Whois & Analysis for akc.org

The American Kennel Club (AKC) is a registry of purebred dog pedigrees in the United States.

In addition to maintaining its pedigree registry, this kennel club also promotes and sanctions events for purebred dogs, including the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, an annual event which predates the official forming of the AKC, the National Dog Show, and the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship.

Unlike most other countries' kennels clubs, the AKC is not part of the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (World Canine Organization).

The domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris or Canis familiaris) is a member of genus Canis (canines) that forms part of the wolf-like canids, and is the most widely abundant carnivore.

The dog and the extant gray wolf are sister taxa, with modern wolves not closely related to the wolves that were first domesticated.

The dog was the first domesticated species and has been selectively bred over millennia for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes.

A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species.

Breeds are formed through genetic isolation and either natural adaptation to the environment or selective breeding, or a combination of the two.

Despite the centrality of the idea of "breeds" to animal husbandry and agriculture, no single, scientifically accepted definition of the term exists.

A breed is therefore not an objective or biologically verifiable classification but is instead a term of art amongst groups of breeders who share a consensus around what qualities make some members of a given species members of a nameable subset.

Dog training is the application of behavior analysis which uses the environmental events of antecedents and consequences to modify the behavior of a dog, either for it to assist in specific activities or undertake particular tasks, or for it to participate effectively in contemporary domestic life.

While training dogs for specific roles dates back to Roman times at least, the training of dogs to be compatible household pets developed with suburbanization in the 1950s.