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Thank you Richard. What you guys are talking about is called conformation. That’s where you see all the stupidly dressed plump women trotting around in a circle showing their dogs gait for the judge. And yes, most dogs you see in the conformation ring could probably not do the job their breed was bred for. These dogs are bred for looks only. They are judged by the breed standards published by the AKC, UKC or whatever. They call this a dog sport although there isn’t much sporting about it. The AKC and UKC have field trials for hunting dogs that actually do exactly what they are bred for. Dogs in these sports are bred for their hunting abilities, not for looks or conformation. They are bred for intelligence and stamina and a lot of other specific traits. Dogs are bred to do specific jobs for the most part. The German Shepherd for example has been bred for its size, temperament, intelligence and stamina for security work and such. Look up shutzhund dog training. Basically what I’m saying is that dogs are bred to do a job and for some dogs their only job is to conform to the breed standards published by the various organizations. There are conformation dogs, working dogs, obedience dogs, rally dogs, agility dogs, trick dogs, dancing dogs, security dogs….. all of these are sports sponsored by the AKC and UKC. So in my opinion, I think that AKC and UKC have done a pretty good job. If there were no AKC, UKC there would be no purebred dogs, only mutts.