2005 July 5-6 FCI Meeting

(FCI) General Assembly Meeting July 5 - 6, 2005

By Louis A. Fallon

At the Federation Cynologique Internationale (FCI) General Assembly meeting at the World Show in Buenos Aires July 5 and 6, 2005 it was announced that the name for the Great Japanese Dog in the eighty FCI countries has been officially changed to American Akita by the FCI General Assembly effective January 1, 2006. This was done at the request of the Japan Kennel Club, the country of origin for the two Akita breeds of dog. In addition the American Akita breed Group competition was changed from Group 2, to Group 5 which includes Spitz (Northern breeds) and primitive types of dog.

This information was distributed by a fax from the Japan Kennel Club to Dr. Sophia Kalukniacki, DVM, the supervising editor of the English translation for the 1998 Akita book of the Japan Kennel Club and the AKC Delegate from the Akita Club of America. Mr. Fisher the president of the German VDH and vice-president of the FCI, has also confirmed this information. The Federation Cynologique Internationale is the World Canine Organization. The FCI includes 80 members and contract partners, one member per country, that each issue their own pedigrees and train their own judges. The FCI makes sure that the pedigrees and judges are mutually recognized by all of the FCI member countries. The FCI website address is http://www.fci.be .

The Kennel Club in the United Kingdom (U.K) at a meeting on November 23, 2005 approved the recognition of the Japanese Akita Inu as a separate breed of dog, separate from the Akita breed of dog.

The following U.K. criteria will apply to the Japanese Akita Inu:

Breed Name - Japanese Akita Inu,

Group - Utility,

Eligibility - A dog will be eligible for the register if:

(a) all ancestors in a three generation pedigree are registered with the Japanese Kennel Club as a Japanese Akita Inu or trace all their ancestry back to such dogs or

(b) all ancestors in a three generation pedigree were registered as a Japanese Akita Inu within a register created by an FCI Kennel Club since their recognition in October 1998 or

(c) it has a three generation pedigree which is a combination of the above, provided all eight great-grandparents are either as specified in (a) or (b).

If a dog does not comply with the above, but there are exceptional circumstances, an application can be made to the Kennel Club Committee.

An Interim Breed Standard for the Japanese Akita Inu, based on that of the country of origin, will be produced by 1 January 2006.

The Kennel Club (U.K.) website is http://www.the-kennel-club.org.uk

In the United Kingdom the Akita is exhibited in the Utility Group. The Kennel Club utility group designates those dogs created for a specific purpose and this group consists of an extremely mixed and varied bunch, most breeds having been selectively bred to perform a specific function not included in the sporting and working dog categories. Some of the breeds listed in the group are the oldest documented breeds of dog in the world. The utility group includes; Akita, Boston Terrier, Bulldog, Canaan Dog, Chow Chow, Dalmatian, French Bulldog, German Spitz (Klein), German Spitz (Mittel), Japanese Shiba Inu, Japanese Spitz, Keeshond, Lhasa Apso, Mexican Hairless , Miniature Schnauzer, Poodle (Miniature), Poodle (Standard), Poodle (Toy), Schipperke, Schnauzer, Shar Pei, Shih Tzu, Tibetan Spaniel, and the Tibetan Terrier.

All three Akita clubs in the U.K. received official notification from The Kennel Club. The Akita Clubs in the U.K. are the JAPANESE AKITA ASSOCIATION, the JAPANESE AKITA CLUB OF SCOTLAND, the JAPANESE AKITA CLUB OF WALES, the JAPANESE AKITA-INU CLUB UK (proposed) and the JAPANESE AKITA CLUB OF GREAT BRITAIN (proposed).