So the "official" Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) registrations have arrived. These are the documents that not only ensure that your dog is purebred. These are the documents that mean you can claim your dog is a Labrador Retriever. As funny as it may seem, without these papers, it is a violation of Canadian Law to call your dog purebred or any specific breed. Before we got our first dog Koko, I had no idea that it mattered. But 19 years later I know it does. It matters because it ensures that the breed maintains standards. It matters because the CKC is a group of volunteers and paid administrative staff that have a passion for dogs. It matters because it is a way to ensure that we are improving breeds and canine health.
It is a way to track parentage and if a canine health issue is found, a way to contact owners of these dogs so that they are aware of it. For instance, there was a litter in western Canada where the males were dying from narcolepsy. They determined that this trait was sex linked on the X chromosome and all the males got their X chromosome from their Mom. The females from the litter got an X chromosome from each parent, and the one from their father masked the disease. Only some of the girls were carriers, but for those girls, it was recommended not to breed them, as the same issue would arise in their off-spring. That's why we tested Maggie for this disease and she is not a carrier.
Registration is also a time to pick a really neat name for your Dog. We tend to name all our dogs: Mom's name, Chocolate Clan, call name. This time we thought we could try to be a bit more creative, in part because we had a second Stanley out of Maggie, so he is Chocolate Clan Lab's Stanley. Aren't we daring. But we also have a couple where we used our "official" CKC Kennel Name Mekokama (Me for Meg's Chocolate Clan Koko, Ko for Koko's Chocolate Clan Kassey, Ka for Kassey's Chocolate Clan Maggie, and Ma for Maggie.......but wait we named Hope Mekokoma's Bustin' with Hope). Also Rusty's name is Mekokoma's Gun Dog Rusty.
So we draw our 2017 litter to a close, knowing we will all continue to enjoy these new family members, we hope for many years to come!
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