I was wondering the other day about what new breeds are currently being 'created' (not sure of the terminology). I sometimes read about breeds and am surprised at how recently they were started i.e. 60-100 years ago.

Have people stopped making new breeds, how do you do it, and is it not so common now that there are hundreds of different breeds? And what do you have to do to get a breed recognised?

My curiosity has been pricked by the vast number of cross breeds that to all intents and purposes trying to be passed off as a new breed....

I don't think (?) there IS any rule for accepting newly CREATED breeds HERE. I searched for "new breed recognition" at the KC and only came up with this:
http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/item/603

The thing is, most breeds (though not all) were created for a specific, practical purpose. Eg. the Golden Retriever (or its forerunners the Yellow Retriever etc) for instance appeared at a time when guns had improved so birds could be shot during flight, which necessitated a dog that would retrieve the shot bird from further distances away.These days, when most dogs are pets, and a large number of breeds already available for working purposes, there isn't the same need to create something new.

Also it takes huge numbers in order to establish a good gene base.  That means huge numbers of surplus pups not up to standard and the exercise having to be repeated over and over again to get a wide enough gene pool.  There is simply no excuse for doing this with the number of breeds we already have, and so many crossbred and purebred dogs in need of homes.

The reasons breeds have hereditary problems in the first place is lack of breadth or bottlenecks in the gene pools.

Anyone trying to create a new breed will almost certainly establish breed specific genetic faults at the same time.

A borzoi breeder in America started 'creating' a new breed over 20 years ago - the silken windhound. They have really taken off and I have to say I really like them. Every silken is dna tested and of course there are very strict records kept. It would be great to see them recognised at some stage. They were bred originally to fill a gap in the hound group - for a small long haired sighthound. They appear to be very healthy, living well into their teens (the oldest was 20).

Its amazing when you look into it how many corruptions of existing breeds there are I didnt realise there were so many GSD 'types' The Berger Blanc Swiss (lol) King shepherds and Shiloh shepherds... (why?)

oddest one I found (ridiculous name wise) was the 'Canis Panther' a mix of Dane, Lab,dobes and Staffies.
Counting up all the 'new breeds' seems my breeds getting clobbered for spare parts ;) :rolleyes:

Last time I read about Shilohs it was claimed they were created to recreate the original GSD (think war-time types) before they got like a lot of them sadly are these days, nervous or with the extreme back slope you often see (and I really dislike!).

I think the only "breed" trying to properly be a breed is that infamous Inuit/Utie/Tamski/whatever it'll be next month!  They've been going about 15 years I think, claim to breed true but looking at galleries, the type is so wildly varying I think they're a long way off that - especially given the current popularity and idiots crossing huskies and GSDs and selling them as the above "breeds".