Mixed Breeds Welcome
The AKC has always been an advocate for dogs, but originally its programs and services were restricted to purebred dogs. However, that all changed with the AKC’s new program for mixed breeds called Canine Partners. AKC’s Canine Partners offers the opportunity for any dog, including mixed breed and other previously non-eligible breeds, to become AKC registered and to participate in dog sports such as agility, obedience, rally, tracking, and coursing ability. As of October 1, 2009, owners could start enrolling their mixed breed dogs with the AKC’s Canine Partner program and then beginning April 1, 2010 enrolled dogs were eligible to compete in several dog sports. According to the AKC’s website for Canine Partners, “Canine Partners provides an enhanced relationship between people and their dogs and allows them to connect with other dog owners.” One of the benefits of joining the program according to the AKC is to be able to “keep your dog fit — both physically and mentally — through the exciting world of dog sports.”
Other agility organizations including Canine Performance Events (CPE), the United States Dog Agility Association (USDAA), the North American Dog Agility Council (NADAC), and the Teacup Dog Agility Association (TDAA) always allowed any breed, including mixed breeds, to participate in their agility competitions. However, before Canine Partners, mixed breed dog owners were left out of participating in AKC agility competitions. Since AKC is the largest agility organization and has the most competitions in the tristate area, this often times meant that owners of mixed breed dogs were going long distances to compete in other organizations or were missing out on the chance to compete at all.
Cheryl Ulissi, who owns a mixed breed dog, said she was glad that AKC made the change to allow mixed breeds to compete in dog sports because “there are more local trials with the AKC.” She thinks the Canine Partners is “great because it gets more people involved with their dog.” She says she participates in AKC agility “to be with my dogs and have fun!”
Diane Murray, who also owns mixed breed dogs and belonged to NADAC and CPE, says that she registered for AKC “because one of my good friends who is in agility wanted me to be able to hang out with her and her dogs and she changed over to AKC.” She said “it is definitely a sport that is more fun if you have people you know to hang around with.” She went onto say that what organization she competes in doesn’t matter to her, “it’s more about how organized, fair, and friendly they are, and how reasonable their scoring is.”
Sue Jones, who owns purebred dogs, is glad that AKC made this change “because every dog deserves to have fun and to build the comradery between the dog and the owner.”
According to the 2016 Year End MACH statistics the top dog among mixed breeds (what AKC calls “All American”) is MACH8 Feel The Need MXB3 MJG3 MFG TQX T2B8 CGC owned by Janet K Boggs.
In the Canine Partners App the AKC says “we think of ourselves as the dog’s champion, and by being more inclusive we’re making the world a better place for ALL dogs and the people who love ’em. That’s really why we launched the AKC Canine Partners program.”
