MORE AMERICAN BULLY BREED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS We have received many good comments and questions, all of which we really appreciate. Some questions come up more than once. Some were previously covered in the FAQs that were published with the announcement and are posted on the UKC website. We respond personally to as many as we can as soon as we can (yes, the email box is quite full), but from time to time I thought some of you might like to see a few more question and answers. Q. American Bully breed transfers are not available to a dog with UKC registered APBT offspring or dogs that have APBT titles. Why not ? A. When recognizing a new breed, registries have to establish a place to start. We cannot go back and change every dog in the system that is related to a dog that already has registered offspring, nor can we assume the owners of every dog in the pedigree, or those affected by changes in the pedigree, want to have their breed designation changed. While we understand this may prevent some good dogs from being transferred at this time, we decided to start with a new base at a point where owners make their own choice to change the breed designation. Here is some of our reasoning. Say I own an APBT named Fido that is UKC PR Registered. We grant his sire a transfer to American Bully. I would have no idea that Fido’s sire is now registered as a Bully. I breed Fido to a UKC PR APBT female named Jane. They have a litter and, in good faith and because I have no idea a change was made, I advertise the pups as being UKC PR Registered APBT’s. The puppy papers come back with a Bully listed as a grandsire. Does this pedigree still qualify as Purple Ribbon? Can I sell the pups for the same price? Will some buyers no longer be interested in my pups? Is it fair to me? I have no idea that my dog Fido is no longer registered as an APBT. And even if UKC listed the sire as “open” or with no breed designation, or a different number, I essentially own a dog with a pedigree that someone has changed without my permission. This would especially be problematic if the dog applying for a transfer already sired hundreds of pups. As for titles, (and note that the rule is for conformation titles only) what if I bought Fido in the first place because his sire was a GRCH APBT who won Best in Show at Premier. Maybe he was at a young age and stage of development where the judges determined he was a great representative of an APBT on that particular day. Now my dog’s sire’s title would be stripped and I’d have a dog sired by a dog with no title. Again, as with any new breed, we have to start somewhere. This is where we decided to begin. As always, we continue to re-evaluate policies as we hear from our constituents and as we see the direction of the program. We would love to hear any suggestions or comments regarding the explanations above or on any related issues as we move forward. Q) Are pedigrees from other registries accepted for American Bully applications? Are open pedigrees also accepted? A) Pedigrees from other registries are accepted, encouraged and invited; however, they are not required for American Bullys at this time. As is the typical policy for all-breed registries world-wide when establishing foundation stock, applications with open pedigrees will also be considered for registration. When establishing foundation stock, or when we recognize a new breed, UKC has long accepted hand written pedigrees for Single Registration of most breeds as we are doing for the American Bully breed. (again, this is common practice for many century old registries world-wide.) Many breeders and dog owners keep their own records for foundation stock. This is especially the case since most other dog registries do not include pedigrees directly on their registration certificates and instead sell and print them separately. UKC is unique in that the UKC Performance Pedigree® is printed directly on the Registration Certificate. (Performance Pedigrees® contains information for each dog including: coat color, number of offspring produced, and the number of titles earned by those offspring). When the initial foundation stock is established and American Bullys are bred, all litter registrations will require registration papers and pedigrees. Q) If an APBT applies for a breed transfer to be an American Bully and UKC determines the APBT wasn’t a good representative of and APBT as it was originally registered, will UKC pull its APBT papers and suspend the owner’s privileges? A) No! We have no idea how this rumor started but we are just moving forward. No one is getting punished! We are simply trying our best to sort out the gene pool from a predetermined point in time. Q) Will the UKC decide on their own to change my APBT papers to American Bully papers for any reason, even if I didn’t request it? A) No. The UKC does not and will not change breed designations on its own; dogs will remain as APBTs unless the owner asks for a transfer to American Bully. This is consistent with the policy to not go back and make changes to a dog’s ancestors in existing pedigrees. It is an owner’s choice to make the change to American Bully, not a UKC choice. Q) Will there be different varieties , sizes, or classifications for American Bullys other than the one described in the breed standard? A) At this time, we have absolutely no plans to add classes for or recognize other breeds or varieties of American Bullys. Q) Who wrote the UKC American Bully Standard and what background they do they have with the American Bully breed? A) As is true with all breeds, the UKC breed standard committee writes the UKC breed standards. It is composed of dog breeders with nearly 200 years of dog breeding experience collectively between them. This includes individuals with direct experience with APBTs and their root and related bull and terrier breeds. They used their experience in writing and editing standards for hundreds of breeds, researched other bully standards, consulted with veterinarians and geneticists, and perhaps most important, wrote it with absolute concern for making a blueprint for a healthy, athletic dog that fits our personal Total Dog philosophy. Many registries all over the world have different breed standards for the same breeds and we fully support those choices. This is our interpretation, we respect and understand that other registries and organizations may have different goals, preferences and breed standards. The UKC American Bully standard describes the type of dog that we feel best meets our specific mission. Q) Will the UKC be releasing photos or drawings of an American Bully as examples of their standard? A) Yes, we already have and they are posted on this FB site and our website. We will be adding and changing them regularly. Because no dog is perfect, and photos don’t show the whole dog, it should be noted that they are merely examples intended to show the basic type of dog we describe in the UKC standard. We feel they are good examples but are not suggesting they are perfect. As is our practice with all breeds, a drawing of a dog that we consider to closely meet the breed standard is in development. Thanks again for your questions, Wayne Cavanaugh UKC President
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 21:57:57 +0000
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