Out of curiosity, with regards to counting the litters the bitch has whelped, do the KC only count litters registered in the UK, or do they also take into account litters registered abroad? Im thinking when a foreign dog comes to the UK to be shown, obtains ATC number, and is entered in the database so that the KC is aware of who are the parents.

The difficulty it appears that with foreign dogs the KC doesn't track litters, so for example if two littermates applied for the ATC number and you check on MYKC they are registered as if they came from separate litters, not as siblings....

No, the kc only works within their own database. I believe it works the same with at least some of the other forin kc's as I know I have heard of people in other countries breeding max amount then sending them to another country where they are bred again.

Just as with Kennel names, there is little to no contact between the various Kennel Clubs with anything.   Sadly!

That's what I thought too, but then this wording from the KC is making me confused:

>...the Kennel Club will no longer register any further litters from any bitch which our records show has already whelped 4 litters. Therefore for any litter born on or after the 1st January 2012, the system will automatically check to see how many previous litters the Kennel Club has an account of.

Looking at MyKC, there are records of foreign dogs both foreign studs which were used on UK bitches, and also dogs who were ever imported or have at some point obtained ATC number. Often there are much less details on such dogs, but there are pedigrees. So when you click on the Dam in such pedigree, then click on her Progeny, it will show that this Dam has whelped this foreign dog. 

So I'm wondering is MyKC database "the system", which the KC can refer to as "our records"? After all once these foreign dogs are entered there, the KC does "have an account" of them and their pedigrees. Or do they mean it more narrowly, as in "our litter registration records" (meaning only litters registered by the KC).

It does say:  > the system will automatically check to see how many previous litters the Kennel Club has an account of. So it won't take into account single dog registrations which those with ATC numbers are.

Again, as far as I'm aware, the UK KC has no reciprocal agreement, with anything, with any other KC.    But you might phone for confirmation.

> So it won't take into account single dog registrations which those with ATC numbers are.

It does makes sense, them referring specifically to "litters".... Though still scary when looking at MyKC database, a bitch's Progeny can have 7 or 8 litters listed there, with just one offspring in each. And you can't always tell the difference by looking at these records, which of these "litters" were whelped in the UK, and are truly separate litters, and which are simply a number of siblings recorded separately (on some foreign dogs the KC does not hold details of date of birth, in which case under the bitch's progeny they state "date of litter not recorded")...

Thinking further, say a bitch has indeed whelped say 4 litters in France, say each time by a different stud so clearly separate litters. She was then imported in the UK, and is continuing to produce. A number of her offspring from French litters came to the UK to compete/were also imported, and as such are recorded in the database.

Now a concerned dog owner, browsing MyKC because they have nothing better to do () notices that this bitch has clearly whelped more than 4 litters and the KC are clearly aware of this (i.e. it's recorded in their database). So this concerned person phones the KC and asks them why they allow registrations of further litters from this bitch in contravention to their rules.

Kind of odd to imagine the KC saying to this person - "actually, only 2 of the litters you can see on MyKC were whelped and registered in the UK, therefore we are happy to accept registrations from this bitch for 2 more litters"...