Anyone owns a breed of dog that is not AKC recognized?

In My Humble Opinion
21

We have 6 working Border Collies- they could be recognized by AKC but we refuse to register them. Unfortunately, they have extended the AKC books so the unethical folk in this world can still hijack the working border collie and register it in the AKC. Seems that so few folks wanted to register with AKC that they still don’t have a viable gene pool without stealing from the working lines.

We fought tooth and nail to prevent it- but the short story is that they have more cash.

I would advise anyone with a non-AKC working breed to get the name trademarked or somehow protected from their greasy hands.

22

Oh, the Ibizan stories I could share, romansperson - none of them good. For starters, Ibizans aren’t really a “true” sighthound, though they’re classified that way in the U.S. In Spain they hunt in packs, as much by scent as sight, and that’s part of why they’re so incredibly barky. The males tend to be fighters with other males, too, and I know of more than one male Ibizan that was severely maimed or killed by fighting with other Ibizans.

Temperment problems used to be rife in the breed, although I know that after I left there were several people going back to Spain for more stock so that may - may - have improved. However, given that I’ve met one former resident of Ibiza and one then-current resident of Majorca who couldn’t believe anyone would keep one in a home (they’re usually semi-feral on the islands, although the dogs exported to America always did come from more typical pedigree kennels), maybe not.

But the big thing no one likes to tell prospective owners are the widespread genetic disorders. It’s an old familiar story - one extremely and justificably popular stud dog spread some defective genes for epilepsy and a breed-specific degenerative nerve disorder into a tiny gene pool. By the time anyone knew what happened, the breed was in terrible shape. Without pointing too many specific fingers, let’s just say that many of hte people active in the breed back then were far more interested in (and I quote) “making their name by showing and winning big” and “making an impact with their breeding program” than they were with breeding healthy sane dogs.

Has the situation changed? Don’t know, don’t care to find out. I can’t imagine that even the most committed, coordinated breeding program could have turned the breed around from the tailspin it was in during the early 90’s when I had them, thuogh it has been done before. The Portugese Water Dog is a shining example of what can be accomplished, and they started from a much smaller and even more genetically precarious base population.

I could tell you what happened to my two Ibizans, and my friend’s Ibizan, and all the horror stories I learned when I started calling around the country trying to find out what was happening to my hounds. I could tell you the gist of the conversation I had with the breed’s genetic research coordinator (a truly wonderful vet who really was doing his best to educate breeders and document what was happening) I could tell you the story of the courageous woman who wastaking “wobbler” puppies from dog show to dog show to educate and warn people about what they were not being told.

But if I told those tales, everyone reading this thread would start crying. Especially me. :frowning:

Moral of the story? “Rare” breed does not necessarily mean “healthier.”

23

For several years before I met my wife, she had a white doberman. Not an albino, but a regular everyday doberman that happened to be white . They are not recognized at all by the AKC. My wife tells me that the ACK recommends (at least did at that time) they be put down at birth, so that they don’t continue to “conntaminate the gene pool.”

I’ve never been a fan of the AKC since then, even though my Lab is registered.

24

Selkie, thanks for the info … how very sad :(.

25

I have a Samoyed, #76 on the list. He is close to 100 pounds and much larger than most Samoyeds. A lot of people have said that he is the prettiest dog they have ever seen. He is great with people including my young daughter that loves to ride him and pound on him.

26

Beautiful dogs. Too bad it can’t survive in my country, The Bahamas.
:frowning:

27

FWIW, the AKC itself wouldn’t have been the group that advised euthanasia for non-standard colors; if there ever was such a recommendation, it would have issued from the breed’s parent club. Each parent club is a semi-autonomous unit within the AKC, and among its charges is maintaining the breed standard, sometimes issuing breeding guidelines, and other tasks related solely to that specific breed. Each club has a very different tone - the Saluki Club of America has always received my utmost admiration for their willingness to stand up to the AKC whenever it tries to apply a one-size-fits-all breed standard approach to their very diverse breed. The parent club for my own breed (which is no longer Ibizans), well… did I mention that breed clubs differ greatly from each other?

I doubt that even the Doberman breed club would be quite that blatant and public about recommending euthanasia for non-standard colored puppies. However, I wouldn’t be remotely surprised if there isn’t a lot of peer pressure within the Doberman breeding community to euthanise rather than admit the existence of those puppies. A friend of mine used to breed Boxers, and there was a similar situation regarding the puppies with too much white on them. All the breed standard says is that a dog with more than 1/3 white was to be disqualified from the show ring. In actual practice, white puppies were routinely put down at birth, using the (to me) spurious excuse that they were more prone to deafness. I say “spurious” because although there certainly were partially or completely deaf white puppies, no one I ever heard of made a point of testing the colored puppies for deafness unless they suspected a problem. Even if they were “more” likely to have hearing problems, by no means was every white puppy deaf.

28

I never did understand why white dobermans and white boxers get hearing problems but other white breeds do not. So it is actually to maintain standards?

29

It’s a shame, too, because that dog was both beautiful and very well mannered. I know that part of a dog’s termperment comes from its training, and both of the dobies were extremely well trained. The other one was a “regular” black doberman. As a result of leaving her first husband, she had to also leave the dogs, and it bothered her for quite some time. I met the dogs and her ex a couple of times, and was very impressed with both of them. The dogs, not so much the ex. :slight_smile:

If I had the money, I would definately get her another one.

30

I own 2 Gordon Setters , which come in at # 87 , and 2 Papillons , ranking #35 . Both wonderful breeds in their own right ,but the Gordies will always be #1 in my heart.

I would also love to have a Bloodhound someday , ranked at #50. But with the research I have done on the breed , it looks like they have a LOT of health issues, such as bloat, so I will give that a lot of thought. (Heh… been thinking about Bloodies since , oh, the late 80’s… :stuck_out_tongue: )

That is one thing I highly recommend… before you get any breed , DO THE RESEARCH. Don’t just fall for a cute puppy or the picture in a book of an elegant adult. Find out if that breed would really fit your lifestyle. That’s how pure-breds end up in shelters.

31

Add white Collies - which are recognized by their breed club - to the list. Going from memory, the Collie standard calls for white dogs to have splashes of color on them, particularly on the head, to reduce the likelihood that the dog will be deaf. I have major problems believing that line of reasoning, but that’s certainly the perception within both the Collie and Boxer communities…

I’m not in a position to give a definitive answer as to whether, or why, white dogs are more prone to deafness. My completely non-scientific impression is that people involved with breeds that are prone to deafness are simply much more likely to test their white puppies for problems than the normal-colored dogs, so it’s no surprise that they identify more partially deaf ones. Individual breed clubs may very well have conducted scientifically controlled studies that bear out the more white/greater likelihood of hearing difficulties correlation, but having never been involved with any of those breeds, I haven’t heard about any. Might be worth some research for someone who’s interested.

32

Some family friends of mine own a leonberger. They seems like really great dogs, but only if you’ve got the space for them. They’re big beasts and really enthusiastic about running and romping around, and always had a great time with the other neighborhood dogs. My neighbors have two small kids, and the dog was very good at putting up with them even at their brattiest moments. She wasn’t much in the way of a guard hound, though–she was a total coward! If you weren’t a member of their family and you made an approach to the neighbor’s house or her, she would bark and whine and then run away to hide from you. It might have just been the dog’s particular personality, but she would only let me pet her for a little while before she had to go run back to “mom”. But, they’re absolutely beautiful animals, with really pretty silky auburn coats, and seem like really good family/suburbia dogs.

33

jackelope
I know exactly how you feel about that one perfect pet; it is sort of an unforgettable love affair. That was how I felt about Tucker, my first English Mastiff, who passed away in 2004.
(We now have two English Mastiffs who are wonderful in their own ways. But there will never be another Tucker.)

The Carolina Dog looks very interesting to me. One of my younger mastiff’s best friends is a Native American Indian Dog. He is a very cool dog; tall and leggy and wolfish and fun-loving. Not sure if this type of dog is the same as the American Indian Dog and I wonder if there is also some relation to the Carolina Dog.
I don’t think any of these dogs are listed in the AKC.
Bluepitbull
I have met Leonbergers and they were wonderful. Lotta fur, though!
Also we’ve met a Fila Brasilero and Cane Corso, both of which vaguely resembled mastiffs and seemed to be very nice dogs.

34

The family dog, now owned by my parents since us kids all moved out, is a Lhasa Apso, #39 on the list.
We never let her hair grow long, like this, since she’s not a showdog. She looks more like this. (she really doesn’t mind those stupid things, she wears them around all day at Christmastime. Granted, someone puts them on her first, it’s not like she digs them out of the closet, dons them and calls it good. But you know what I mean. And yes, that goofy looking girl is me as a teenager.)

35

I have a breed certified mutt. :smiley: Our vet thinks she has a little yellow lab in her somewhere and maybe some Husky way way way down the line.

However, A and I want to eventually get two of the top 20, a Rottweiler and a Pug.

36

It’s too bad soda isn’t a member here any more, because she has a Coton; I know she’s very very happy with him, and he’s an adorable, sweet little dog.

A good breeder shouldn’t have a problem with you visiting to learn more about the dogs; a responsible owner will do the research before getting a puppy, and the breeder should be supportive of that. I have another friend who is thinking about getting a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy some time next year, and she visited a breeder recently to meet the adult dogs and make sure their temperament was suitable to what she’s looking for. A breeder who isn’t amenable to your visiting before making a decision to buy is probably one you should steer clear of, IMO.

37

I have a black chow chow, #61 on the list.

38

I have an English Setter (mine is a tricolor, similar to “Angel”, the fourth dog down), which is 95 on the AKC list. I really don’t know why they aren’t more popular since they’re great family pets and beautiful dogs. Actually I suspect they’re under-reported considering that many (most in this area) are bred for field work and probably not reported by the hunters who own them. The biggest drawback to the breed is their level of energy, but having a decent sized fenced in yard or time to take your dog to a park regularly (which you really should have if you’re considering any medium to large breed in any case) can take care of that. Ours have always been pretty quiet around the house unless it looks like you want to play with them, as long as they get at least some decent outside exercise time. They’re wonderful with children, other pets, and people (most guidebooks rate them as being good watch dogs–they will bark at strangers–but terrible guard dogs, because after the barking comes the licking, tail wagging, and general friendliness. Our dog “shakes hands” and “hugs”).

Unfortunately most of the official websites for the breed have pictures of the show-bred dogs with the really long fur which makes their hair look higher maintenance than it is (and I find they make the dogs look less attractive). Our dog, Tilghman, is field bred and his hair is clipped (it’s really only long on the tail, ears, and backs of the legs); he frequently gets mistaken for a dalmation. In fact, I recommend English setters as a more child-friendly alternative to any one whose kids become obsessed with dalmations after watching those dalmation movies (with the caveat that small children could be knocked over by an over-enthusiastic setter since they are medium to large dogs; Tilghman weighs in at 75 pounds, but our previous female, Liberty, weighed only 40).

39

There’s a very good article about the link between white pigment (or rather lack of pigment) and deafness here. Basically, in the inner ear there are hair cells that help conduct impulses to the nerves. Normally these cells are pigmented. In some white or mostly-white dogs (and this can affect any breed of dog, not just certain ones - I know a couple of deaf Greyhounds myself that are mostly white), the cells have no pigment, thus no conduction occurs and the dog is deaf.

40

Hm, I wonder if this is the same club that wanted to close their studbook to certain other members of the same breed, who apparently are just not good enough in some folks’ minds … mind you, I’m not asking you to answer that, just musing to myself! :wink: