Breeds & registries
Fédération Cynologique Internationale
The international federation of national kennel clubs, which recognises breeds, sorts them into ten groups and lets each breed's country of origin write its standard.
The FCI does not run a studbook of its own. Its members do — one national kennel club per country — and the federation mutually recognises their pedigrees, so a dog registered in Italy is recognised in Finland. Breeds are filed into ten groups by function and type, which is why a European breed listing looks unfamiliar to anyone used to the American groups.
Its distinctive rule is that a breed's standard belongs to its country of origin. The Italian club writes the standard for Italian breeds and everyone else translates it, which keeps the definition where the breed came from.
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AKCThe main US registry, which keeps its own studbook, recognises a shorter list of breeds than the FCI and sorts them into seven groups.Breed standardThe written description a registry holds for a breed — proportions, coat, movement, temperament — and the document judges score against in the ring.MerleA coat pattern that dilutes patches of pigment into a mottled marbling — and a gene with real consequences when two merles are bred together.BrachycephalicShort-headed — a skull bred shorter front to back, producing the flat face of Pugs, French Bulldogs and Persians.PedigreeA registered record of an animal's ancestors — a family tree issued by a registry, not a guarantee of health or quality.OutcrossingBringing in unrelated animals — sometimes from another breed entirely — to widen a gene pool that has become too narrow to breed out of.