I’ve been thinking a lot about the problem of millennials and purebred dogs and the AKC, lately. AKC shows are filled with Juniors and Older Adults, but not a lot of people my age (25-35, give or take) are into dog sports.
I was listening to Laura’s podcast the other day (go listen to PureDogTalk, it’s amazing! You’ll learn something new!). And in it, she shared some not-surprising statistics: most of the listeners are women aged 55-65.
While I wasn’t surprised, I wanted to shout into the speakers, jump and leap and raise my hand. (I was driving, so I just shouted but I kept my hands on the wheel.)
Me! Me! I’m here! I’m 31! and I listen religiously!
These stats translate if you go to a dog show or trial, as well. The people who can afford to be at a dog show are established adults, usually either retirees or empty-nesters. You’ve got some juniors (children under 18 who compete) and a couple of us in-betweeners, but not much. I’ve been thinking a lot about: How do we grow AKC dog sports and preserve our breeds when we’re missing a huge group of the population? (The 25-35 year olds.)
I’m brand-spankin’ new at this. I got Moby at age 26, and this Novice A dog is trotting me through the world of conformation, performance events, field trials, and what it means to be a dog owner/fancier. And it was by total accident. I wanted “just a pet” and instead, I’ve got a performance dog, an enthralling hobby, an excuse to travel, and a wonderful community full of seriously the coolest people. Not gonna lie, though, it was basically luck.
So I’m looking at people my age, and how do I get them involved? How do I tell my friend in sales how fun it is to go to Rally class every week? How do I tell the medical assistant that you can take your pup to hunt tests? how do I tell the hospital admin that you can go to agility class? That you can try dock diving, conformation, or barn hunt? How do I tell the married couple that a breeder can give you a lifetime of help, education, and resources to train your family pet?
“Well, Juniors are the future!” You say. Okay, well: Juniors are great, and how I wish I knew about dog shows as a Junior (kids under 18 who show). I would have eaten Dog Shows up as a Junior. Juniors are the future of our sport, yes. But that’s not the whole answer.
I’m looking at people like me: adults who weren’t fortunate enough to grow up in the dog show world, who don’t know about it but should. I didn’t grow up with handlers as parents, or spending summers at dog shows, or with a breeder down the street. Nor did most of my peers. There is an important demographic we’re missing out on after Juniors and before Empty Nesters. These are the people who can fuel the sport, who would benefit from it, who would enjoy a new hobby, and who can carry the torch as emerging breeders. It’s that group of people that I’m thinking, “How do we involve them?” To put this another way: How could I have gotten into this, if I hadn’t?
There is an important demographic we’re missing out on after Juniors and before Empty Nesters.
We hear that AKC conformation shows are a “dying sport.” Part of this is cultural: We no longer live in an era where: (1) people have acres and acres of land, (2) a kennel of dogs for breeding stock, and (3) rely on agriculture as a primary source of income/entertainment. In so many Pure Dog Talk episodes, you hear how famous handlers or judges got into dogs because they happened to live next door to a breeder. Spoiler alert: Most millennials didn’t live next door to a functioning kennel. Most of us didn’t grow up on farms or near livestock, either.
Instead, we have more people than ever in cities, apartments, and suburbs. Legislation at all levels limits the number of animals you can own at one time, and the cost of space to accommodate multiple animals can be just as prohibitive.
It’s also expensive, and millennials are battling student loan debt, low wages, high housing costs, and a saturated job market. So money is a tricky subject here.
This quote summed it up:
they’re entrepreneurial yet live in their parent’s basements and work at Starbucks;
On top of that: I (we) grew up in the height of the “adopt don’t shop” movement. Can I just tell you how many times my friends use that hashtag on Instagram? ALL the time, is the number of times. This movement made its impression on this generation– if Instagram hashtags are any indication.
If you poll 10 of my peers, 10/10 will tell you they got their dog from a shelter. (Okay, 8/10. Megan and Laura got their golden retrievers from reputable breeders. I know one person who’s in the military and got a working Malinois, but this is a Facebook acquaintance and is therefore not counted as statistically significant, especially since the dog is a “working” dog before a companion.)
When it came time for me to finally get my own dog, I was lucky to know that I wanted a puppy. Purebred dalmatian puppy, from a breeder. However: I’m by far the minority. Most people want a dog, but just go to the local HSUS to get it.
And what a darling puppy he was.
If you ask my friends, their friends, their friends’ friends. No one in this age bracket seems to have ever processed the idea that you can get a dog not from a shelter. (We’ll table the discussion of puppies from “designer dog breeders” for now.)
Finally: These same people want a dog that “does it all” (like me): the dog that goes on weekend hikes, jogs, and to brew-pubs around town. But this is the same group that is getting dogs from shelters. Sadly, MANY of these dogs have behavior issues that prevent them from being the all-American companion. People want “just a pet,” but it ends up not being able to go on hikes or to the park because of one behavior problem or another.
Let’s review: In the dilemma of AKC sports/purebred dogs & the millennial, we’ve got these things going on:
- (1) high cost of living (in a generation who struggles to have money for hobbies)
- (2) urban lifestyle (no longer living on farms; can barely afford houses)
- (3) legislation
- (3) heavy adopt-don’t-shop/rescue propaganda
- and (4) shelter dogs with behavior issues
What, then, prevents people my age from getting involved in purebred dogs?
- Is it money? The cost of training, canine fitness, classes, and trials adds up. I would guess that money actually plays a pretty big role here. I can tell you now that without the help of my parents, there’s no way I could participate in dog sports. Nor could I support myself and my dog. Thanks, Mom!
- Do people just not want to wait? You can go down to HSUS right now and bring home a dog in 2 hours for $300 instead of waiting 6 months for the next purpose-bred litter.
- Is it a “rescue” culture? Are we so culturally disillusioned that we turn to “rescuing” a dog from South Korea, as some sort of social retribution? There’s definitely social validation in the phrase: “He’s a rescue.” Say what you will about our psyches. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(Sidebar: Can we talk about the little-discussed, genius idea of buying a retired show dog? A young dog who finished his championship, is socialized, potty trained, and still needs a home?? It’s a win-win.)
- Do people just not know about the cool things they can do with their dogs? Do they not want to? When you “just want a pet,” how do you translate that to dog sports? (Are people too busy? “It’s not for me”?)
- Does having a high rate of behavior issues (aggression, separation anxiety, reactivity, etc.) diminish any hope of doing things with your dog? If millennials are getting most of their dogs from shelters, is this barage of behavior problems discouraging additional activities?
- Do people want “just companion dogs”? Just a dog to sit on the sofa all day, then go for hikes on the weekends? This goes back to either lifestyle or education. We’re not an agrarian society anymore, so the drive to do “dog things” simply may not exist.
You can’t say this generation doesn’t love their dogs. You just can’t. We dress them up, we buy them gluten-free-grain-free-sugar-free treats, we open entire dog-friendly establishments, we give our dogs hashtags and Instagram accounts, we spend more money on vet care than medical bills, and more of us are choosing dogs over children. Hell, I spent 4 hours the other day applying for my dog to be a Ruffwear Brand Ambassador. This group is not without love or dedication to our dogs. So what’s with the aversion to get a puppy from a breeder? What’s with the disinterest in dog sports? Shows, trials, tests, performance classes?
AKC has done a great job to encourage more dog owners to get involved. But how do we tell the 30-year old how cool it is to do a Hunt Test, a Field Trial, an Agility trial, a Conformation show? That “just a pet” can come with so many other fun things?
The other thing that interests me is this: Do you ever notice how a shelter dog is introduced? “This is Sparky, he’s a German Shepherd/Foxhound/Rhodesian mix.”
Just take a moment to appreciate that. Sparky needs a qualifier, and he needs a history, and he needs a lineage that describes his behavior. Sparky has 3 purebred descriptors attached to him in that 1 introduction. Sparky’s got a ridge, so he’s a Ridgeback, and he’s tri-color, so he’s a Foxhound. (And maybe pointy ears, so we’ll go with Shepherd.)
This suggests that we’re proud of our dogs and the breeds to describe them. We rely on breeds to describe their appearances, behavior, quirks, and bidability.
But don’t you think that you kind of need the original breed in order to make a mix of it? What I’m saying is: Without purebred Labradors, German shepherds, Foxhounds, Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Corgis, or Golden Retrievers… you wouldn’t be able to talk about your rescue dog the way you do.
So millennials aren’t anti-breed, inherently. People spend money on those damn DNA tests to TELL you what breed your adopted dog is.
Spoiler alert: those breeds came from somewhere. In order to have a Shepherd/Rhodesian/Foxhound mix, you know what you needed? You needed a Shepherd and a Rhodesian Ridgeback and a Foxhound.
Furthermore, in shelters, most dogs that go quickest are the “purebreds.” Doesn’t that strike you as odd?
We’re battling shelters, a sour economy, student debt, housing instability, and probably a lot of other social factors. But it makes me sad that the generation who is eschewing having children for dogs is the same one that doesn’t seem to know how fun it is to enter a dog show or go to a field trial. What worries me is that this is an entire generation of potential breeders we’re missing out on.
In these kinds of posts, you’re supposed to end with a “call to action,” as my editors always say. A solution. I don’t have one yet. But I have been thinking about this issue a lot. I’m not shaming the people who did adopt their dogs. I’m curious how we can make sure that in 30 years, we still have people breeding Dalmatians and Dobermans and Shorthaired Pointers and Dachshunds and Poodles and Sealyam Terriers.
I love my dog, I love my breed, and I love this sport. I love that hunting dogs hunt, hounds track, retrievers retrieve, and pugs sit on your lap and snore. I want to reach out to members of the dog-loving world who don’t know that yet.
And in 30 years, I still want to be showing Dalmatians, so I’d like to make sure there are still dog shows to go to.
Thoughts & Spots 
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