THE AMERICAN KENNEL CLUB
James P. Crowley
Secretary
May 3,1999
Rita Biddle, President
Akita Club of America
12525 S. Forest Hill Rd.
Eagle, Ml 48822
Dear Rita,
This is a follow-up to a meeting at AKC between Dennis Sprung
and myself and the committee for ACA preparing the opinion poll.
I just want to be certain that there is no misunderstanding as
to AKC's position.
First of all, AKC is completely neutral on the question of
dividing the Akita breed. The AKC Board will not even consider
the question unless it is asked to do so by the ACA.
Much of the discussion at this meeting dealt with how the breed
would be split. If the ACA requests the AKC to consider this,
the final determination as to if and how it would be done would
rest with the AKC Board, of course, considering the input of
ACA. Dennis and myself could say what the board would probably
approve or not approve based upon the logistics and precedents.
Until a formal detailed proposal is made, however, we could not
guarantee that the AKC Board will act favorably on it.
There were questions on requirements for a new breed. In the
most recent cases the Board has required a foundation stock in
the mid-hundreds, with a good geographic distribution of owners
and breeders with several different lines to ensure a sufficient
gene pool. I
deliberately did not give absolute minimums on any of these
items, as we try to be as flexible as possible in evaluating
each case fairly and reasonably.
If the numbers are too small to warrant immediate show
eligibility as a breed in the Working Group, temporary
assignment to the Miscellaneous Class is an option. Dogs in
Miscellaneous have full registration but just can't compete for
show championships. When the numbers have been built up through
breeding, imports and/or open registration, the breed would be
moved into the Working Group for competition unless the ACA
requests another group.
Open registration has been used for a number of new breeds, e.g.
Australian Shepherds, Border Collies, Cavaliers. For a set period
requested by the Parent Club., usually 1-3 years, AKC will
accept the pedigrees of a single breed registry in the U.S. With
JKC concurrence, that could include a breed registry in Japan
maintaining records for dogs in the U.S.
The ballot should make it clear that the membership does or does
not want to consider a split before the club goes to the time,
expense, and effort of preparing and voting on club bylaw
amendments and on amendments to the existing Akita standard as
well as the preparation of a new one for the new breed. While
the decision rests with ACA, it would seem that there should be
at least 2/3 answering the poll favorably in order to proceed.
If a bare majority is in favor of the split, it would be highly
unlikely that the 2/3 necessary for bylaw and standard changes
would be forthcoming later.
As to the method of splitting, if approved by ACA and AKC,
pedigrees, rather than phenotype, was suggested. In my personal
opinion, and I emphasize it is not official AKC opinion, this
seems to make the most sense. It is clean, will not result in
split litters and will avoid disputes based on subjective
opinions for dogs that could go either way.
I am sure other issues will come up, particularly after the FCI
acts in June. If the club has any other questions, please feel
free to contact me.
Sincerely,
James P. Crowley
