Puppy buyers around the world contact AKC Breeder of the Year David Fitzpatrick.
His Pekingese puppies have journeyed to new homes in Australia, Thailand, the Philippines, China, Panama, Japan, and other international destinations.
Fitzpatrick requires potential puppy buyers to travel to his home in Pennsylvania to meet him and his dogs. If they are lucky enough to get a puppy, they fly home with the pup in the cabin – so getting them to their new homes is the easy part.
Getting the puppy registered in their new home country could be a little more difficult. Registering a puppy with a foreign kennel club, with which AKC has a reciprocal agreement, requires that the puppy be registered with AKC, but also an official pedigree as well as other paperwork.
“I would send them the AKC papers, but did not always have the official AKC pedigree,” Fitzpatrick said. “Nine times out of 10, the new owner did not know how to contact the AKC to order a pedigree. There was often a language barrier too.”
But Fitzpatrick said the process is much simpler today with the AKC Certified Export Pedigree. The export pedigree includes all the information required to obtain registration with the foreign kennel clubs into one document. This makes it safer and less confusing to register dogs abroad. The AKC has reciprocal agreements with more than 200 foreign kennel clubs.
The export pedigree has made “everything a lot better” when placing puppies internationally, Fitzpatrick said. He has been involved with Pekingese since 1970, starting in the breed at age 14, and has produced some of the top dogs in the breed, winning more than 600 Best in Shows. His top winners include Fortune Cookie, the Toy Group winner and Best Bred by Exhibitor at the 2021 AKC National Championship.
The Export Pedigree is especially helpful for breeders who sell puppies overseas and those who show dogs in other countries. It merges the information found on the AKC Three-Generation Certified Pedigree and the AKC Registration Certificate, including the name(s) of the current owner(s) and the address of the primary dog owner. It includes the date of the last transfer of the dog’s ownership. The crucial registration certificate issue date is not included to protect AKC breeders, owners and the AKC Stud Book.
“An AKC Certified Export Pedigree may only be purchased by someone who currently owns the dog,” AKC Executive Vice President Mark Dunn said. “This makes the process easier and more secure, as anyone can buy a three- or four-generation pedigree for any dog.”
AKC Certified Export Pedigrees eliminate the need for dog owners to make photocopies of registration certificates.
“To discourage fraud, owners should protect and secure their registration certificates and avoid sending copies to anyone who is not a current owner,” Dunn said.
These export pedigrees also benefit foreign kennel clubs, which have expressed that dealing with multiple AKC documents can be confusing.
AKC Executive Secretary Gina DiNardo, who oversees AKC’s relationships with foreign kennel clubs, said, “Most foreign registries produce export pedigrees so AKC is now more in line with what other parts of the world are doing, and simplifying the process helps prevent confusion, delays and errors.”
As of May 31, 2019, the American Kennel Club has requested that foreign kennel clubs solely require AKC Certified Export Pedigrees for all US-born dogs seeking registration. Purchase yours from the AKC Store or by contacting AKC Customer Service at 919-233-9767 (Monday-Friday from 8:30 AM- 8:00 PM EST).