…Establishing a new breed of dog?
Are you in the United States? From the American Kennel Club:
First, you have to form a breed club, to establish the standards of your breed. This will include: A written breed standard approved by the parent club, a history of the breed’s evolution, including mention of any breeds that were combined in an effort to produce the current specimens of the breed, and photos of the dogs representing the way the parent club believes the breed should look.
All of this information is turned over to the Staff Executive Committee which will take everything into consideration and either deny or allow the rare breed to move forward with the recognition process.
If the rare breed is accepted into the Foundation Stock Service, the parent club can then apply for permission to compete in the Miscellaneous Class at AKC dog shows. To be approved, certain conditions must be met.
The parent club must have a minimum of 100 active members, and the registry must contain at least 300 dogs of the rare breed. Each of these dogs must have a three-generation pedigree on record, and all dogs listed within those pedigrees must be actual specimens of the rare breed itself, not any of the foundation breeds that were used to create the rare breed. The registry must also show a wide distribution of the breed across the USA, at least in twenty states.
AKC representatives will make observations of the breed, and a final decision will be rendered whether or not to allow competition at this time. If competition is approved, most rare breeds will spend anywhere from one to three years competing in the Miscellaneous Class, as AKC tracks the breed’s growth and participation in the competitions.
In the meantime, the National Breed Club is also expected to grow and hold practice matches, eventually working up to national specialty shows. The club is also expected to hold judge’s workshops to help educate AKC judges about the breed’s desired conformation and disposition.
It’s a long road, but if all the requirements are fulfilled along the way, a rare breed can move through the process to become one of the fully recognized AKC dog breeds, with rights to full registration, and competition in regular AKC dog show classes. Admiration must go out to the individuals work so long and hard to achieve this recognition. Without them, where would the world of purebred dogs be?
I imagine it would be similar in the U.K. and other countries with large dog breed organizations.
Moirai
June 21, 2008, 2:13am
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The Shiloh Shepherd is in that process right now- it’s going to be a great breed.