Back to Millie's Story

  Millie Vanillie of Kansas - Page 3  

The definition of "purebred" from Merriam-Webster:

Function: adjective
Date: 1852
Bred from members of a recognized breed, strain, or kind without admixture of other blood over many generations.

And the AKC mission statement from their website:

The American Kennel Club is dedicated to upholding the integrity of its Registry, promoting the sport of purebred dogs and breeding for type and function. Founded in 1884, the AKC® and its affiliated organizations advocate for the purebred dog as a family companion, advance canine health and well-being, work to protect the rights of all dog owners and promote responsible dog ownership.

Based upon these two items above, one would believe that Millie is a purebred, AKC Chihuahua, correct? 

To follow on this, we registered Millie with the AKC at their website and within a week, "Millie Vanillie of Kansas" received a Certified Pedigree from the AKC within a week, despite neither parent being a purebred registered with the AKC!  Questioning the AKC via phone, we were told as long as one dog as far back as three generations was a registered AKC purebred, all siblings would be granted AKC registration (regardless of the subsequent mating of their offspring to non-AKC registered dogs)!!!

HUH???

Is this what the general public believes to be true??? In other words:                     

• Millie's Story
• Millie's Blog

• Canis Major: What does AKC registration really mean?
• AKC: Registration
• Your Purebred Puppy: Are AKC papers important?
• AKC standard: Chihuahua
• Ralph, the puppy: USDA and puppymills (video)
• The USDA Farmer Mentality (video)
• Ralph, the puppy: Dogs are not livestock (video)
   

  ---

 

Ask anyone what an "AKC registered purebred" means and we believe the majority will tell you they believed this prestigious distinction means a puppy's parents are both purebred, AKC-registered, as is the grandparents, and so on. 

We set up a poll HERE just to test out this belief - feel free to enter your opinion.

Bottom line to all of this is that at a local petshop, consumer paid more for a puppymill puppy because they were told it was a 'purebred' and 'AKC registered'.  The Hunte Corporation was the broker, the breeder states she did not register either the mom, father or the litter with the AKC but during the brokering process, Millie became an AKC purebred registered Chihuahua and arrived at her owner's home via the petshop with the necessary documents to register her as such. 

Looking at her, we didn't believe this could be the case - that something MUST have been wrong - so we tested it out, and lo and behold, she does now have AKC registration and could produce more litters that could be registered as purebred Chihuahuas with the AKC!  For the price this consumer paid at a local petshop, they could have saved at least ten other Chihuahuas from having to die in our local shelters!

We have inquired many times of this local petshop if they sell puppymill puppies and all five times we were told no.  But this petshop received Millie on June 8th from the Hunte Corporation (probably flown in), started her on Flagyl on June 9th through the 12th, and eventually sold her to a local citizen in July at a 'discounted price' when their 'stock' didn't move and was growing too large.  Within two months, the owners felt she needed extra, specialized training to eventually be a 'good dog' - totally unaware of the fact it was not them at all, but that Millie is a puppymill puppy!

So now what???  >>>