Pioneer United Dog Club Code of Ethics

Pioneer United Dog Club Code of Ethics (Drafted October, 2021)

Preamble The Pioneer United Dog Club Code of Ethics is one of the three governing documents for this club and its members, along with the Club Constitution and Bylaws. The following code outlines rules to govern our behavior, sportsmanship, and animal husbandry practices as caretakers of our respective breeds and as an affiliate club, and under the oversight of the United Kennel Club (UKC).

Section 1. UKC requirements for breeders of UKC registered dogs

• Food and water-clean water must be available at all times. Care should be taken so that water dishes are not tipped easily. Dogs should be fed at least once daily. A balanced diet is necessary for good health. Food containers must be cleaned regularly. Special attention to feeding times is required in a multi-dog confinement area to ensure that each dog receives adequate nourishment.
• Shelter-all dogs must have access to dry, weatherproof housing. The shelter must be properly maintained in relation to weather conditions. Regular inspections of housing are necessary to ensure sanitary bedding and protection from objects harmful to pups and adults.
• Whelping area-the whelping area must be a warm, clean and roomy area segregated from other dogs, with easy accessibility for cleaning and inspection. For both pups and mother, the kennel owner must provide a healthy whelping area for maximum growth, survival, exercise and socialization with humans.
• Confinement-each litter must be segregated or properly identified. Dogs must be confined in such a manner that prevents their escape yet provides adequate room for individual mobility. Crated dogs must have an exercise area and receive adequate exercise daily. Females in season must be separated from males (other than the male she is bred to) for the entire heat cycle.
• Safety & protection-the kennel owner must ensure that dogs kenneled together are compatible and not in danger of injuring one another. Dogs must be protected from stray and wild animals and from objects harmful to pups and adults. Adequate fencing is required.
• Health care-vaccinations must be administered in accordance with local and state requirements. An internal and external parasite control program must be maintained. Sick dogs must be separated from general kennel population. Bathing/grooming should be administered as required by breed to maintain proper health conditions.
• Socialization-a daily regimen of human interaction is necessary to ensure the development of good temperament for all dogs; especially for pups.
• Waste disposal-waste must be removed in accordance with accepted local, state, and federal requirements. The kennel area must be cleaned of all feces and urine daily. Solid waste must be removed from the kennel area.
• Record keeping-individual health records must be maintained for each dog. All breedings must be recorded as well as the resultant litters from those breedings. A sales record indicating to whom each dog is sold is necessary. The "official ukc breeder's record" was designed to assist breeders with record keeping. It is issued free of charge each time a litter is registered with ukc all dogs must be easily identified within the kennel operation. The kennel owner must have complete and accurate registration documents for all ukc registered dogs.
  Kennel owners must meet all local, county, state and federal government requirements for kennel operations. United kennel club, inc. Reserves the right to inspect kennels at any time and to dna-profile any dogs pursuant to the maintenance of the integrity of ukc records. A person who refuses inspection of his/her kennel or refuses to consent to dna-profiling of a dog over which he/she has legal control may be barred from all united kennel club privileges.

Section 2. Breeding and contracts
Members are to understand that the purpose of breeding purebred dogs is to preserve and enhance the best qualities of the individual breed, to improve overall health, temperament and physical and genetic soundness and to bring these natural qualities to perfection. As the owner of a brood bitch or a stud dog registered with UKC, members must understand that they must exercise exemplary judgment in breeding him or her. Disreputable or ignorant breeders may produce animals that are mentally, physically, genetically or temperamentally unsound, and thus, reduce overall quality in the breed.
To this end, members:

• must breed only from stock that is temperamentally, physically and mentally sound and that has demonstrated no serious health problems or crippling genetic defects and that are free of disqualifying faults as per their respective breed's standard;
• agree to obtain any necessary medical clearances as appropriate for their breed, including but not limited to x-raying to check for the presence of hip and elbow dysplasia or other degenerative joint diseases, in order that to produce the best possible quality of dogs;
• agree that if they are a novice, will consult the breeder of their dog or some other experienced breeder as to the quality of the dog before considering producing a litter of puppies;
• agree that all contracts or agreements between breeders and owners regarding stud services, sale of dogs and puppies, co-ownerships or co-breedings, guarantees regarding live litters, sales or other services should be put in writing for the protection of all involved parties;
• will not knowingly allow my dog to be mated with any other breed, hybrid, wolf or wolf dog nor knowingly allow any of my dogs to be used by others in any breeding programs designed to produce such mixed-breeds, hybrids or wolf-dog crosses.

Stud dogs- As the owner of a stud dog, members will:

• keep accurate records of all breedings and pedigrees;
• use dog only on those bitches felt to be an asset to the breed and that display no disqualifying faults
• use dog only on bitches that are temperamentally and structurally sound, are free of disease or serious inheritable defects, are in good physical condition, and that are at least two years of age and not over eight (8) years of age. Any breedings outside the aforementioned age range must be approved by a veterinarian.
• In addition, I reserve the right to refuse service to all bitches that have not been tested negative for brucellosis use my stud only after he reaches the age of twelve (12) months, unless approved by a certified veterinarian.
• Ensure that every breeding is supervised, keeping other stud dogs away from the bitch, and using only the stud dog selected by the bitch owner.
• Insist that all details concerning the mating be agreed upon before the mating takes place and recognize that all such details are best written down in a signed contract for the protection of both parties;
• will also supply a signed stud service certificate (aka stud service contract) to the owner of the bitch at the time of mating
• allow one free return service by the same dog to the same bitch or return of the stud fee if the bitch does not conceive or does not produce a viable litter, so long as I still own the dog.
• will sign the litter registration form when it is presented to me by the bitch owner but only after the litter is on the ground.
• If asked, do their best to assist the owner of the bitch in placing puppies resulting from a mating with member's dog.

Brood bitches - As the owner of a brood bitch, members will:

• not breed their bitch before she has reached the age of twenty-four (24) months (unless approved by a certified veterinarian) and then only if she is physically and emotionally mature enough to handle a litter;
• not breed their bitch after she has passed her eighth birthday (unless approved by a certified veterinarian), nor allow her to have more than two (2) litters in succession (i.e., back to back with no season in between), nor allow her to rear more than six (6) litters in her lifetime (unless approved by a certified veterinarian);
• insist that all details concerning the mating be agreed upon before the mating takes place and recognize the importance of a written contract detailing all such agreements with the owner of the stud dog;
• have any puppy that is born with a crippling defect or that is suffering from an irreversible illness humanely euthanized by a veterinarian, realizing that this is part of being a responsible breeder;
• agree to provide proper medical care, diet, socialization, and exercise to the dam and her puppies and to be prepared to keep all of the puppies for as long as is necessary in order to place them in suitable homes; keep accurate records

Section 3. General conduct.
Members will:

• act on the principle that the welfare of the white shepherd breed is of paramount importance. be constructive, instructive, and professional in my dealings with other club members, and the general public.
• Strive to educate all interested persons about the breed in order to foster responsible dog ownership. honor all written contracts and/or guarantees.
• Maintain high standards of housing, veterinary and general care for all dogs owned by me throughout their lifetimes. This is to include euthanasia if it becomes necessary, recognizing that this is one of the responsibilities of dog ownership.
• Abide by all applicable laws pertaining to dogs in my community.
• Be honest in all advertising that placed for the promotion of dogs, breeding program or kennel;
• demonstrate good manners and sportsmanship both inside and outside of the competition ring;
• always act in a professional and considerate manner to other exhibitors, their dogs, judges, stewards, show committee members, or any other persons while in the sport of competition with dogs.
• Act in full accordance with all rules of other canine organizations or registries under which I may compete, so long as those rules do not conflict with those of the United Kennel Club.

Members will not:

• sell, give away or otherwise transfer dogs to any pet shop, either on consignment or outright, nor transfer dogs to any medical facility, animal wholesaler, auction, or raffle;
• knowingly sell to unethical breeders or other persons whose intent to resell is known or suspected; purchase any individual white shepherd or any litter in its entirety for resale to any individual or commercial establishment;
• falsify pedigrees, medical clearances or any other breeding/health information;
• exhibit in any conformation class any dog that has been changed by artificial means, to change overall appearance, gait or temperament. This includes, but is not limited to: attempting to change or disguise the natural color or markings of the coat, tattooing or applying other substances in order to darken or fill in missing pigment. This also includes scissoring, thinning, or other grooming which attempts to alter or disguise the overall type of a dog's natural coat (i.e. Making a long coated dog appear to be a short coat). Normal grooming or scissoring that does not attempt to alter a dog’s natural appearance or cover a flaw is acceptable. Surgery to correct bite problems, soft ears or a gay tail, administering any drugs or other substances in order to disguise or improve a faulty temperament, or any other method that seeks to deceive the judge or other breeders and exhibitors is prohibited.
• Knowingly enter a dog in the wrong class or enter a dog other than the one whose registered name and number the official entry form bears, in any class at any show at any time.

Section 4: Club online chat forums/discussion groups, including social media Rules/etiquette
The discussions on the groups/lists are meant to stimulate conversation not to create contention. Let others have their say, just as you may. Refrain from challenging or attacking others. To further specify:

• All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything in a discussion list message that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.
• Harassing, insulting or derogatory posts about another group member or a group owner/moderator is prohibited. This includes sending unsolicited harassing, insulting or derogatory emails off list to other members. Specific names in a derogatory post need not be mentioned to be a violation. If other members know whom the post is about, then the derogatory comment is still a violation.
• Do not formulate posts in all caps. It is construed as yelling and is inappropriate.
• Refrain from posts with one word per line. It is also construed as a form of yelling and is disallowed.
• If trying to “debate” a point, refrain from repeatedly posting the same argument over and over again. These posts come across as aggressive and are not appropriate. Sometimes it is best to agree to disagree and then move on for the sake of other members participating in the forum.
• Trolling is strictly prohibited. Definition- trolling- sowing discord on a forum by starting arguments or upsetting people, either accidentally or with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

1. Discussions of religion, politics or other “off-topic” items are disallowed.
2. Posts that argue against the very mission and purpose of the united white shepherd club are prohibited, with the exception of posting a copy of another post/email for informative purposes to the club.
3. State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line of your post. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject. Examples of vague versus concise subject lines-
4. Subject: “have a question” (which is vague), versus
5. Subject: “need help with excessive barking” (which is concise). In other words, be specific in subject lines whenever possible.
6. Refrain from sending administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list”, etc, through the email discussion group. Instead, use the email settings/preferences section of the website to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list.
7. Please include a signature on all messages; however be considerate in keeping your signature to 4-5 lines at most. Small pictures are acceptable in a signature tag.
8. To reduce confusion for readers, if you reply to an existing post but have changed the topic matter, be sure to also change the subject line to indicate the new topic you are introducing so that the flow of the original topic is uninterrupted.
9. Each chat group is to have at least one non-board member acting as a moderator. This member must be in good standing and not have had any forum/chat disciplinary issues in last 12 months. Non-board moderators can volunteer for this position or be nominated/elected by membership.
10. Respect any decision of the moderator/owner, as their decision is final.