Central Virginia Pets: Mutts get shot at AKC fame and glory

If you ever dreamed of your mutt taking home the blue ribbon in an American Kennel Club event, you will soon have your chance.

Starting next spring, the venerable American Kennel Club (AKC), the largest purebred dog registry in America, is going to let its local member clubs offer AKC-sanctioned competitions for mixed breed dogs.

To compete you need to join the new AKC mixed breed listing service. It’s not a purebred registry, so you won’t be able to say you have an AKC registered collie-shepherd-retriever dog. But you will be able to compete and enjoy the other benefits of AKC membership. You can join the listing service at http://www.akc.org.

The events will be for classes in obedience, agility and rally (i.e., not based on conformation to breed standards) and they will be stand-alone, meaning mixed breeds and purebreds will compete separately.

It seems hoity-toity, but AKC spokeswoman Lisa Peterson says the AKC mission traditionally has supported both purebreds and not-so-purebreds. For instance, the AKC mission to promote responsible pet ownership applies to all dogs. AKC donations to canine medical research benefit all dogs. And mixed breeds already can participate in some AKC programs, such as the Good Canine Citizen.

Competition, however, was always off-limits. On its Web site, AKC recognizes that its “ability to influence legislation and public opinion is directly related to the total number of dog owners we represent,” and so the change.

That sounds a bit mercenary. Peterson assures me that the organization also wants to extend its passion for developing people-pooch partnerships though competition. Peterson cracked her dry, earnest composure when she explained, “You really are taking pet ownership to another level. It’s a wonderful thing to experience; the dogs enjoy the challenge. For an owner to see the happiness in the dogs’ eyes when training is really something,” she says.

No matter what the AKC motivation, Allen Armistead, the president of the Dog Owners Training Club of Lynchburg (http://www.dotclynchburg.org), says the move will open up more competition opportunities for mixed breeds. His club plans to offer AKC sanctioned mixed breed classes; DOTC has held mixed-breed competitions for years under the auspices of AKC’s rival, the United Kennel Club. UKC events, Armistead says, showed mixed breed owners “that their dogs can do these things. They can go into the ring and earn titles.” The response to those classes has been good, with owners “very appreciative that we are offering something.”

There aren’t a lot of UKC mixed-breed events around our region, so Armistead sees more opportunities with the AKC rule change. Start training now, and next year your mutt can strut her stuff under the banner of one of the oldest canine organizations in America.