18.1. Sources Of Hype, Hyperbole, Propaganda,
Puffing, etc., i.e., Marketing
At http://www.ukcdogs.com/Web.nsf/WebPages/AboutUKC, the United Kennel Club (“UKC”) states,
“Established in 1898, the United Kennel Club is the largest all-breed performance-dog registry [What does this mean? What is a “performance dog”?] in the world, registering dogs from all 50 states and 25 foreign countries. More than 60 percent of its nearly 16,000 annually licensed events are tests of hunting ability, training and instinct. UKC prides itself on its family-oriented, friendly, educational events. The UKC has supported the “Total Dog” philosophy through its events and programs for over a century. As a departure from registries that place emphasis on a dog’s looks, UKC events are designed for dogs that look and perform equally well.”
[At http://www.thefreedictionary.com/kennel+club, the Free Dictionary defines a kennel club as
“an association that establishes standards for dog breeds, records pedigrees and set rules for dog shows.”
Even though the UKC was established in 1898, the breed standards for American Pit Bull Terriers were not established/revised until 2012. See http://pitbullsfactormyth.net/24-3-united-kennel-club/
How can you have a “breed” without breed standards for 114 years?
What breeds are all the dogs registered during those 114 years?]
“Our mission is to be the world’s best registry of purebred dogs, to offer our customers the most efficient and creative services possible, to use our data to help our customers breed the best dogs in the world and to create a wide spectrum of performance and conformation events in which those dogs can prove their instincts and heritage.”
[On June 15, 2016, I found that the preceding paragraph has been deleted from the web page.]
“Part of our mission is to have events where all dogs can compete. In addition to our purebred dog registry, United Kennel Club offers a Performance Listing program. The Performance Listing is open to mix bred dogs, purebred dogs of unknown pedigree, purebred dogs with disqualifying faults or breeds not recognized by UKC. Performance listed dogs may compete in all UKC Performance Events and Junior Showmanship.”
and
“Essentially, the UKC world of dogs is a working world. That’s the way it was developed over a century ago, and that’s the way it remains today.”
and
“The United Kennel Club (or UKC) is the second oldest all-breed registry of purebred dog pedigrees in the United States and the second largest in the world.
The club records 250,000 registrations annually. The UKC is not part of the International Canine Organisation, Fédération Cynologique Internationale, as most other countries’ kennel clubs are. The UKC was founded by Chauncey Z. Bennett in 1898. The UKC states that Bennett formed the club in order to provide a registry for working pit dogs as opposed to the American Kennel Club‘s emphasis on dog conformation shows. Some UKC detractors claim that the club was originally formed so that the founder could register his American Pit Bull Terrier, Bennett’s Ring.”
[On June 15, 2016, I found that the preceding two paragraphs have been deleted from the web page.
“Pedigree” means
“the record of descent of an animal, showing it to be purebred, the recorded ancestry, descent, lineage, line of descent, genealogy, family tree, extraction, derivation, origin, heritage, parentage, bloodline, background, roots.”
How can you have a purebred dog if you don’t know its pedigree?
If a dog has a “Pit Bull” in its ancestry, it cannot have a pedigree, and therefore, cannot be a “purebred” because the ancestry and pedigree of the “Pit Bull” is unknown. Consequently, every dog that is a descendant of a so-called “Pit Bull” will NOT have a pedigree or be a purebred.
What are “working pit dogs”?
At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conformation_%28dog%29, the following are stated,
“Conformation in dogs refers solely to the externally visible details of a dog’s structure and appearance, as defined in detail by each dog breed‘s written breed standard.”
and
“….conformation in dogs is based on the dog type from which the breed developed, along with many details that have been added to the breed standard for purposes of differentiation from other breeds….”
and
“The breed standard for each breed of dog details desirable and undesirable attributes of appearance and temperament for an individual breed.”
and
“Breed standards are designed solely to describe the breed’s history and purpose, temperament, and appearance.”
A dog show is usually a competitive event in which dogs are exhibited and judged by an established standard or set of ideals prescribed for each breed, i.e., their “conformation”: however, there are also dog shows for “mutts”, “ugliest dog”, etc. in which “conformation” is not an issue.
If the dog does not conform to the breed’s conformation, then how do you know what you have?]
By June 17, 2016, the following paragraph has been removed from http://www.ukcdogs.com/Web.nsf/WebPages/AboutUKC.
“Bennett conceived and promoted the concept of the “total” dog, that is, a dog that performs as well as it looks; in which intelligence and working ability was as important as conformation to the show bench standard. Bennett found a niche among the owners of herding and hunting dogs. The UKC was innovative in the establishment of competitions and the use of DNA testing to establish parentage. [Not “BREED”!] Eventually the club expanded into other areas, including dog sports and more recently conformation, and today sponsors a variety of conformation, obedience, hunting, and agility shows and trials.”
