Breeder Codes Meeting Agenda Set

The agenda has been set for one of Canada's most important industry meetings, the Breeder Codes of Practice conversation. You may follow along in real time on Wednesday, 15 June, 2011, this OpenSpace Live Tweet Event will commence at 1300hrs EDT from @petutility. Interested parties can follow the hashtag #breedercodes or contribute comments to this PetLynx InfoStream blog in the comments section below.

Agenda:
Update on previous action items
Final Approval of Breeder Code Document
Next Steps
Other items to bring forward from floor

The Breeder Codes of Practice was one of eight conversations coming out of OpenSpace at the International Summit for Urban Animal Strategies in October 2010. Those involved in this conversation include CKC breeders, commercial non-purebred breeders, representatives from retail, animal welfare, veterinary medicine, Kijiji and other stakeholders who have recognized the problems of sourcing and homing animals in the industry. The leader of this conversation is Joe Mauro, former CEO of the Canadian Kennel Club. The ScrumMaster and Project Coordinator is Judi Cannon.

The group adopted an iterative process for publishing Breeder Codes of Practice as a component of the National Codes of Conduct that is being assembled by the National Companion Animal Coalition. The process involved collecting resources from sources across Canada and around the world. In April, 2011 the first iteration was provided to each of 4 regional summits for further comment and review. The response was overwhelmingly positive once stakeholders began to realize the objective was to standardize breeding practices for all those who supply pets to the Canadian market.

The breeder codes of practice are intended to protect pet families, pets, breeders, retailers and others who are involved with the more than 1million animals flowing into Canadian homes each year. By setting standards and recognizing compliant sources with a unique brand, the industry hopes to eliminate non-compliant sources.

The working group hopes to complete the final changes to iteration 1.3 and produce a candidate for publishing later this year. Please add any comments you may have for the working group in the space provided here below.