Now that AB 1634 is effectively dead, I thought I'd mosey on over to
the AKC (American Kennel Club) site to see what information they
provide to the public on spay/neuter.
A text search of the home page shows the only reference to spay/neuter is an alert about the final hearing for AB 1634. So I did a site search for spay neuter. All the results point to pages talking about spay/neuter legislation, with the top link going to their "action center" page.
OK fine. I'll dig through their pages manually. I go to their Guide to Breeding, including the page on Sending Your Pups to Their New Homes; no mention of spay/neuter on these pages. I went to their Responsible Breeding page and their Puppy Tips page: nothing. I went to the Dog Owners page, with its section on Responsible Dog Ownership, and there it is in item 84 out of 101: Spay or Neuter. I also found a section on it by digging down through Health/Overview/Healthy Dog section.
So there you have it. For the 99.99% of people who casually visit the AKC site, or even dig around at a high level, their perception of the AKC's stance is spay/neuter legislation is bad. And unfortunately, human psychology will tend to generalize that to spay/neuter is bad.
The AKC is sending the absolute wrong message to its site's visitors regarding spay and neuter. I encourage them to fix their design and flip the focus. Bury the legislative alerts info and promote the message to spay and neuter your dog.
A text search of the home page shows the only reference to spay/neuter is an alert about the final hearing for AB 1634. So I did a site search for spay neuter. All the results point to pages talking about spay/neuter legislation, with the top link going to their "action center" page.
OK fine. I'll dig through their pages manually. I go to their Guide to Breeding, including the page on Sending Your Pups to Their New Homes; no mention of spay/neuter on these pages. I went to their Responsible Breeding page and their Puppy Tips page: nothing. I went to the Dog Owners page, with its section on Responsible Dog Ownership, and there it is in item 84 out of 101: Spay or Neuter. I also found a section on it by digging down through Health/Overview/Healthy Dog section.
So there you have it. For the 99.99% of people who casually visit the AKC site, or even dig around at a high level, their perception of the AKC's stance is spay/neuter legislation is bad. And unfortunately, human psychology will tend to generalize that to spay/neuter is bad.
The AKC is sending the absolute wrong message to its site's visitors regarding spay and neuter. I encourage them to fix their design and flip the focus. Bury the legislative alerts info and promote the message to spay and neuter your dog.
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