Dog Breed Groups

Every registry sorts its breeds into groups, every registry sorts them differently, and none of the systems is wrong. Understanding what the groups are actually for makes a breed entry far easier to read.

What a Group Is For

Groups exist for two unglamorous reasons: to organise judging at shows, and to give the reader a rough guide to temperament and needs. They are administrative conveniences, not biological categories. Genetic studies of dog ancestry cut across the show groups almost completely — dogs that share a job frequently do not share a lineage, and dogs that share a lineage frequently ended up in different groups.

So when a breed is described as a member of the Working Group, that says a great deal about what it was bred to do and very little about what it is related to.

The Three Systems

The FCI: ten groups

The Federation Cynologique Internationale is the international umbrella body, and its ten-group nomenclature is the closest thing to a world standard. It is also the most granular, splitting hounds by hunting method and pulling primitive types out into their own company:

1. Sheepdogs and Cattledogs — herding breeds, plus the Saarlooswolfhond
2. Pinscher and Schnauzer, Molossoid and Swiss Mountain Dogs — the guardians and mastiffs, including the Bullmastiff, Tosa Inu, Perro de Presa Mallorquin and Chien de l'Atlas
3. Terriers — including the Jack Russell and Scottish Terrier
4. Dachshunds — a group containing exactly one breed in three sizes and three coats
5. Spitz and Primitive Types — the northern dogs, including the Lundehund and the Karelian Bear Dog
6. Scenthounds — the trailing hounds, where the Kerry Beagle would sit if Ireland had ever registered it
7. Pointing Dogs — the setters and pointers
8. Retrievers, Flushing Dogs and Water Dogs — the Golden Retriever and the Barbet
9. Companion and Toy Dogs — the Shih Tzu among them
10. Sighthounds — the coursing dogs, including the Galgo Espanol

The AKC: seven groups

The American Kennel Club uses a coarser seven-group scheme: Sporting, Hound, Working, Terrier, Toy, Non-Sporting and Herding. It has the advantage of being memorable and the disadvantage of the Non-Sporting group, which is a genuine miscellany — the Dalmatian, the Poodle, the Chow Chow and the Lundehund share a group and nothing else.

The Kennel Club: seven, differently

The British Kennel Club — now the Royal Kennel Club — also uses seven, but calls the sporting breeds Gundog, calls the AKC's Non-Sporting the Utility group, and keeps Pastoral for the herders. A breed can therefore be Non-Sporting in New York, Utility in London and Group 5 in Brussels without changing a hair.

The Groups in Practice

Scenthounds and sighthounds

The oldest working split in the dog world. Scenthounds hunt with the nose, work in packs, and are built for endurance rather than speed — deep chest, long ears, an astonishing voice. Sighthounds hunt with the eye, often alone or in pairs, and are built entirely around the sprint. Both are frequently described as "stubborn", which usually means they were bred to make decisions half a mile from the nearest human.

Gundogs

Pointers freeze on game, flushing dogs push it into the air, retrievers bring it back. These are dogs bred to work closely with a person all day and to enjoy it, which is much of why the retrievers became the world's default family dog.

Terriers

Bred to go to ground after a quarry that would fight back, in a hole, alone, out of earshot. Terrier temperament is the direct consequence: bold out of all proportion to size, persistent, noisy, and disinclined to negotiate.

Guardian and molosser breeds

Two distinct jobs are often lumped together here. Livestock guardians such as the Chien de l'Atlas live with the flock and repel predators on their own initiative. Property and personal guardians such as the Bullmastiff were bred to work with a handler. The temperaments are not interchangeable, and neither is a beginner's dog.

Spitz and primitive types

Wedge head, prick ears, curled tail, dense double coat. The northern build is so well suited to cold that it evolved or was selected repeatedly across the Arctic. "Primitive" here means less altered by modern breeding, not less capable.

Reading a Group Label Sensibly

A group tells you the shape of the original job and therefore the shape of the dog's needs. It does not tell you whether an individual will suit your household. Within any breed the variation between individual dogs is wide, and between well-bred and carelessly bred stock it is wider still. Use the group as an orientation, then read the breed, then meet the dog.