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 dog breed 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, whatever the job may have been.
From large and powerful working dogs meant to serve as guard dogs or protectors, to tiny toy breeds bred entirely 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:
- dogs come in more shapes and sizes than any other mammal on the planet?
- there are more than 400 dog breeds?
- there are more than 400 MILLION dogs worldwide (making there 1000's of times more dogs than wolves)?
- the AKC recognizes over 150 breeds of dogs currently
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 exact dog 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.
The AKC, dedicated to the purebred dog, has been around since 1884, started by a group of twelve dedicated sportsmen, continues to be a leader in promoting dog related issues such as health, training and breed related issues.
