were malnourished and had eye diseases and overgrown toenails, according to
investigators. Thirteen dogs were euthanized the night of their rescue because of
incurable health problems, including severe periodontal disease.
Aforementioned, these two breeders not only killed thirteen dogs, soon 62 dogs we taken out of
their care and one was euthanized. All in all they killed fourteen dogs and sent 61 dogs to the,
already overly capacitated, rescues and animal shelters. The information shows how the AKC
needs to crack down on their rules and retrain their inspectors. This article helped me understand
more about the urgency of the neglect in puppy mills.
In conclusion, dog shows are the primary reason that breeding and puppy mills are an
ongoing problem. Dog shows not only contribute to breeding, but they promote the
overpopulation problem. Not all breeding is bad, it can bring new animals in this world which
could be beneficial in the future, but when the breeders are not regulated problems can arise.
There is not a realistic solution to help the situation. It does not matter how many times we show
and tell breeders what they are doing is awful, everyone has their own opinion. Does the AKC
support the breeders? Do they regulate as closely as they should? Most answers to these

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questions are hard to find, but not impossible. The Humane Society of the United States,
Michelle Rivera, Mary Pilon, and Susanne Craig seem to have the same message: the AKCs dog
shows are not bad, but their practices and unmonitored representatives should be looked at
closer.

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Works Cited

Lin, Doris, and Michelle A. Rivera. "Why Animal Rights Activist Are Against the AKC."
About.com News & Issues. N.p., 2016. Web. 20 Nov. 2016.
"Pet Statistics." ASPCA. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2016.
Pilon, Mary, and Susanne Craig. "Safety Concerns Stoke Criticism of Kennel Club." The New
York Times. The New York Times, 2013. Web. 20 Nov. 2016.
The Humane Society of the United States. "Worst in Show: The Dark Truth Behind the
Westminster Dog Show." Alternet. N.p., 16 Feb. 2016. Web. 20 Nov. 2016.