How does a dog breed become an official breed ?

[Kashi]

How does a dog breed become an official breed, one that is recognized by the CKC / AKC / etc ?

I mean - the breeds I'm familiar with, like pugs, beagles, spaniels, labs, etc - they've not been around as distinct breeds forever. How did they become the breed that they are ?

New breeds have come around, though it's not a common occurrence I know, how did those go from basic 'mutts' or 'designer dogs' to being 'purebred' ?

[MaryAndDobes]

Originally Posted by Kashi

How does a dog breed become an official breed, one that is recognized by the CKC / AKC / etc ?

I mean - the breeds I'm familiar with, like pugs, beagles, spaniels, labs, etc - they've not been around as distinct breeds forever. How did they become the breed that they are ?

New breeds have come around, though it's not a common occurrence I know, how did those go from basic 'mutts' or 'designer dogs' to being 'purebred' ?

Well, someone has to be keeping impeccable breeding records and managing to breed them true to begin with. Meaning that they have to be able to produce dogs that are similar to one another with specific traits.

A breed standard has to be written describing all their specific traits.

There is a process for breed recognition through the kennel clubs. They have to pass through various steps on their way to full recognition.