-- New Service Offers Ease and Convenience to Breeders and Dog Owners --

New York, NY – The American Kennel Club is pleased to announce that as of February 23, 2004 individual Dog Registration Applications will be accepted online at www.akc.org. This new service offers numerous benefits to both breeders and dog owners and follows the Online Litter Registration service launched by the AKC in October 2003.

“This initiative marks another milestone in AKC online services. The ability to register AKC dogs via a self-service web site is a tremendous convenience that we are pleased to offer our customers,” said Dennis Sprung, AKC President and CEO.

Dogs may be registered online whether the litter registration was done online or in traditional hard copy form. The online process not only speeds and simplifies the new owners’ registration experience, but also eliminates data entry by the AKC. At this time, the service is only offered for dogs with single breeders being sold to single owners.

The Breeder
The process begins with the breeder. Once online, he/she can complete all the required dog information (color, sex, etc.) and, if the dog has been sold, the breeder will also enter the new owner information. When this has been done the new owner can log on to complete the registration process. If the breeder is keeping the dog, he/she will just need to follow a few simple steps to register the dog in his/her name.

The system can also aid breeders by organizing dog sale information into an easily printed form, suitable for inclusion as part of their record keeping.

The Dog Owner
After the breeder has started the online process the new owner can log on using information from the Dog Registration Application and their last name. They will need to confirm their address, name the dog, choose a registration package and pay via credit card.

Immediate feedback will be given if any of the information is incorrect, allowing for faster resolution of errors and processing of registrations. Standard AKC rules and policies for registering a dog will be applied throughout the online process.

And of course, for both breeders and buyers there is the benefit of increased speed. By bypassing the need to send registration forms by mail, buyers can register their dog the same day they take it home.

“This new service will offer great convenience to thousands of our customers. However it should be noted that only dogs being sold directly from and to a single owner can be registered online at this time,” said AKC CIO Charley Kneifel. “We look forward to offering online registration for dogs with multiple owners and dogs sold through third parties (i.e. pet stores) in future generations of the service.”

For further details, visit the Online Dog Registration home page at http://www.akc.org/dogreg