About the ALFA-Europe Foundation

Founding ALFA-Europe

Because of the increasing popularity of the Australian Labradoodle a lot of breeders in Europe, especially in England and the Netherlands started to breed Australian Labradoodles. In the beginning of 2009, there was an attempt to come to an agreement between these Australian Labradoodle breeders. Unfortunately, this attempt failed because of different opinions about the breeding program.

Nowadays there are many breeders who are breeding a wide variety of poodle crosses under the name Australian Labradoodle. All those breeders are trying to promote their dogs with the help of flashy websites. Therefore, it is quite understandable that puppy buyers who try to gather information about the Australian Labradoodle become easily confused by the huge amount of conflicting information.

On top of that you have to realize that the Australian Labradoodle breed is not recognized by European’s most important registry, the FCI, Féderation Canine Internationale. This means that most Australian Labradoodle breeders are not controlled at all.

In the opinion of ALFA-Europe, the puppy buyer who is looking for an Authentic Australian Labradoodle has to be protected against the ever-growing number of breeders of all kinds of Poodle crosses who sell their puppies under the name of Australian Labradoodle. Often sold for absurdly high prices, with no or very minimal control of the health and parentage of the pet puppies sold.

These facts are the most important reasons why the founders of ALFA-Europe decided to establish a transparent registry for authentic Australian Labradoodles, from now on known as AES Australian Labradoodles. ALFA-Europe was founded on 27 April 2009.

Why ALFA-Europe is a Foundation and not a club or association

A Foundation, a Club as well as an Association are all legal entities.

A Club and Association have members (characterized by a democratic structure, once a year there is an annual meeting and every member has a vote).

A Foundation doesn’t have members but a board of governors.

Although the democratic structure is the most commonly used organization structure, it is not always beneficial for every organization. We will give you an example: Each member of a Club or Association can have influence on the Rules and Regulations, even the Breeding rules as well as the breed standard can be changed by its democratic structure according to the “one man one vote” principle. Consequently when at the annual meeting, the breeding rules and regulations are a point of discussion (i.e. on the agenda), lobbying by large breeders can prevent sensible breeding rules connected to health issues from being turned down. This has led to health problems in several breeds.

ALFA-Europe believes that this democratic structure is the most important reason why the health of a lot of breeds is in such poor condition. The founders of ALFA-Europe wanted to prevent history from repeating itself. That is why ALFA-Europe has been organized as a foundation.

A foundation has board members and statues only. The fundamental rulings of a foundation are laid down in the statues of the foundation, which are made up in a notary office. The Board is allowed to make additional regulations, such as a Code of Ethics as well as Breeding rules and Registration regulations. But always in line with the vision of Statues of ALFA-Europe.

About the Board of ALFA-Europe

Harja and Peter Schrijver of Rudzhi’s Apparition and Angela and Pako Verkoelen of Cymbrogi founded the Foundation ALFA-Europe, on 27 April 2009. These four people formed the first Board.

The board members are working on a voluntary basis and will not be paid.

The foundation of ALFA-Europe is registered with the Chamber of Commerce in Venlo, The Netherlands under number: 14114984

The present board consists of:

Chairman

Edyta Gajewska-Dziekan

Secretary

Lucie Kučerová 

Treasurer

Piotr Dziekan