The Marketplace is the AKC's shopping center for AKC registered puppies, which has recently reported that during the pandemic, visits were up 82%! For July 2020 alone, there were more than 2 million visits to the AKC Marketplace. Wow, that is a lot of people searching for a puppy.

These numbers are astonishing but do they bode well for dogs? The AKC September 2020 Delegate Meeting Minutes have disseminated the following stats: 

For the eight months ending August 31, 2020, in comparison to the same period in 2019, year-to-date litter registrations are almost 186,000. Moreover, the month of August 2020 was 14% better than August 2019 and is AKC's best month since 2009. 

According to the AKC Board Meeting Minutes for August 2019, there were approximately 131,500 total litters processed to date. So, it appears that we currently have an increase of 54,500 purebred dogs compared to the same time in August of last year. 

My concern is what goes up must come down, and I am worried about the fallout. What happens when a portion of the increased dog population results in increased animal shelter populations? 

We can only hope that reputable AKC breeders educate the public about their breed and are carefully vetting homes because undeniably, there are countless dog brokers, profiteers, and unscrupulous individuals who are not doing so. But soon, we all will have to deal with the consequences of this explosion. It could be disastrous with record numbers of dogs being abandoned at shelters or pounds, providing added fuel for the Animal Rights Activists and more legislation.

For decades, I have maintained that the general public should be held accountable for most animal shelter populations and not Breeders. We live in a throw-away society, a disposable society that initially demands instant gratification, and time and again, the general public obtains a dog on impulse. When was the last time you read that a Breeder abandoned a litter of puppies at the shelter? Instead, you may have read that a careless dog owner had an accidental mating and dumped the whole lot at the pound. I maintain that our culture is to blame.  

Look what is happening now. Impulsive adoptions from nonprofit rescues and shelters, along with purebred puppy buyers, are flooding the US market. I know this all too well as I have fielded at least 130-150 puppy inquiries from March 1, 2020, to October 1, 2020. Great? No. Of these inquiries, 95 percent could not provide the ideal home for my giant, athletic, galloping Sighthound breed. Yet, these prospective puppy buyers exclaimed that they had done the research and knew all they needed to know about the breed. After answering several questions, it quickly became apparent that they had done no such thing, nor could they provide necessary fenced acreage. Then there is always the small but concerning segment of people who blatantly lie. 

But, back to shelters and an ominous future. Once these "pandemic dogs" obtained on a fanciful notion are regarded as a hassle, maybe requiring special care, training, or have grown too big, they will then be abandoned at a shelter. When we slowly return to a normal lifestyle again, how long do you think the stressed-out soccer, tennis, baseball, taxi Mom with three kids under the age of 10 will tolerate the families large, mixed-breed dog they obtained during the pandemic surfing the kitchen counters and romping through the dining, living room? Even more dramatic, how long will she endure if the dog becomes ill and has nasty bouts of diarrhea, for example? How patient will she be if it is on the kid's toys, at the foot of her bed, all the while trying to get the kids out the door to school and herself to work?

It is widely reported by nonprofit rescues, shelters that they have not been able to satisfy the enormous surge in adoptions. And the numbers speak for themselves about the purebred marketplace. Be afraid, be very afraid of what may be coming soon.