Have just seen this - food for thought...
Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

The BRITISH KENNEL CLUB CONSULTATION ON POSSIBILITY OF

OPENING BREED REGISTER TO CERTAIN PREVIOUSLY UNREGISTERED DOGS

The General Committee of the Kennel Club has recently been considering the
possibility of opening the breed register to individual unregistered dogs
which can, in specific circumstances, be shown to have potential benefit to
future pedigree stock. The Committee has asked that, in view of the
potentially far-reaching implications of this proposal, wide consultation
should take place before a final decision is taken.

PROPOSAL

The intention of this proposal is not to produce a general route for the
registration of otherwise non-eligible dogs.  However, there may well be
purebred dogs in the population that are good representatives of a breed,
but which cannot be registered because one or other parent, or both parents
are not registered.  One example is a population of Bearded Collies that has
been maintained on farms as purebred dogs, but has remained outside of the
KC registration database. The introduction of some of these dogs into the KC
registration system could, in certain circumstances, have potential benefits
for the breed at large.  Another example comes from one of the breeds
identified as a vulnerable breed, the Lancashire Heeler.  Several
established breeders have expressed the opinion that the breed register was
closed too early and that there is non-registered Lancashire Heeler stock
that could be incorporated onto the breed database, bringing much needed
genetic variation to the breed.

There may also be individual dogs in various breeds whose parentage is not
registered or is even unknown, but where, with proper justification
provided, the Kennel Club Committee might consider registration to be
appropriate

More.

PAST PRACTICE

The proposal, if carried through, would be the re-introduction of a
procedure that was used until the late 1960s to register dogs which would
not otherwise be able to be registered and has also been used in very recent
times to register individual dogs such as a Saluki imported from a country
which did not have an established kennel club.

CASE BY CASE APPROACH

The suggestion is that each application for registration would be discussed
on a case-by-case basis and would require to be accompanied by support,
which demonstrated the benefit to the breed. Ideally, individual claims for
registration would have breed club support, but it is not suggested that
this would be an absolute requirement.  The proposal is that if a dog is
registered in this way, then it would be identified in the breed register by
three asterisks.  If the dog was then mated to a dog already on the breed
register, then it is proposed that the litter would have two asterisks.  One
of these mated to another dog on the register would mean the 2nd generation
would have one asterisk, and the asterisk would disappear on the third
generation.

PROPOSED REGULATION

The proposed regulation change would be as follows, as an addition to the
Kennel Club B Regulations:

B5.  Special Entry to the Breed or Imported Breed Registers.

a.      Special entry to the Breed or Imported Breed Register may, at the
discretion of the General Committee, be permitted if:

1)      the dog is of a breed that has been recognised for the purposes of
Regulation B1a. or B1b. and

2)      the dog is resident in the United Kingdom (except in the Channel
Islands) and

3)      one or both of the dog's parents is unregistered; and
More..

4)      the dog is over twelve months of age; and

5)      the dog is permanently identified either by DNA profile or
microchip.

b.      In considering whether or not to permit special entry under
Regulation B.5.a), the General Committee may require written confirmation
that the dog conforms adequately to the relevant Breed Standard from three
judges appointed by the General Committee to examine the dog.

c.      If the dog is permitted to be registered its records will be
annotated in accordance with Regulation B2c.

ADDRESS FOR VIEWS

Since this proposal could have far reaching effects, the General Committee,
as stated above, has asked that views of all interested parties are now
widely sought on the matter.  Correspondence should be addressed to Dr Jeff
Sampson at the Kennel Club, 1 Clarges Street, Piccadilly, London W1J 8AB.
The closing date for submissions is 31st March 2005

Well, I personally would not want to use a dog that may, after all if parents cannot be traced back, only be a very good look alike to my breed. I think perhaps, yes, it may open the gene pool in certain breeds, but what is the point if the genes are unknown - it could be an opening to introduce disease or temperament problems.

And as a cynical PS - could 3 judges be relied upon to know what conforms to the standard?

I suppose if you were so inclined, in flatcoats, you could register a setter x flatcoat lookalike, and then what would you introduce?

I personally should be very wary indeed of any dog on this register.

But then I can remember when we had a class A register, and class B (or was it 1 & 2?) in the early sixties, and can't remember any serious repercussions then, although I dare say there were.

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

In some genetically small breeds this could be a godsend. I am thinking of TM's and how useful it would be to bring in new lines from Tibet/Nepal which would probably not be registered. I think there would need to be some sort of guarantee/check regarding the ancestry of these dogs although how you would do this might vary from breed to breed.  

There used to be asystem some yesrs ago where a dog could be registered if it was considered by a KC expert as being purebred.

The breed I first had was the Belgian Shepherd Groenendael and one of my bitches ancestors was a dog Registered as 'Noir De Rhodesia' a dog imported from the then Rhodesia.  He was registered with parents unknown.  This must have been the 60's or 70's.

this could be of benefit and I assume would have been ther oute used for some of the Basenji's brought in from Africa after the breed was already established.

With proper safeguards an excellent idea, though brteeders will ahve to be prepared for some unexpected surprises and some steps backwards as regards what they are trying to breed for.

it will also benefit the 100s of working sheepdog agility dogs that currently cant compete aboard as they are reg as WSs not BCs

My friend has american cockers x english cockers, one of them looks so much like an english cocker that he won 3rd place in a companion show which was being judged by a well known judge even his breeder said he looks better than some of her english cockers (and she is a show breeder) so x breeds could be registered as pure breds if this goes ahead :(

Maybe they could do as in Europe where a number of the Club of a breed have to evaluate the dog to ensure that it is of the breed stated.

I do feel sorry for people who unknowingly buy what they thought was a KC dog that hasn't been registered, or some time after purchase they haven't been given the KC papers and then can't do any of the trials, agility, etc. without registering them on the Working register.  Will these people have to go back to the breeder, who I would likely would still be against them registering them? 

Rather than them doing this why couldn't they stop the IMPORT REGISTER? :d 

Our first lot of Spanish had some of the progeny unknown, actually I suppose in reality they just weren't registered with their Kennel Club of that time, not really that the their relations weren't known.