What Are The 8 Akc Dog Groups?

Did you know that the AKC (American Kennel Club) recognizes 8 dog breed groups? These include the sporting, hound, working, terrier, toy, non-sporting, terrier and miscellaneous groups.

Dogs are assigned to a specific group based on the purpose for which the dog was originally bred or has been used for historically. For example, dogs in the herding group are well suited to herding animals such as cows or sheep.

Over the years, man has worked to select and hone a number of specific traits desirable in a particular breed of dog to make it do any number of jobs. Beginning with the wolf, animals that were less afraid of humans eventually became incorporated into the human society, becoming companions and eventually able bodies workers. From there, people continued to create dogs that were best suited to fit the needs of man.

From large and powerful working dogs meant to serve as guards, to tiny toy breeds for companionship, dogs span a wide range of sizes and attributes. Due to human intervention, there are more breeds of dog than varieties of any other mammal on earth today! Did you know that there are over 400 different breeds of dog today and that the AKC recognizes over 150 of them?

The path to AKC breed recognition involves first proving that there is sufficient national interest in the breed, followed by admission to the miscellaneous group, where they may compete in limited AKC competitions. If a miscellaneous dog breed demonstrates enough interest and growth, it will be entered in the AKC stud book and eventually admitted to a regular group.

Once this full membership has been granted, the dog breed is allowed to compete in all AKC events such as Obedience, Lure Coursing, Agility, etc. The conformation show is one of the best known of all the competitions sponsored by the AKC.

In a conformation dog show, dogs are judged by experts against a specific dog breed standard for such characteristics as size, color, gait and temperament. Dogs first must compete against others of the same breed, before moving on to compete against dogs from other breeds within the same group to eventually be considered for best in show - meaning that they are the best of the best for that particular event.

If you're like a lot of people you probably have a lot of unanswered questions about dogs or puppies - maybe even purebred dogs specifically. Interested in learning more about any particular dog breed group, or specific dog breed? Please visit this great dog website , pedigreedpups , to learn lots more.