# person using kennel name



## spellbound maltese (Apr 19, 2020)

hi i am helene chris rezek of spellbound maltese ,i live in joppa maryland,i have been breeding and showing maltese for 35yrs. have been a member of the american maltese asso. for over 30yrs.it has come to my attenention that there is a lady named sara ellis selling maltese pups in ID. using my spellbound name,she is also using spellbound as a email .i have been intouch with akc, and am now dealing with this.but as akc. is on a small staff it could that a while. please be advised that this person has nothing to do with me.


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## Snuggle's Mom (Jan 3, 2008)

Did you try to contact this person??? Curious to know what she said when/if you did??


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## spellbound maltese (Apr 19, 2020)

i did not want to get upset,so i will let akc handle ,i know it could not be anything good as her email is also the same as mine just another carrier.


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## SaraE (Oct 3, 2020)

Hello, I joined this forum just now in order to respond to this post. I think that's only fair since I was personally named in it and deserve to be able to state my position in public since I was brought up in public in this manner. First of all, my apologies to Ms. Rezek for my unwitting use of the same name. I was completely unaware of her or the name of her kennel until I received a message from her through AKC Marketplace yesterday. Without knowing of her at all I just liked the name Spellbound and had a zillion adorable combinations in mind for names following it for my dogs. 

AKC had no problem registering my dogs as Spellbound's .... and over the course of several years registered several dogs in exactly that way. Upon receiving Ms. rezek's message I promptly called the AKC & spoke with customer service -- twice - and was assured each time that #1 they wouldn't have registered my dogs if the name was a registered kennel name, and #2 that the name I was using was NOT a protected name. Then, a few hours later I received an email from the Kennel Names division at AKC which stated that all variations of Spellbound, Spellbound's etc were protected and I would need to change my marketplace name - so, very upset & confused by the mixed messages I called AKC once again and this time they put me through to the Kennel Name division where a lady explained that Ms. Rezek had registered the kennel name Spellbound Maltese as of SEPT 2020 and so now it and all of its variations were protected names and no additional dogs I own could be registered with any variation of that name going forward. For truth's sake, my email address -- the ONLY email I have, doesn't even have the work Spellbound, Maltese, or anything to do with dogs in it at all, so I don't know what she's talking about regarding that but it isn't truthful. I do have a facebook page for my dogs which, since they were all named Spellbound's whatever is called Spellbound -- and clearly noted to be in Idaho so there was never any intent or attempt to confuse anyone (ie: no ill intent). 

Since she says she's been using that name for many years I can understand her being upset... I'm not sure why she never registered it until after I came along and got started with the breed, but here we are. I can't really be upset with her too much, except perhaps for handling things like this, I am upset with myself to a degree for not digging further first to discover that there was such a thing as a Spellbound Maltese already out there somewhere, and although I'm definitely rocked, hurt, and crushed by now needing to rename my page, I can't really fault the AKC too much either. It is a bit nasty that they had no problem registering my dogs that way, but then some years later come along and say, bang, somebody just registered a kennel with the name so now you can't any more.

My family feels shell shocked right now. I've told the kids to try to think up a new name they like, and once they do I'll not only Google it, but also call the AKC Kennel name dept and make sure it isn't protected before I rename my FB page -- I just hope someone doesn't come along several years later & register it as a kennel name with the AKC and sweep the rug out from beneath my feet again before I can. See the AKC has requirements for showing, litters, and time before you can register -- I was in the process of joining our local kennel club when the pandemic hit... well, all of that's besides the point. That's all I came by to say -- since the OP felt the need to do her post I felt it only fair to be able to respond. Thank you.


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