About the AKC Standards

What are the Standards?

The Standards are the "blueprints" of the breed. They describe the physical appearance and other desired qualities of the breed. They describe the breed's type, that is, what sets it apart from other breeds and marks it as a good representive of the breed. Some characteristics, such as body type and build, are often based on the original (or current) function for the dog. Other characteristics are more cosmetic; but taken together they help identify the dog's breed.

They are frequently relatively short, as they describe an ideal representive of the breed. No dog is perfect, but the Standard describes an ideal to reach for. Traditionally, in the AKC, the National Breed Club writes the Standard for its breed. All organizations which recognize at least one breed generally has a Standard for it. However, this discussion is focussed on the Standards used by the AKC and AKC-affiliated clubs and individuals.

Who Owns the Standards?

It's a good question. Candidates include the AKC (which is the governing body for these Breed club and which holds the copyright on The Complete Dog Book, which contains a compilation of all the Standards for AKC recognized breeds) and the national Breed Club which prepared the Standard. Traditionally, within the AKC, the National Breed Club holds the Copyright to the Standards.

So what is the story behind their removal from Breed FAQ's?

In August, I received information that the AKC did not want the Standards to be distributed electronically. I had been trying to contact Sam Perry (the lawyer for the AKC) and never had any responses. So I went through and removed all the standards from my website. Over time, as I have gotten additional information and made educated guesses elswhere, this is what I believe to be relevant at the moment: Some details:

The AKC's lawyer, Sam Perry, has said that they will not "pursue the matter" if an individual distributing a breed Standard does so with the permission of the national Breed Club. Whether this can be taken as meaningful or not is open to question -- but he did go on record as making this statement.
Compiling all the standards at one spot might be considered a violation of the copyright on The Complete Dogbook on the basis that a higher percentage of the book's contents than is allowed by "fair use" is present at the site.
info@akc.org says that the AKC does NOT intend to limit distribution of the Standards on the 'net.

So what is the policy regarding them?

Mostly because of point #2 above, all the Breed FAQs maintained by Cindy Moore at her website have had the (AKC) Standards removed from them. As she also is the moderator of rec.pets.dogs.info and by extension, responsible for the items posted to this newsgroup, no copy of an AKC Standard will be permitted on the newsgroup. This means that such an article will either be rejected, or if posted by the individual, cancelled by the moderator.

Given that the AKC and National Breed clubs and assorted individuals are making the Standards available at their sites, the FAQ's will simply begin linking directly to these to make the information available. This seems to be the best of both worlds -- avoiding any possible legal problem with the AKC and yet giving everyone except the newsgroup readers access to the Standards.

In the final analysis, I do not believe the FAQ's really need the Standards. These documents are aimed at the person who is novice to the breed and is most likely not yet ready for them. The FAQ's represent a fine, informative body of work put together by dozens of volunteers and nothing can diminish that effort.

Cindy Moore, rpd-info@netcom.com