I believe the UKC recognizes both of the breeds I have, Presa Canario and English Shepherd, but don't quote me on that. If that is indeed true, then I can only speculate what the ramifications are. Both the Presa and ES are working dogs, and their working purpose remain intact within these two breeds.
I mean, the biggest dog show in the States, and perhaps the world is the Westmininister, which is an AKC event. When a dog wins Best in group, class or show @ Westminister, it's puppies will command thousands, if not tens of thousands, regardless of whether or not the winning dog retains its breed's character and purpose.
When I had my Corso back in the nineties, the AKC did not recognize the Cane Corso, only ARBA (American Rare Breed Association) did. The Corsos back then were a massive, big boned, block headed, hands off breed, in other words, judges knew better than to come within striking distance of a Corso. If the judge wanted to observe your dog's bite for example, he or she would ask you to open the dog's mouth for them, and they would observe from a safe distance. The AKC AFAIK, does not have any breeds that are "hands off", so in order to get AKC recognition for the Cane Corso, AKC dictated to breeders what they wanted in the breed, one of which was a more streamlined looking dog, with less dewlap and to be able to have judges be able to handle the dog as they saw fit. At that point, breeders began introducing Boxers into the Corso gene pool, which is why Corsos today look like overgrown boxers, they have smaller heads, less dewlap, less bone mass, shorter snout, and worst of all, Corsos today now are at high risk of epilepsy, which is a Boxer trait, and was never a Corso trait prior to the AKC getting involved.
The Italians blame the Americans for the x-breeding of boxers and corsos, and the Americans blame the Italians. We'll probably never know for sure, but the damage has already been done. The breed has been destroyed.
When I was in the market for another big dog I wanted another Corso, but trying to find a non-boxerized dog was damn near impossible so I had to start from scratch and find another breed that suited our needs, hence the Presa.
There are other breeds, such as the Tosa Inu, Fila Brasileiro, Boerboel (i think) Alabai, Bully Kutta, Caucasian Ovcharka and many others that the AKC hasn't ruined yet, and all of those dogs AFAIK are all hands off breeds, meaning they absolutely will not tolerate a stranger poking them, touching them, examining their teeth, etc...all things that the AKC requires of a breed prior to official recognition.
I believe all or most of those breeds are recognized by the UKC, but again, don't quote me on that.
Helps keep my toes warm too
The good news is “Tree Guard” activated
