AKC registration - yes/no?

We just did fun agility through our local family dog club. But, boy did my daughter's dog excel!

My Sammy isn't, I guess, a really well bred poodle. He doesn't come from a kennel. The breeder is a really sweet lady, who even offered to take him back and refund the purchase cost, when I encountered problems.

Both parent dogs are their pets. I met the parent dogs, and both had a nice temperament. I definitely think Sammy's breeder is a step or two above a "backyard" breeder. She seemed very knowledgeable.

It really doesn't matter to me, as long as Sammy is healthy. He might not be show ring perfect (I think he is quite handsome) and I can't find any faults in him, except for his weepy left eye, but I'm not a judge. And, I don't care about that.

Sammy is SO smart and tries so hard to do the right thing. He is the most amazing dog I have ever known. I"m so glad I got him. I'm sure the best breeders produce great puppies, but there are some really great puppies that come from not "top of the line" breeders too.

Anyways, my puppy needs a AKC name.

Puppies who come from breeders who have been involved for quite some time are often required to have the breeder's kennel name as part of the registered name. For example, my mini poo came from Betty Brown who uses "Donnchada" as her kennel name. So my dog's name is Donnchada Delightful.

My kennel name is Britan. When (and if) I breed Zoe, resulting puppies would have Britan as part of the registered name.

Sometimes, as in the example above, another part of the name either begins with a certain letter or has a theme. This makes it easy to identify littermates. When I had a litter of whippet puppies born on Christmas day, they all got Christmas names: Britan's Noel, Britan's Christmas Spirit, Britan's Jack Frost, etc.

You can name your puppy anything you like for an AKC name, but do, please, make it something dignified. I once showed a poodle whose mother's name was Missy Tammy Tee Tee. Awful! AKC will not allow crudeness or profanity in a dog's name, but it's up to you to come up with a nice name.

So the general idea is that many dogs' registered names are composed of a kennel name to identify who bred them and a "given" name that may associate members of the same litter.

Sure, you should register; you might want to do AKC Agility later, so why not?

Have fun with the registered name! Some breeders let you choose your dog’s name completely; others want at least their kennel name included and sometimes some kind of a theme; others go ahead and register and name the puppy before it becomes yours. (Of course you can still call the dog whatever you want!)

I’ve seen all types, but I prefer to give my dog his/her name after the kennel name part, and I love coming up with something fun that relates to the call name I intend to give the dog. I enter a lot of Agility shows, so I’m going to be seeing that name over and over—I want it to give me a smile! Get fancy, or go with puns, or just something you like.

I named my poodle Someday Sugarfoot, with the fervent hope that he would be my very first MACH dog. I would get that MACH Someday...on my precious, difficult, bearded character, Sugarfoot!

For my next one...well, I’ve got some ideas... :biggrin:

I forget who it was that recently started a thread titled something to the effect of "where are all the purebred dogs" that addressed how there are many fewer registrations of poodles and many other breeds with the AKC. Pet owners vs. exhibitors registering or not could account for a lot of this.


Thinking about it I find it pretty odd that people will pay inordinate amounts of money for what are in essence fancy mutts (not to say people can't do what they want with their money or that their dogs aren't the right dog for them) and will even register the dog with some nonsense organization to give cache to their designer dog, but that people with recognized AKC breeds don't register with AKC. Sure if you don't register you can still get a CGC but you access many other benefits of registration if you do fill out and send in that paperwork.

I would register your dog. Besides the AKC reg number if your pup already has a microchip you can get it registered with AKC Reunite their version of microchip tracking, My youngest also got a free month of health insurance at the time I registered him and I could have continued the coverage at a reduced price. And of course a certificate for one free Vet visit
This is above and beyond the ability for you to compete in events and to earn things like Trick Dog, Nosework, or Barn Hunt titles all things that the dogs love doing. Grin honestly I think there more chances to have fun with your dog in the performance side of the AKC venue then in the conformation side. Some things you may not have heard of like Trick Dog, Barn Hunt, Nose work, and FAST CAT or some you have heard of but didn't think would be fun like Rally Obedience. And yes you can go further then just the CGC . There is now CGCA and CGCU that are similar but slightly more complicated manners titles.