Update and Correction on Breeding & Ethicality

Correction:

First, I am reporting a correction to my recent Breeding & Ethicality Blog Post. Mainly, that one of two wolfhound maiden veteran bitches were bred.

An error happened when the gender of one of these two cases was realized to be that of a dog and not a bitch. The mistake occurred in the case of the reportedly eight-year 11-month-old hound. The inaccuracy transpired when I misinterpreted the hound’s gender due to its ambiguous registered name beginning with what appeared to be a pronoun having a typographical error. Of note, the Secretary of the IWCA whom I initially shared my discovery also had not detected my mistake until eleven days later when she notified me. I am sorry for the error.

Update:

Unsurprisingly, no action will be taken by the BOD regarding the other published Listed Breeder who did breed a maiden, veteran, nearly eight-year-old bitch. The Secretary believes it is plausible that this particular bitch may not quite have been eight-years-of-age at the time of whelping due to their estimation that it may take three to possibly six months for stud (male or female) records to be published. Initially describing such conduct as serious and a risk to the health of the bitch, the Secretary now has stated that the maiden bitch may have been 7.5 years to almost eight years of age (!) and although this still is past the range mentioned in the Standard of Behavior for Breeders, "Breed only those bitches that are in excellent health, generally between the ages of 24 months and 6 years", the IWCA BOD is tolerating such conduct on the pretense that the "Standard of Breeder Behavior provides a general age range and is not an absolute."  

The latter in italics and quotes are their words -- not mine. Is anyone reminded of the phrase copping out?

The BOD undermining their very own requisite document to avoid enforcement is not a new twist for many of us. I cannot help but be reminded of the old floor game "Twister -- The Game That Ties You Up in Knots" which required players to twist themselves into tight and uncomfortable positions while whirling the spinner. Seemingly, people are bending themselves into extreme postures to avoid fulfilling administerial duties with the result that now breeding a veteran, maiden Wolfhound bitch not quite eight years of age is considered passable! Despite the fact that according to the IWCA age qualifications, they reached Veteran status at six years of age and in Canada they did so at seven.

After some quick checking, it seems that once a litter is registered with the AKC, it takes approximately two months for the dog to appear in the AKC Stud records. However, again, the timeliness of the published information is wholly dependent on when the breeder submits the paperwork which, depending on the breed, could be between 4 to 12 weeks after a litter was whelped or many months later. In this case, a prospective puppy owner who previously owned an AKC registered wolfhound from this breeder informed me that a puppy or puppies were available from this specific breeding so it is logical to assume the breeders registered the litter as soon as possible in order to receive the individual certificates to sell the puppies as quickly as possible. Most likely there was only a brief amount of lag time between whelping and published records. Nonetheless, whether my estimation is correct, one person innocently asked why the BOD does not monitor the AKC Stud Book for incidents such as this? Ha! Ha!

By the way, it is interesting to note that The Kennel Club of England has breeding restrictions in place regarding the age limit for mating bitches. Their ceiling is eight years at the date of whelping. They, however, may grant opportunities for exceptions provided an application be made before the mating, if the proposed dam has previously whelped at least one other registered litter, and veterinary evidence of the dam's fitness accompanies the application.

More to come I am sure......

Breeding & Ethicality

Ethics in establishing and enforcing breeding age limits for Irish Wolfhounds.

In today's day and age, when does integrity, morality figure into determining if and when a Parent Breed Club, in this case, the Irish Wolfhound Club of America (IWCA) will enforce their own Code of Ethics and Standards of Behavior?

When are a breeder's behavior and conduct considered a violation or egregious enough that a Parent Club Board of Directors will take action to require compliance with the organization's codes? A set of rules, principles, and regulations that are in place to establish a standard that which breeders have an obligation to abide by in order to maintain their participation and connection with the association.

Recently, I have been deeply concerned with conduct that was brought to my attention, accidentally at first and then through investigation. I received an inquiry for a puppy from an individual whose nine-year-old wolfhound had died. This person already had contacted the original breeder of such hound about obtaining another wolfhound, but they became, in their words, very concerned after the conversation and decided to talk with other breeders. Why? The breeder informed them that they bred an eight-year-old veteran wolfhound bitch and a puppy or puppies were available.

After I concluded the interview, I was very disconcerted. I then discovered that these inappropriately named "Breeders" were members of the Irish Wolfhound Club of America and additionally, their kennel and contact information appeared in the IWCA Breeder Referral Directory. A directory that is posted and made available to prospective puppy buyers on the official IWCA Parent Club website despite the fact that inclusion in this Directory is subject to Listed Breeders having signed the IWCA Standard of Behavior for Breeders which details, importantly:

"Breed only those bitches that are in excellent health, generally between the ages of 24 months and 6 years."

I began researching to ascertain if these alleged breeders had been guilty of such transgressions as this before when I discovered even more disturbing information. First, the eight-year-old veteran in question was a MAIDEN bitch (she had not been bred previously, or if she had, her offspring were never registered with the American Kennel Club.)

Unwittingly during my investigation, I uncovered similarly shocking and offensive conduct by two other Irish Wolfhound breeders who also appear on the IWCA Breeder Referral Directory. One of these persons was a former board member of the IWCA Board of Directors, and who currently is a Board officer of two-Parent Club approved regional organizations. Their co-breeder is currently serving on an IWCA Committee, and who also is an officer of an IWCA sanctioned regional club. These individuals co-bred an 8.9-year-old veteran bitch who whelped her litter at 8.11 years of age. Unbelievably, she too was a MAIDEN bitch.

I contacted the IWCA Secretary to report both transgressions. In the end, they responded that a formal complaint must be filed against these individuals. These are actionable offenses, yet, the IWCA Board of Directors, at the time of this writing, is NOT going to uphold the Code of Ethics or Standard of Behavior for Breeders.

I am exceedingly disturbed when considering that the populace is touring our Parent Club website along with the IWCA Breeder Referral Directory in the belief that the IWCA approves those breeders whose names appear on such list. To hell with any legal disclaimer displayed because the IWCA website contradicts itself explicitly by stating that such Listed Breeders have signed the IWCA Standard of Behavior. Ergo and conceivably, there is a derivative approval by the IWCA for those breeders whose names appear as they signed such document mandated by the Parent Club.

But none of this matters to John and Jane Doe who innocently believe that these breeders comply with the policies and beliefs upheld by the Parent organization. We have an absurd paradox here when a prospective puppy buyer who recently lost a nine-year-old male wolfhound knows enough that an eight-year-old veteran Irish Wolfhound bitch should NOT be bred! However, astonishingly, the Parent Breed club who has been bequeathed with the guardianship and preservation of this magnificent breed seemingly endorses such shameful conduct by virtue of nonintervention and inertia?

All conscientious, reputable, experienced breeders of Sighthounds should be quite alarmed, and personally, I know many who would be. The Irish Wolfhound Club of America designates that Veteran Wolfhounds are of the age six years and older. Foreign Irish Wolfhound associations established the Veteran age at seven years and older. As a matter of interest, the Scottish Deerhound Club of America declares that Breeders are expected to breed dogs and bitches that are in good health and of such maturity, though not yet past their prime. An excellent definition of "prime" is a state or time of greatest strength and vigor, yet we all know eight and nearly nine-year-old VETERAN Wolfhound bitches cannot and should never be considered in their prime.

It is an abomination upon this breed that once upon a time this formerly respected parent club once had a process of making limits clear only for these limits to be discarded by an apathetic directorate.