AKC Registrations Crash, Operating Deficits Follow

The AKC seems to be running pretty steady deficits, forcing them to slowly draw down from their massive portfolio of stocks.

What's the problem?

The core problem is that AKC dog registrations have fallen through the floor, and while they once declined at a rate of about 4% a year, they are now declining at a rate of about 10% a year, as indexed by their financial statements.

We have to go by the financial statements, as the decline in registrations has become so precipitous that the AKC no longer reports registration numbers to the public or at board meetings, though the law and normal financial reporting require the decline in revenue to be documented.

Even as registration numbers crash, the AKC is furiously adding more and more rare breeds, which increases administrative costs while doing very little to bolster the bottom line since rare breeds are, by definition, rare.  

Rare dog breeds also tend to have incredibly narrow gene pools, which means the AKC will remain the Mother Church of Inbreeding -- they are speeding up in this department, not slowing down.

As I have noted in the past, AKC puppy mill registrations are used to pay for the cost of dog shows and other "events" held by the AKC, including those fancy wine-and-dine events that are held as part of the Westminter and the Eukanuba National Champtionship.

As Jim Stevens, Chief Financial Officer of the AKC noted at the last AKC board meeting:

[I]n 2010 AKC’s events incurred an operating loss of more than $11 million. Since registrations generated an operating profit of only $7.5 million in 2010, there was a first time shortfall of more than $3.5 million in the annual events subsidy from registration revenue.

Note the careful wording.  This is not a first-time shortfall in "events" revenue; AKC dog shows and trials have never paid for themselves. Now, however, the cost of "events" has risen, and the steep decline in AKC puppy registrations cannot be made to paper over the cracks and holes.

As it stands now, AKC registrations appear to have fallen from a high of 1.528 million in 1992, to less than 450,000 today -- a decline of more than 70 percent. If things continue along this steep and steady decline, the AKC may be out of business entirely by 2025.

• Related Links:
  ** The AKC, Facing Extinction, Banks on Misery Pups
  ** The AKC Helps Sell Puppy Mill Dogs for Petland
  ** AKC Depends on Puppy Mills to Subsidize Shows
  ** AKC Loves Puppy Mills ... and the Naïve
  ** The AKC Embraces the "Big Wink" of Misery Pups