English bulldog puppy papers

Question
There's a puppy that I'm going to be getting and the breeder had the parents akc but switched over to ckc because it cost too much at akc.. Can I register under akc?

Answer

Hi Ashleigh,

There are two "CKC's" one is the Canadian Kennel Club, the other is the Continental Kennel Club. The Canadian Kennel Club is well respected as the American Kennel Club counterpart in Canada, whereas the Continental Kennel Club allows registration for purebreds as well as mixed breeds.

If you import a Canadian Kennel Club registered dog to the US, you can apply to have it registered with the AKC as long as there are no problems with the CKC registration. Please don't take my word for this, though. To be absolutely sure, you can contact the AKC customer service at (919) 233-9767 between 8:30 am and 5:00 pm (ET).

If you're asking about the Continental Kennel Club, I'm sure they'd register any dog providing it's breathing and you pay the registration fee. (and they might be be too choosy as to whether or not the dog is still breathing).

You should be aware that having a dog registered at any kennel club means nothing as far as the quality of the dog or it's puppies. A registration is pretty meaningless unless you plan on showing your dog, and then it's only required to prove a pedigree. To know whether or not you're getting a good quality puppy, the breeder needs to provide you with genetic tests that should have been run on the parents of the litter, prior to breeding them. The genetic tests would prove that the puppies are from healthy stock and not carrying defective genetic traits, such as hip or elbow dysplasia, heart disease, blood disease (such as Von Willebrand's disease) or cancer to name only a few of the breed's possible health problems.

If the parent dogs were registered with the AKC, the breeder should be willing to provide you with the AKC numbers so you can verify the testing. All this care to breed for healthy puppies cost the breeder money, so you should be suspect about a breeder that's trying to save money by not registering the litter with the AKC. The registration fee is nothing compared with the cost of breeding healthy puppies.
Besides the genetic testing, your breeder should be maintaining vet records on his dogs, and should be willing to show you these records. Your breeder should also provide you with a health guarantee.

Best of luck,
Patti