How do I get a breed added?
We get a fair amount of requests to add breeds to our breed list. Owners come up with all kinds of cute hybrid mixes for their animals … Chi-weenies, Weim-aDoodles, Shep-Poodles. Really the list is endless. Like really endless, which is why we have had to put some constraints on what gets in and what is left out.
We have decided for dogs to use the American Kennel Club list of breeds as an “official list” of dog breeds. We have also made a few exceptions for regionally recognized breeds such as North Carolina Curr.
Unfortunately, early on, we made the mistake of adding in “mutt.” Since it’s been used on thousands of records we are now stuck with it.
If you’d like to request a breed be added, please do the following:
1. Double check out the breed list to make sure it’s not already there. To do this, open any record in checkout, or open the appointment screen and go to the breed field. Begin typing a few letters of the breed to see if it comes up in some form. It may be worded slightly differently than you are asking; in this case, we are not able to add the requested breed.
2. Next check the AKC breed list to make sure it’s there. If it’s not, we will not be able to add it.
3. If it is there, but not in HQ, click the “Submit a Request” button in help and request that it be added. Let us know if it should be added to the cat or dog breed list.
What about mixed dog breeds such as Chiweenie or Cockapoo….?
You might see a few breeds in HQ and see that they are not listed in the AKC Breed List. Here’s the deal with these. These breeds were added over a decade ago when we had no rules around what breeds to add. We are now stuck with these breeds in there. To many, this doesn’t feel fair. We get it. It’s not fair, but we cannot add thousands of made-up breeds to HQ.
Well, why not you might ask? Let’s play that logic through.
It adds friction to your flow
Let’s say we add all breeds people ask us for and now we have 5,000 dog breeds.
With every single appointment, you or your clients would have to scroll through a big giant list of 5,000 breeds. This adds seconds to each appointment. Let’s say it adds 5 seconds to each appointment, and your clinic handles 5,000 appointments a year. That works out to seven hours a year devoted to scrolling through breed lists. You may make the client in front of you happy by listing her pet as a “pit-adoodle” but in the meantime you will have added hours onto your workload by implementing this change. We call this “friction” in your system. Friction = time + stress.
It diminishes your breed reporting
Let’s say that a grant becomes available for pit bulls. You pull a report on how many pit bulls you’ve done over the past year. If you have dogs that really are pitbulls but have been reclassified by their owners as something else, your numbers are diminished, which ultimately may affect your ability to get such a grant.
It has medical implications
Brachycephalic breeds such as pugs should be unmistakably labelled in your HQ.
But the owners really want it to say “chiweenie”
Unfortunaely you will not be able to do this. What you would do is choose the primary breed as Chihuahua with Is Mixed? marked as Yes.
Then, if you really wanted to, in the Animal Notes specify as Chiweenie. Again, see convo above on friction.
Can we remove breeds from the breed list?
The short answer is no, this is not possible. The breeds list is not customizable for the clinic.
Clinics will often not accept certain breeds due to a high risk factor such as those that are brachycephalic or breeds known to have von Willebrand’s disease. First, it is important to make this clear on your website before the client begins the appointment request. If the client still submits the request, you can screen the e-appointment requests and cancel any that do not meet your criteria for a good surgical candidate.
