American Kennel Club Dog Groups

American Kennel Club dog categories
The American Kennel Club recognizes dog breeds which in AKC sanctioned events or dog shows if you will allows dog breeds to be placed in categories for the purpose of winning best -in-show status for any given event. According to the article I used to research this story there are 172 recognized breeds of dogs in America that qualify to AKC standards as a unique breed of dog. The requirement for being a breed includes among other things that the breed contains enough dogs in that category to genetically sustain a healthy population...inbreeding of dogs or mating with too-close relatives of individual dogs will incline the population to retain recessive traits or traits that will manifest bad characteristics that will further diminish the health of the breed as a sustainable population. Inbreeding in dogs will promote unhealthy characteristics that are numerous and are particular to certain breeds...they are varied and are specific to certain breeds of dogs. The American Kennel Club recognition of a breed is in a sense an indication of the strength and sustainability of a breed.

The American Kennel Club used to recognize just two groups of dogs, but as time has passed since their begining in 1884 there have emerged seven groups of dogs which are visibly displayed to onlookers in AKC events around the country. Each of the seven groups of dogs compete against each other in dog shows around the United States, but the initial competition in these shows is within each of the seven groups to determine the best particular dog in each category. After each group has been displayed to the crowd and has been scrutinized by the judges a winner is chosen. The narrowing down is exciting as several dogs are first chosen in a sort of top ten list: these top dogs are lined up to the crowd and the judge picks the one he or she chooses as best from the already narrowed-down field. This is done for each of the seven groups the AKC has developed over the 127 years of its existence to categorize do breeds.

Here are the seven AKC groups of dog breeds which they use to organize the dog breeds into understandable and practical classifications.

Herd Dogs
There are twenty six breeds in the herd dog category which is the newest of the dog groups having been created in 1983. Theses breeds used to be part of the working dog group. This group contains the Australian Cattledog, Bearded Collie, Beauceron, Belgian Malinois, Belgian Sheepdog, Belgian Tervurean, Rough Collie, German Collie, Shetland Sheepdog, Australian Sheepdog, Border Collie, Bouvier de Flandres, Briard, Canaan Dog, Cardigan Welsh Corgi, Collie, Entlebucher Mountain Dog, German Shepherd, Icelandic Sheepdog, Norwegian Buhund, Old English Sheepdog, Penbroke Welsh Corgi, Polish Lowland, Puli, Pyrenean Shepherd and the Swedish Valhund.

Hound Dogs
In the hound dog group there are twenty five breeds. In this group are the Beagle, Greyhound, Whippet, Borzoi, Basenji, Basset Hound, Saluki, Afghan and the Irish Wolfhound. There are several more: the American Foxhound, Black and Tan Coonhound, Bloodhound, Bluetick Coonhound, Dachsund, English Foxhound, Harrier, Ibizan Hound, Norwegian Elkhound, Otterhound, Petit Basset Griffon Vendean, Pharaoh Hound, Plott, Redbone Coonhound, Rhodesian Ridgeback and the Scottish Deerhound. The hound dog group can be further narrowed down to sight hounds and scent hounds. An easy way to uunderstand who is is a scent hound and who is a sight hound can be determined by size. The small dogs who are close to the ground are scent hounds: the Beagle is a scent hound. Sight hounds are big dogs: the Whippet is a sight hound. It tracks by sight which is understandable since they are a tall breed. Whippets are also very fast: they were trained to hunt Gazelles in Africa milleniums ago.

Working Dogs
The working dog group which has twenty eight breeds in it includes large dogs: dogs used to guard in many cases. In this group are the Rottweiller, Boxer, Mastiff, Alaskan Malamut, Portugese Water Dog and Doberman Pinscher. There are more: Anatolian Shepherd Dog, Bernese Mountain Dog, Black Russian Terrier, Bull Mastiff, Cane Corso, Dogue de Bordeaux, German Pinscher, Giant Schnauzer, Great Dane, Great Pyrenees, Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, Komondor, Kuvasz, Leonberger, Neapolitan Mastiff, Newfoundland, Saint Bernard, Samoyed, Siberian Husky, Standard Schnauzer and Tibetan Mastiff.

Toy Group
The toy group has twenty one breeds. These dogs are thought of as companion dogs. The group contains the Chihuahua, Toy Fox Terrier, Maltese and Papillon. There are a lot more: the Affenpinscher, Brussels Griffon, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Chinese Crested, English Toy Spaniel, Havanese, Italian Greyhound, Japanese Chen, Manchester Terrier, Miniature Pinscher, Pekingese, Pomeranian, Poodle, Pug, Shih Tzu, Silky Terrier and Yorkshire Terrier.

Terriers
The terriers group has twenty seven breeds in it. In it are the Wire Fox Terrier and the Bull Terrier. There are more: the Airedale Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Australian Terrier, Bedlington Terrier, Border Terrier, Cairne Terrier, Dandie Dinmont Terrier, Glen of Imaal Terrier, Irish Terrier, Kerry Blue Terrier, Lakeland Terrier, Manchester Terrier, Miniature Bull Terrier, Miniature Schnauzer, Norfolk Terrier, Norwich Terrier, Parson Russell Terrier, Sealyham Terrier, Skye Terrier, Smooth Fox Terrier, Soft Coated Wheaten Terrrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Welsh Terrier and West Highland White Terrier.


Sporting Group
The sporting group of dogs has twenty eight breeds in it. In this group of dogs are the Weimeraner and English Setter. Additionally the group contains the American Water Spaniel, Boykin Spaniel, Brittany, Chesapeke Bay Retriever, Clumber Spaniel, Cocker Spaniel, Curly Coated Retriever, English Cocker Spaniel, English Springer Spaniel, Field Spaniel, Flat Coated Retriever, German Short Haired Pointer, German Wire Haired Pointer, Golden Retriever, Gordon Setter, Irish Red & White Setter, Australian Setter, Irish Water Spaniel, Labrador Retriever, Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, Pointer, Spinone Italiano, Sussex Spaniel, Vizsla, Welsh Springer Spaniel and Wire Haired Pointed Griffon.

Non- sporting Group
The Non-sporting group has 19 breeds in it. In this group are the Chow Chow, Lhasa Apso, Tibetan Terrier and the Boston Terrier. There are more: the American Eskimo Dog, Bichon Frise, Bulldog, Chinese Shar-Pei, Dalmatian, Finnish Spitz, French Bulldog, Keeshond, Lowchen, Norwegian Lundehund, Poodle, Schipperke, Shiba Inu, Tibetan Spaniel and Xoloitzcuintli.

Resources:
AKC Explained
AKC.org