Myths about the AKC… Possum! Truck Camper.

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What AKC Registration Is

"There’s really only one thing you can be assured of with an AKC-registered dog – both his parents are also registered.
That’s it.

AKC registration says nothing about the relative quality of your dog or his health. All it takes to get an AKC ‘blue slip’ registration is to send an application and the required fee. If your pet’s parents are registered, your pet will be entered into the database as well. He’ll receive a registration number, which will appear on the blue slip you receive back from the AKC.
Your dog is now AKC-registered.
If you’re interested in seeing your dog’s ‘pedigree,’ for an additional fee the AKC will generate a list of the names of your pet’s parents, grandparents, great grandparents and so on.
A pedigree is really no more than a list of names of sires and dams.

But at Least I Know My Dog is Purebred, Right?

Not necessarily.

It’s far more common than people realize that unscrupulous breeders register litters with falsified parentage.

For example, a ‘backyard breeder’ owns AKC-registered male and female Golden Retrievers. The female goes into heat and the yellow Labrador Retriever next door jumps the fence to procreate with her.

A litter is born from this union and the breeder registers the puppies with the two Goldens as parents.

You’re looking for a Golden Retriever puppy. You see the breeder’s ad and visit the litter of puppies. Unless you’re very knowledgeable about dog breeds -- which is unlikely if you’re looking to acquire a puppy from a ‘backyard breeder’ -- chances are extremely high you won’t be able to tell these pups are half Golden and half Lab.

So off you go with your mixed breed, AKC-registered pet. As he gets older, you notice his coat isn’t very full and his frame is much heavier than the frames of the dogs you were told were his parents.

None of these curiosities really matter to you because you’ve fallen completely in love with your pet and have no intention of either breeding or showing him.

The point is -- AKC registration in and of itself should never be the basis for a decision about acquiring a pet."
More at: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/10/05/importance-of-pet-dog-akc-registration.aspx
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The problems arise when you think you have a registered purebred dog, and want to "make some money" selling some purebred puppies.  But you don't have a purebred at all, as a dog is the total sum of it's ancesters, whatever breeds.  Often, people don't realize what it costs to raise a litter of pups properly, especially when some "don't look quite right", and you can't sell them.  So you wind up keeping them, giving them away, or taking them to the pound.

Even true breeders aren't in it for the money, because of the expense of buying 'breeding quality' dogs which are the closest to the conformation standard of that breed:
http://www.akc.org/breeds/complete_breed_list.cfm      Each breed is supposed to look like it's breed,  so that you don't have Poodles with long bodies like Dachshunds!  Or Poodles with broad heads like Bulldogs!

Pet quality purebred dogs will only produce pet quality pups, which do not demand a price worth all the work and expense.
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Today:  













We had caught a young possum in our trap.  The Animal Control Officer said that they would put it to sleep. 

Well, the little possum didn't know that it done anything wrong by eating Ray's vegetables out of his garden.   We didn't have a sign up that said "Not For Possums"!

So we took it down to the trees by the lake and set it free there.  I was very surprised when I saw this picture, as I didn't know that I had been fast enough to snap it. (As always, click to enlarge)



Then Ray and I carried on washing the skirting for my daughter's Lake House at Somerville,TX
  
If I had known that Ray and I were going to have to clean ALL of it, I would never have started on it!   I thought that just some of it had got dirty.

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous. No AC needed.  Sunny, mild, and no rain for Pamala and Nigel's visit here.

Then Nigel took the camper off the truck:













He wanted to take the gooseneck hitch off the truck, before he shipped them both to England.  We have listed the hitch on Craigslist.



But it got dark so quickly while Pamala and I were helping him get it lined up to put it back on the truck, that it isn't on quite right.  It will have to be re-loaded. 

It is on there, but tomorrow is another day.