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    We really felt a need to post this info about the ABCA.     

     We do not approve of what the ABCA is doing to people we know, people who have been our friends for many years.  The ABCA, on Sept 2, 2006, accused us of having “an inter-related breeding operation with a suspended ABCA member”. This is absolutely false, a lie.   They are accusing others of many false claims also.

      When I called and asked what this was all about, I was told nothing, that they could not talk about it. We have been asking about it for weeks, and still have never been told what the problem was. We have told them over and over it is not true. We do not own/co-own any dogs not on our farm, and dogs on our farm are only owned by us. We have never been dishonest on papers.  We still have been told nothing about what any of this is pertaining to.

      Because of the way we were treated, being members 10 years with no complaints ever from them, we told the ABCA we did not want to register with them anymore. We told them this the first week of September, 2006.

      The ABCA accused us of “having someone else send in papers for us in the future”. This is absurd. We do not want ABCA papers on our pups. We have never had anyone else “send them in for us”. The ABCA is sending out emails to people that are full of un-truths about us, and about others also. This is just not right.

       They have said that we refused to cooperate with a committee with some sort of investigation. No committee has ever contacted us about anything. We have called and emailed for weeks with no replies. We have asked for the phone number of anyone on the committee, so we can contact them, and we have not gotten a reply from the ABCA. No one from the ABCA has ever asked us any questions about anything regarding any of this. They just suspended us without any reason given to us at all. The ABCA is supposed to be member-owned. This is false. They can do anything they so desire and they do not have to even tell you why. We do not know why.

        We are still the same as we always were, we are not in co-hoots with anyone, but we are not going to disown our friends because the ABCA does not like them. We know others who have had their papers on hold for 4 months, with no explanation. The ABCA has back-dated our suspension so they do not have to send 3 pup papers to the owners, that were in their office weeks before we ever received any notice. They held our papers for a month, and didn’t even bother to call or email us. We would not have sold those 3 pups as ABCA if we knew all this was going on behind our backs.

     If a registry wants to ask questions, by all means, ask questions.  But this is not what the ABCA is doing.  They are accusing and convicting without asking even one question.  We do not believe anyone should be treated this way.  We are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.  If someone is registering litters we do not know about, it would be nice to be told about it.  A normal registry would ask the breeder.    The ABCA just puts a hold on papers without even informing the breeder of any problems.   Then weeks later they send out suspension papers, still without saying WHY.   We told them we no longer wanted to be members long before they "suspended" us. 

We do not want to be associated with a registry that treats it's member like this. 

We have many friends, friends for decades, with Border Collies.  Some of them have been treated very bad by the ABCA, and still do not know why.  We are, by far, not the only ones.

The ABCA does not notify you if someone has listed your stud dog on the litter application as sire.  Why?  Other breed registries do this to insure accuracy.  The fact is the ABCA has never had pre-printed puppy papers for the breeder, and no notification if sire is owned by someone else.  Puppy papers can be easily copied and sent in.  More pups can be registered this way, by anyone, without your knowledge.   Anyone can list your stud dog, sign your name, and send it in.  And you would never know.

Update:  A Border Collie breeder we know in Tennessee was put on HOLD in June 2006, without being notified of any problems or even told that they put him on hold.  The ABCA went to his farm (did not get there until fall of 2006) and DNA'd all his dogs he wanted ABCA pups from.  All his dogs passed the DNA just fine, no problems, he answered all their questions.  He was told by the ABCA office he had NO complaints at all against him.

 Well, now it is almost April 2007, and the ABCA refuses to give him his papers, and refuses to tell him WHY.  He has been with them since their beginning, and is a very honest man.  The ABCA kept their mouth shut and allowed him to sell ABCA pups for months without telling him he was on hold, even when he called and asked about his papers.  They always said they were just busy, that's all.   Now the ABCA is telling complete strangers on the phone details of why he is on hold, but won't tell the breeder himself.   Very un-professional.

Update-May 18--The ABCA has said he can register pups again, after 1 year, and NO explanation of why any of this happened.  Also, he cannot associate with suspended-members....????  What does that mean?  He cannot speak to his friends?  Cannot buy or sell IBCA, AKC or CKC dogs with ABCA suspended members?  So, we are guilty by association?

Ya think?