For owners
Members
ANKC Ltd has a National Breed Standards Group (NBSCG) formed with committee members from different States. They have appointed Marie Merchant (SA) as the Chair and the committee is made up with Geoff Love (SA), Peter Frost (VIC), Frank Waring (WA), Ian Rasmussen (QLD) and Jim Black (VIC).
The brief of this committee is to overview and manage the breed standards used by ANKC Ltd. We use standards from either the country of development, the Kennel Club (UK), American Kennel Club (AKC) or the FCI. It must be pointed out that the majority of standards are not owned by Australia but by the country of origin or their governing body.
As some breed standards differ slightly from organization to organization, the committee will consider which of the standards is most suitable for the Australian dog world. Should the majority of our breeders/owners feel that one standard is more suitable than the one being used, it is possible after a long and involved process involving all of the people in that breed to change the standard being used by one organization to another. As an example, this allows ANKC Ltd to change from an AKC standard to an FCI or an FCI to a Kennel Club (UK) standard, but it does not allow for the content of any standard to be changed in any way.
The important thing that members must realise is that a standard cannot be altered as they are the property of those organizations. However it is possible to change the standard in its entirety to another version, providing it has the support of a large majority of owners in Australia.
As mentioned previously ANKC Ltd does not own a majority of the breed standards, so we are not able to make a change to a standard. Only the country or organisation that owns a standard may make changes and if they do so, then once they notify ANKC Ltd, those changes will flow onto the breed standard that we use in Australia.
From time to time the NBSCG receives a request from a member or a breed club to change a breed standard, please be aware that we are not able to make any change to the actual standard we can only make a choice between the standards from those organizations.
Marie Merchant
Chairperson ANKC Ltd
Breed Standards Coordination Group
December 2014
Dogs Australia is a not-for-profit organisation advocating for the preservation of purebred dogs through ethical breeding.
It champions the highest standard of animal welfare through education and fostering dog-loving communities.
Internationally recognised and established in 1958 as the Australian National Kennel Council (ANKC),
the organisation promotes responsible dog ownership; maintains the ORCHID* heritable canine diseases database;
funds research into canine diseases; and supports state and territory-based member bodies.
Dogs Australia promotes breed conformation shows and community sports for dogs that fulfil a breed’s natural instincts.
