What Is an Evolving Breed?

Copyright © 1998, 2003, 2005, 2006 J. Jeffrey Bragg

FEW PEOPLE IN THE DOG GAME have ever even heard the term "evolving breed." It is just too uncommon a situation. Very few Canadian fanciers even know there are legitimate, legal canine registries in this country other than The Canadian Kennel Club.
      In actual fact, although the all-breed kennel club registry called CKC is certainly the largest and the best-known dog registry in Canada, CKC has been given no monopoly on the entire canine species. Other animal pedigree associations exist which, like CKC, are incorporated under The Animal Pedigree Act and supervised by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada; their legal status is equal to that of the CKC.
      One of these is The Working Canine Association of Canada, incorporated under the Act in 1997. At present, W.C.A.C. sponsors just one dog breed, the evolving breed called the Seppala Siberian Sleddog. Under the Act, no other organisation may identify or register animals of that breed in Canada. (Thus those in Canada who claim to breed and sell "Seppala Siberian Sleddogs" registered by the "Continental Kennel Club" or the "ISSSC" are in violation of a federal statute.)

BUT WHAT IS AN EVOLVING BREED? Quite simply, it is a population in process of developing into a "distinct breed," that is to say, a registered purebred breed recognised by Canada's Minister of Agriculture. Under the present Animal Pedigree Act and the present regulations of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, new animal breeds must meet several requirements in order to receive Ministerial recognition as purebreds.

• They must have significant value.
• A population large enough to provide an adequate foundation for future breeding must exist.
• The animals must reproduce with adequate genetic stability.
• Furthermore, current regulations state that a new breed's foundation stock must be selected from the third filial generation (F3) or later of breeding within the evolving breed. That means that registered breed foundation stock must come from the great-grand-progeny (or later generation) of the parental generation that was first identified as the evolving breed.
• In general, 200 F3-generation animals of unique genotype are required as a minimum standard for Agriculture's recognition of a new distinct breed.
• These are technical animal husbandry requirements imposed by AAFC to ensure stability and consistency in registered animal breeds.

WHAT DIFFERENCE does all this make to the purchaser of a dog of such an evolving breed? In practice, very little. Instead of a Certificate of Registration, an animal belonging to an evolving breed will have a Certificate of Identification containing exactly the same information: the name of the association issuing the certificate, the name of the breed, a unique serial number for the individual animal, the animal's full name by which it is known in pedigree records, its sex, its date of birth, its coat colour, details of the animal's identification (tattoo number, for example), the names and serial numbers of the animal's sire (father) and dam (mother), the name of the person who bred the animal, the name and address of the animal's owner, the date of purchase, the date that the certificate was issued. The main difference between a Certificate of Registration and a Certificate of Identification is that the identification certificate does not display the word "purebred," since the Animal Pedigree Act stipulates that purebred status applies only to distinct breeds; an evolving breed has technically not yet acquired that status.

IN ACTUAL PRACTICE the Certificate of Identification issued by The Working Canine Association of Canada to a Seppala Siberian Sleddog contains significantly more information than is found on a CKC Certificate of Registration. To the requirements listed above, it adds the following items:

• Photographs of the animal identified by the certificate
• The generation of the evolving breed to which the animal belongs (Parental Generation, F1, F2, F3, etc.)
• Names and serial numbers of the grandparents and great-grandparents of the animal identified (that is, the animal's three-generation pedigree).
• Detailed and accurate description of the mature animal's unique colour and markings (instead of a standardised coat-colour description decided at birth which may describe the mature animal inaccurately)
• Information as to whether the animal identified has qualified as a performance-proven sleddog under WCAC's regulations, and details of performance proving.
• Information about inspection, breeding acceptability and performance proving of the animal identified.

Therefore in fact the purchaser of a Seppala Siberian Sleddog, the evolving breed, really receives considerably more detailed information about his dog in its WCAC Certificate of Identification than does the buyer of a CKC registered animal.

ONE FURTHER BENEFIT is provided to the purchaser of an "evolving breed" Seppala Siberian Sleddog: the excitement and fulfilment of being a participant in one of the most advanced breed development and improvement projects ever mounted in this country. Very few in the canine fancy ever have the privilege of participating in the birth of a new dog breed. It will not take very long for Seppalas to build their population to a respectable level and to prove their genetic stability over three generations of breeding; in a few years we shall be petitioning Agriculture for distinct breed status for them. During the Seppala Siberian Sleddog's probationary period as an evolving breed, everyone who owns a WCAC-identified Seppala may consider him/herself as one of the fortunate few who were part of the breed's beginning.