million dogs have been removed from the stud book using this tool.  What is not known is the number of pups that are 

sold on LR that are not registered. Some estimate it to be equal to the number actually registered. Based on population 

statistics using the Bell Curve, the number of dogs in a breed that would be expected to be of poor quality (DQs and or 

other serious faults) would fall in a range of 4 – 6% for a breed. 

A review of the monies spent on dog research and the advancements achieved over the past 20 years, one would expect 

the number of poor quality dogs being produced to be leveling off or at least be in a decline.  For example, advances 

have been made in how to manage the carriers, how to use formula breeding techniques and how to make better se-

lections of sires and dams to name just a few. All of this research and the accompanying advancements suggest that 

purpose-bred dogs should be better and healthier now than 20 years ago. The data for LR for the past 25 years does not 

support this conclusion. In many breeds the number of LR is increasing.  For example, 60 breeds have more than 25% 

of their pups on LR; 59 breeds have between 25% - 50% on LR and 15 breeds have between 40% - 65% of their pups 

on LR. Note that while LR were autho-

rized in 1989, AKC data for LR begins 

with 1993. 

Table 5 shows the slow and steady 

increase in the use of limited registra-

tions for only pups actually registered. 

Those placed on LR that were not reg-

istered are not known. When the num-

ber of LR pups (registered and not 

registered) are combined the impact 

on the stud book is even greater.