The Foundation Stock Service is an optional record keeping service for all purebred breeds not currently registrable with the American Kennel Club. The AKC has more than 100 years of experience protecting the integrity of registries for purebred dogs.

Additionally, the Chinook breed along with nearly half of the FSS breeds, meets the requirements to be eligible to compete in all venues of AKC Companion Events (obedience, tracking, agility and rally) as an FSS breed. We can participate in these right now!

While not a requirement to move into the Miscellaneous Class and on to full AKC recongnition, the FSS is a great place for rare breeds to start and there are currently more than 60 breeds taking advantage of the program.
American Kennel Club Foundation Stock Service
AKC Companion Events
AKC FSS Breeds

Miscellaneous class is the next step from FSS toward full recognition. It gives new breeds a chance to show in the AKC breed ring and it's an opportunity for judges to see what new breeds they may be judging.

The AKC is active in a variety of Canine health intiatives through the Canine Health Foundation, as Oct 10, 2006, approved $1.1 million in research grants. Specifically, the Foundation is supporting research for cancer, atrial fibrillation and dilated cardiomyopathy, male infertility, vaccine-associated allergic reactions, dermatomyositis, degenerative myelopathy and neurodegenerative disorders (www.akcchf.org for abstracts on each research project). Founded in 1995, The American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation is the largest non-profit funder of exclusively canine research in the world. CHF affiliate OFA is also a major contributor to research. CHF and OFA together run the largest canine health database. CHF offers opportunities for both broad spectrum research as well as breed specific studies. The AKC has resources for both dog owners and veterinarians aiding Vets in continuing education, sharing ideas and information and helping owners to find the right vet for their pet.
AKC Health
AKC CHF

Absolutely, AKC Companion Animal Recovery was founded in 1995 to help reunite lost pets with their owners. AKC CAR provides 24-hour recovery services for pets that are identified with a microchip, tattoo, or AKC CAR collar tag. AKC CAR, located in Raleigh, NC, is an affiliate of the American Kennel Club and is the nation's largest non-profit recovery service provider.
AKC CAR

Breeders will find the AKC more than ready to assist them in producing healthy dogs. Besides registration services and DNA verification, they offer breeder's seminars and a quarterly newsletters with expert advice on all aspects of breeding whether that include breeding, whelping, raising pups, genetics, health screening. They have a "how-to" portion on their website to get you thinking as well as many online articles.
AKC Seminars
AKC Responsible Breeding

Grace Anderson of Winterset Chinooks (CCA Founder) contacted the AKC about recognition as early as 1989. But it wasn't until 1998 when Cheryl Colligan (CCA Founder) began to seriously pursue AKC FSS. Chinooks Worldwide (now Chinook Dog Club of America) formed a task force the next year consisting of Cheryl and Rick Skoglund and talks between FSS and the Chinook breed began in earnest.
A Timeline of Chinook Clubs, Breed Recognition and Registry History (11K PDF)

CCA is unsure where this urban myth came from, but it is completely untrue. The Chinook breed went to the AKC and applied for recognition, the AKC did not come to us - nor do they go to any breed or recruit breed clubs. They don't have to go to any breed, they currently have 60 breeds in FSS, and many more who have petitioned to enter FSS or would like to go directly into Miscellaneous Class. All of these came to the AKC, along with the hundreds of breeds they already recognize.
American Kennel Club Foundation Stock Service

No, the recognition of our breed in AKC will continue forward. When CDCA (at the time CWW) submitted their registry of Chinooks, they did so with the majority vote of the club membership and unanimous vote of the BOD in support. The registrar and BOD did so knowing full well that once given, the registry became the property of AKC and CDCA would no longer have any control or ownership of that registry. The registration of the Chinooks in the AKC FSS registry cannot be undone. There is no going back, starting over, or calling it off. Once the registry was submitted, the course was set. In exchange, our breed will get an extensive health database, a registry overseen by impartial eyes, opportunities to participate in health studies and a multitude of activities and events. CCA founders recognized the irrevocability of the AKC application and realized a club with real involvement and knowledge of the AKC would be needed to promote and protect our amazing dogs.

The AKC has no control over the content of a breed's standard, only the format. They have a standardized format to make it easier for judges to learn different standards and they have been known to make suggestions to clarify the different areas of the standard. They can reject a standard for not fitting the format or if they feel it is too vague. But AKC does not write the standard for any breed, the parent club does and the breeders are responsible for the judges' education.

According to the AKC, the Chinook will most likely be accepted into Miscellaneous Class in Jan. 2008.

Active involvement in the AKC parent club will give Chinook owners a leg-up in getting familiar with the AKC and smooth the transition. The AKC believes involvement in AKC events is a good way to learn the ropes, as is joining an AKC all-breed or performance club and volunteer to work at shows and events. The AKC can help you find an all-breed or performance AKC club near you.
AKC Club Search

Chinooks are currently allowed to compete in Canine Good Citizen, Obedience, Agility, Rally Obedience, and Tracking events. If you are new to showing your dog, the AKC has many online articles and resources to get you started.
AKC Events

A purebred population is by definition a closed breeding group. The AKC is known as the world's largest purebred registry. It is not surprising that they want to maintain that purebred registry by not allowing any crosses from any breed to be registered as purebreds. The AKC is not singling out the Chinook. The Chinook is not the first breed, or even the first rare breed with small numbers, to attempt a crossbreeding program. In the American Kennel Club's 120 years of experience, it has seen these programs fail time and time again. Unfortunately, when these programs have failed, the AKC has been left to clean up the issues of which registrations to pull, angry owners, etc. Thus, their policy about not accepting any cross programs was born - it has simply been more trouble, time, money and anguish than it was worth.

No progeny of the COA's Chinook Cross Program have been AKC registered to date.

The Chinook community must remember that the cross program proponents are asking the AKC to make an exception for one breed out of hundreds, a handful of breeders out of thousands and a hundred dogs out of tens of thousands.

The most successful cross program to date has been in the Dalmatian breed. The Dalmatian breed was already fully recognized and under the auspices of the AKC when this program began. Here are some quick facts about their program.

• Dalmatians carry a lethal autosomal recessive gene related to high urinary uric acid (UUA) concentration
• The gene is carried by every single living Dalmatian so even strict breeder selection methods would only maintain the status quo
• The program involved one breeding to one Pointer, the only Pointer to be involved, now or in the future
• The 5th generation progeny from the program were considered pure (31/32, or 96.9%) and were completely free of the gene
• Because of the program, ongoing research was able to discover a marker to flag which dogs have the gene with a simple DNA test, in order to help with selective breeding in the purebred population
• The program has been supervised, from the beginning by Robert H. Schaible, Ph.D. in Genetics with a minor in animal breeding and vertebrate embryology, an Assistant Professor of Medical Genetics, and a breeder/exhibitor for over thirty years

With the support of the AKC and the Dalmatian Club of America's Board of Directors, a 5th generation dog and bitch were given purebred status and AKC registration in 1981. However, it was highly controversial and the members of the Dalmatian Club of America voted to ban registrations on their progeny. In June of 2006 the members were presented with a ballot to vote on lifting the ban, but the results of that ballot have not yet been published.
A Dalmatian Study: The Genetic Correction of Health Problems
An Overview of the Backcross Project

Some CCA members have been involved in the AKC FSS process longer than anyone else in the breed and the American Kennel Club has never stated that it would allow the inclusion of dogs from a crossbreeding program into its registry. Statements that the AKC has gone back on its agreement to accept dogs from the cross program are completely untrue.

Yes, but only on a case by case basis, usually with regard to dogs historical in some way to a breed or from a time where complete DNA is impossible to acquire. The AKC understands that the founders of just about any breed include mixes and that old records can be incomplete or erroneous, but it does make sense that they will not accept dogs with a clear history showing they are not purebred. Only one Chinook, Northdown Nugget (1989-2003), whose pedigree is questionable, was examined by the AKC on an individual basis and allowed to be included as a historical Chinook. Nugget was never part of a Chinook crossbreeding program. Another dog that people seem confused about it is Howlin Hills Genesee, registered to Amanda Bays. She was submitted to the AKC as a purebred and later confirmed as purebred through DNA, but had to go through the COA in order to correct her pedigree in the UKC where she was incorrectly listed as a cross.

There are several reasons. We are a young breed and our experience is extremely limited and narrowly focused on just Chinooks. The AKC has 120 years experience with hundreds of breeds. It makes sense to rely on that experience and expertise. The AKC has many resources to help breeders with sound breeding practices that will improve their lines without going outside of the breed. The Chinook should look to the successful breeding practices of other small, rare breeds who have improved their purebred stock with careful breeding practices producing healthy dogs with consistent type and distinguishing characteristics. Its why many of us want to be part of the AKC, to take advantage of their experience and resources. The Chinook breed went to the AKC for recognition, not the other way around. Those who first went to the AKC, submitted the registry and applied for recognition agreed, on behalf of the breed, to follow AKC regulations and policy in exchange for AKC recognition, the ability to show in the many events AKC offers and to have access to the many resources in health, breeding and a multitude of areas. AKC has upheld their end of this bargain. CCA believes that we must uphold ours. Thus, the Chinook Club of America supports the American Kennel Club's policy. The AKC FSS recording includes the vast majority of purebred Chinooks in the registry submitted by CDCA (formerly CWW) and they will continue to be open to the recording of true purebred Chinooks.

Some Chinook breeders and owners have suggested that by separating UKC Chinook crossbred dogs from AKC true purebred Chinooks, that it will harm our breed irrevocably by diminishing our gene pool and dividing breeding populations between the UKC and the AKC. These statements are simply unfounded. The purebred Chinook population enjoys significant gene diversity and heterozygosity, as proven by Dr. Jerold Bell's 1997 genetic diversity and breed health studies. These studies also indicated that the need to use crossbreeding to combat health issues in purebred Chinooks was unproven. With this information, some crossbred breeders abandoned their programs to concentrate on directly improving the purebred population, while others disregarded the study to continue breeding crosses. This is when the division began and it was cemented the moment the United Kennel Club allowed Crossbred dogs into their purebred population registry. CCA's support of the AKC cross policy was never a factor in the breed's division.

CCA was incorporated in Feb 2004, though the club had been in the formation stages a few months before.

Check out the membership section of the CCA site and download the application. Fill it out and send it back with your dues to the Secretary.
CCA Membership

The AKC requires a parent club to have 100 member households in at least 20 states. CCA not only meets these requirements, but at 123 households (not individuals) in 31 states - we exceed them! CCA has also submitted a standard and bylaws that meet AKC requirements.

This claim has been made by the former Chinooks Worldwide, Inc.(CWW) and they even went so far as to change their name to the Chinook Dog Club of America (CDCA) to blur the distinction between the clubs. However, the two clubs could not be more different. The founders of CCA were past members of COA and CWW - and who isn't? They were also some of the very members that initiated AKC involvement for the Chinook breed. However, one by one, over a period of several years, those members left CDCA when it became clear that CDCA had no intention of being active in the AKC community or availing itself of AKC resources. Others maintained their membership, but became inactive in CDCA. Further, CCA has completely different bylaws, breed standard, and ethics from CDCA or any other Chinook club.

The July 2006 newsletter outlined the reasons in detail. But to sum, CCA believes it isn't in the best interests of the Chinook breed to consolidate all the breed's influence and resources into one club. The two greatest conflicts are the CDCA and ACC's policies supporting the Chinook crossbreeding program and their support and endorsement of the United Kennel Club.

The American Chinook Club (also known as International Federation of Chinook Owners and Breeders) is a splinter of the Chinook Owners Association. Their bylaws state that it recognizes only the UKC Standard, only the UKC registry, and that all its members must support the Code of Ethics of the Chinook Owners Association (www.chinooks.org/bylaws Article 8, sections 2, 5 Article 12). This club clearly operates under the auspices of the Chinook Owners Association and its loyalties are to the COA and United Kennel Club. This runs completely counter to AKC and UKC policy (no club may be parent club to more than one registry) and who can blame them? Why would the AKC or UKC want a parent club that is clearly controlled by another registry?

As ACC is clearly a part of COA, there is the real risk that the parent club of the UKC will also be the governing body of the AKC parent club. This mega club would reflect only the interests of the COA and UKC and take away any choice Chinook owners currently have to pursue their own interests and find a club that reflects it.

Moreover, the stand of CDCA and ACC regarding the Cross program is one that runs counter to AKC policy and their current program to breed the crosses as fast and often as possible in order to make the majority of the Chinook population crosses is both reckless and disturbing. Apparently, they feel this action will force the AKC to accept the crosses. But these same breeders have known since 2001 that the Chinook was moving toward AKC acceptance and that cross programs were not allowed. Besides the fact that it goes against AKC policy, it compromises too many of the principles and ethics CCA was founded upon.

IF CCA is chosen as parent club - it will be because we worked hard and earned it. This club IS younger than the others and we had to work twice as hard to be considered because we wanted to offer the Chinook community a club that is actually active and dynamic and because CDCA was the club that initiated the Chinook breed's involvement with AKC and we had to shine brighter in order to be considered. It's gone pretty well, so far. Membership exceeds the AKC requirements of 100 households in 25 states. Our members and AKC mentors are constantly involved in AKC activities - as AKC club members, judges and stewards, and participating in AKC companion, performance, and conformation events - an effort not seen in the other Chinook clubs. We are hopeful that CCA will be the parent club when the Chinook breed begins an exciting new era as an AKC recognized breed.

The following books are great resources.

Dog Training:
Training Your Dog in 10 Minutes a Day - Carol Lea Benjamin
Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence - Carol Lea Benjamin
Any Book by the Monks of New Skete

Dog Behavior:
The Other End of the Leash - Patricia McConnell
(If Dogs Could Make Wishes) Bones Would Rain from the Sky - Suzanne Clothier

Check out Dogwise for every kind of dog related book you could ask for
1-800-776-2665
Dogwise

The following books are great resources.

Showing Dogs:
The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Showing Your Dog - Cheryl Smith
Show Me - D. Caroline Coile
Tricks of the Trade - Pat Hastings with Erin Ann Rouse

Agility:
An Introduction to Agility - Margaret Bonham
A Clean Fast Run - The Agility Magazine

Check out Dogwise for every kind of dog related book you could ask for
1-800-776-2665
Dogwise
www.CleanRun.Com - website for agility

The AKC believes responsible dog ownership should be a major focus for every breed in its registry. That's why they offer many resources to help prospective owners find the right dog, the right breeder and be a responsible owner.
Guidelines for Breeders (42KB PDF)
AKC Club Search