The largest purebred dog registry in the United States, and, in fact, the world, is the American Kennel Club, but it does not own the breed standards of the 189 breeds it currently recognizes – and we like it that way.
You may wonder what it takes to become AKC recognized. It often starts by getting recorded with an accepted registry (the national breed club or AKC’s Foundation Stock Service. The club must provide documentation such as a written history and a written breed standard along with photographs.
From there, it’s onto the miscellaneous class IF the following criteria is met: There has to be a minimum of 100 active household members in the breed. There has to be a sufficient population (minimum of 300-400 dogs) with a three-generation pedigree all dogs living in the US. and they have to be all the same breed, and the dogs and people must be located in 20 or more states. The AKC must review and approve the club’s breed standard, as well as the club’s constitution and by-laws. If a substantial interest and activity in the breed is demonstrated nationwide and all the criteria is met, the AKC Board of Directors considers the breed for the Miscellaneous Class.
Dogs typically compete in the Miscellaneous Class for one to three years. At the end of the first year, the National Breed Club is contacted for updates on the number of dogs and litters recorded, and the number of dogs who’ve entered events since being eligible to compete in the Miscellaneous Class.
Finally, the club must have held matches, local and national breed specialty shows, judges’ workshops and breed seminars.
When all obligations and requirements are met, the Board of Directors is provided the information is presented and considers full recognition and the breed’s appearance in the official Stud Book as an AKC recognized breed.
Three new breeds, for example, were added to the Foundation Stock Service Program last year: The Basset Fauve de Bretagna, the Russian Tsvetnaya Bolonka, and the Transylvanian Hound that’s seen in this image.
Photo posted by Erdelyi kopo to Wikicommons under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain