Boykin Spaniel Society (BSS)
The BSS holds an important historical position in the
development of the Boykin Spaniel. After having been in
existence for over half of the century, the breed still did not
have a structured means of tracking pedigrees in a registry.
In 1977, the BSS was form and they instituted the first
Boykin Spaniel registry in 1979. Since then the BSS has gained a
substantial database of Boykin Spaniels in their registry. By
determining the sequential numbering of the registration numbers
assigned to individual dogs you can see that the current numbers
given would indicate the BSS has registered somewhere in the area
of 22,000 individual dogs and growing.
The Boykin Spaniel Society is instrumental publicizing the
breed. The Society helped to push legislation through to have
the Boykin Spaniel named the SC State Dog. In 1984, they
organized a walk-in before the SC State Wildlife Commission and
in February 1985 they organized a walk-in before the SC House
Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. On February 27,
1985, opposition to the bill was lifted and by March the breed
was officially named the state dog. By gaining national
recognition of becoming only the 5th breed to gain this status
the breed was put on the path to popularity.
The BSS is a 501c (7) organization that is governed under the
South Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act (www.scstatehouse.net/code/t33c031.doc)
Yearly membership subscription provides the
right to register litters, enter or
handle a dog in their hunt test as well as other services within
the organization.
Registration in the BSS is limited to member-only owned
litters or those who have paid an extra service fee to use their
registry. Puppies over a
described amount of white markings cannot be registered and
therefore not allowed to be shown in the BSS. The BSS does not
offer an ILP or LP program to allow non-registered Boykins to
compete.
The AKC Recognition Issue
In the 1980's the BSS was actively seeking AKC recognition.
They requested to become an AKC but were instructed by AKC that
they must have a minimum of 5 generations in their pedigrees.
When the BSS re-applied for AKC recognition they learned
that they would be named the AKC parent club and in this
recognition they would need to forfeit their registration
business. The Boykin Spaniel would have become an AKC breed with
the BSS as the parent club at that time if it were not for this
business decision.
The debate regarding the BSS and their decisions that led to
the loss of being named the parent club will continue to boil
for many years to come. The BSS, however, always need to be
recognized for their contributions and hard work in organizing
the breed's original database and popularizing the breed.
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