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( © 2003 American Kennel Club ) Breeding for type and function to create, preserve and improve
breeds ties modern urban populations with the 12,000 year tradition
of animal husbandry, now vanishing from the rest of our culture.
In the last 100 years, this country, along with the rest of the
Western world, has undergone what many historians call the most
dramatic transformation in human history. It is a shift from a rural,
agricultural society to an urban technological one. When AKC was
created, more than half of all Americans lived on farms. Even at
the turn of the century, 85% of all jobs were agriculturally based.
Today, less than one in fifty Americans lives on a farm but more
than 50% of households maintains positive contact with animals by
keeping pets. Very few people have hands-on experience in animal
husbandry anymore-- and that make AKC's constituents unique subject
matter experts in an area that touches and matters to half of all
households. AKC breeders are the experts, the preservationist, the
ones who tie society to its past and support society's present need
to maintain the human/animal bond. Other Links: |
