No Tolerance for Diversity

The American Kennel Club has very little tolerance for diversity. The goal of conformation, after all is to conform.

And so, if we follow the history of AKC breeds, we find that the Norwich Terriers could not be shown very long with both ears up and ears down -- they had to be split into two breeds to conform to the AKC's intolerance for diversity.

The Fox Terrier could not come in both smooth coats and wire coats -- they had be split into two breeds.

The Corgis were split into the Cardigan Welsh Corgi and the Pembroke Welsh Corgi.

The retrievers were split into Curly Coated and Flat Coated (to say nothing of all the other divisions).

Cocker Spaniels were split into "American" and "English" varieties, while the Springer Spaniel was split into "English" and "Welsh" varieties.

The Mountain Dog was split into the Bernese Mountain Dog and the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, while the Cairn Terrier cleaved itself into colored dogs and the all-white "West Highland White."

Can you tell the difference between a show Lakeland Terrier and a show Welsh Terrier? The difference is only a slight shift in color, but it is an intolerable difference to the AKC show ring.

Similar intolerances led to collies being split into Rough and Smooth coated collies (to say nothing of Border Collies).

The Poodle was shattered into three separate breeds based on size (while also being moved from its sporting roots into the "nonsporting" category).

Now, in the AKC, there is a push to split the Akita into two breeds -- the American Akita and the Japanese Akita.

As for the Jack Russell Terrier, the AKC is already moving to split it into two different breeds -- the "Parson Russell Terrier" and the "Russell Terrier."

And what is the point to all this breed atomization? No point higher than the chasing of rosettes. Work never enters the picture.

.