Whats in a name?
B. Kimzey | https://gundogcentral.com
I will call this an information session for all of you gundog enthusiasts out there, however some of you will more than likely call it venting and complaining. But nevertheless, here is my story. This article is about duel registration for your gundog. Specifically duel registration with the AKC and the NAVHDA. I will share my story here today with all of you in hopes that you will not run into the same misfortune that I have recently when trying to accomplish this with my new male GSP. First off, just a little bit of back story to set the mood. I had been in search of the perfect male to add to my bloodline for quite sometime. I mean I really did a lot of research, spent hours combing the classifieds, and some real foot work looking for that special litter that contained my future superstar. You know the kind, the pup thats pedigree contains just the right balance of proven master hunters and versatile champions, he had to have the perfect markings, and his tail had to stand at attention like a soldier when he meant business. After forfeiture of a couple puppy deposits due to not getting exactly what I wanted, I had almost given up when a boring day at work and one more scroll thru Gundog Central yielded what I personally considered perfection out in eastern Iowa. I was on the phone straight away and an immediate trip to the post office after work with deposit in hand began the long wait and picking process and picture messages leading up to eight weeks later when my lovely bride would make the not so short journey to pick up our new champion prospect. He was a beautiful pup. Over the years I have had a bunch of good looking German Shorthaired pointers, but this little guy topped em all. Now after waiting for several weeks, of course I had already named him before I had even met him in person. So a quick visit to the AKC website is all it took, and it was official, my new pup had a new name.........or did he?
Now heres the part of the story where anyone who is not actively involved with the NAVHDA needs to really pay attention. I am not involved, but had planned on getting involved. After all, my new pup had three complete generations of solid NAVHDA versatile champions on one side and three complete generations of solid AKC master hunters on the other. I found a local NAVHDA chapter about 45 minutes from home to check into, now all I needed to do was send off my NAVHDA registration application for my pup and I was set, right? WRONG! Several days after I sent off my application I received a disturbing email from the NAVHDA. It informed me that a word used as the last word in my dogs name was a protected kennel and in order for them to register my dog I would have to change his name. What? Change my dogs name? Because I used a common noun found in the English language as his call name and placed it at the end of his registered name? You have got to be joking me, I thought. They gave one person exclusive rights to a two syllable noun? This just couldnt be right, so I got on the phone. The woman on the other end told me that indeed that was right, and I would have to change my dogs name to register him with the NAVHDA. She said, and I quote, just add a couple initials and people will just think its part of his name, that way it wont mess up our record keeping. I even explained to her that this protected kennel raised Pudelpointers not German Shorthaired pointers, and that didnt matter either. Well, I am sorry, but no. No, I am not changing my dogs name. No, I am not explaining to my customers why my dogs papers do not match from one organization to the other. No, I am not trying to explain why my dogs papers dont match when talking to sanctioned event personnel if I want to test or compete. And as I told the nice woman on the phone at the NAVHDA, No, I wont be registering my dog with them at this time and to let me know how to go about protesting this. She kindly said that they would return my money, but offered no insight as to how one could contest this. Whats in a name you ask? As far as I am concerned there is a lot. Whats the moral of the story? Well, if you want to duel register your dog you had better check before you name him Fido or Henry or Buckshot or Gunsmoke and register him with the AKC, because the NAVHDA may have given those particular words exclusively to a sole individual and they are protected and you cant use them. So for the time being, I guess I will just have to stick to AKC sanctioned events only. I feel better and I hope this helps prevent this from happening to any of you, happy hunting and thanks for reading.
Now heres the part of the story where anyone who is not actively involved with the NAVHDA needs to really pay attention. I am not involved, but had planned on getting involved. After all, my new pup had three complete generations of solid NAVHDA versatile champions on one side and three complete generations of solid AKC master hunters on the other. I found a local NAVHDA chapter about 45 minutes from home to check into, now all I needed to do was send off my NAVHDA registration application for my pup and I was set, right? WRONG! Several days after I sent off my application I received a disturbing email from the NAVHDA. It informed me that a word used as the last word in my dogs name was a protected kennel and in order for them to register my dog I would have to change his name. What? Change my dogs name? Because I used a common noun found in the English language as his call name and placed it at the end of his registered name? You have got to be joking me, I thought. They gave one person exclusive rights to a two syllable noun? This just couldnt be right, so I got on the phone. The woman on the other end told me that indeed that was right, and I would have to change my dogs name to register him with the NAVHDA. She said, and I quote, just add a couple initials and people will just think its part of his name, that way it wont mess up our record keeping. I even explained to her that this protected kennel raised Pudelpointers not German Shorthaired pointers, and that didnt matter either. Well, I am sorry, but no. No, I am not changing my dogs name. No, I am not explaining to my customers why my dogs papers do not match from one organization to the other. No, I am not trying to explain why my dogs papers dont match when talking to sanctioned event personnel if I want to test or compete. And as I told the nice woman on the phone at the NAVHDA, No, I wont be registering my dog with them at this time and to let me know how to go about protesting this. She kindly said that they would return my money, but offered no insight as to how one could contest this. Whats in a name you ask? As far as I am concerned there is a lot. Whats the moral of the story? Well, if you want to duel register your dog you had better check before you name him Fido or Henry or Buckshot or Gunsmoke and register him with the AKC, because the NAVHDA may have given those particular words exclusively to a sole individual and they are protected and you cant use them. So for the time being, I guess I will just have to stick to AKC sanctioned events only. I feel better and I hope this helps prevent this from happening to any of you, happy hunting and thanks for reading.