Since the first day that this breed landed on US soil, there has
been a variety of information circulating. Some of it is factual, and some of it is not. Here, we will try to
sort out some of the points that may lead some people to be confused and mislead about this wonderful breed we call the Biewer
or “Biewer a la Pom Pon”. This breed has been renamed by some as the Biewer Terrier.
Are
the Biewers AKC accepted?
No,
the AKC has yet to accept the Biewer, as a breed that they recognize. (This also applies to Biewer a la Pom Pon, or "Biewer
Terrier"). The following is a list of the FSS recognized breeds. http://www.akc.org/breeds/fss_breeds.cfm
In order to be AKC recognized a breed has to be first admitted into the FSS department,
to be evaluated over a number of years. It has been circulated by some that AKC acceptance is "just down the road".
The truth is it will be YEARS before the Biewer breed has shown its stability enough for the AKC to support full acceptance.
If you have any questions about what is happening please contact the AKC, they will always be able to help. http://www.akc.org/breeds/fss_breeds.cfm
Which German Registries are accepted by AKC
One of the many questions asked of us
is what German registries that register the Biewer are accepted by the AKC? In fact, the answer is none. The following
link is a list of the ONLY registries that AKC accepts. There isn’t one on this list that registers the Biewer.
The rumor that the AKC does not accept a specific German Registry, the IBC, is in itself true.
At the same time, it does not accept ANY other registry from Germany or anywhere else for that matter that registers the Biewer.
This may change in the future, we shall see!
Misconceptions about various Registries
There are numerous registries throughout Germany, the USA and Canada that register the
Biewer. Each and every one of them uses guidelines that they have developed to their own specifications. There
are rumors that some of the German registries are not well accepted here in the USA. Some of the American Registries
have chosen not to accept any American born Biewer that holds a German Registry. The only registry that the BBCA can
guarantee is the BBIR, Biewer Breed International Registry, as they still do accept the German Registries in order not to
close their studbooks on various lines that are still being imported from Germany.
UCI/NAKC
vs. UCI e.V./IABCA
For
those interested in showing, there has been confusion concerning what show venues are supportive of this breed and its standard.
There are two distinct splits among the main show venues for this breed. One thing to remember is that the initials
UCI is widely used in Germany and they are all NOT the same club.
The first
USA/Canada show venue is the NAKC which is going by the United Kennel Clubs International standard.
This was the
original standard that the breed was shown under when it first was shown in 2004 and is still being used today.
The standard NAKC Rarities uses is translated from the UCI Standard of Germany.
The BBCA is proud to be a member of the United Kennel Club International for the past
3 years and the only Biewer club to hold this honor.
The
second USA/Canada show venue is the IABCA. http://www.iabca.com/ . The IABCA has changed their show standard to reflect a different “type” of Biewer, the Biewer Terrier.
They are using a new standard that has been approved in the past few months by the United Cynologie International, e.V., http://www.uci-ev.de/ This standard differs from the original standard of the Breed on
various aspects.
Neither one of these UCI’s holds any more importance or superiority
over another, although, one is definitely more well known globally and that is the United Kennel Clubs International.
Biewer
or Biewer a la Pom-Pon vs. Biewer Terrier?
The big question, and one that confuses many people is this… “Are all of the different names
for the Biewer considered the same breed?” The answer to this is YES. The “Biewer” and “Biewer
a la Pom-Pon” have been used interchangeably. It is said that dropping the word Yorkshire from the name Biewer
Yorkshire a la Pom Pon is necessary to obtain AKC/FSS status.
The BBCA,
BBCC and BBSA board members believe in our Breed Order and Code of Ethics in only allowing pure Biewer to Biewer breeding,
so it was agreed upon to drop the Yorkshire name as to not cause confusion regarding the Breed in relation to the Yorkshire
Terrier. We have treated the Biewer Breed as its OWN breed since the club’s inception.
The “Biewer Terrier” is a new addition into the "name" pool. Those that have chosen
to call their dogs by this name have claimed that they are different. In what aspects we ask? We are not sure!
They are derived from the same gene pool as the Biewer a la Pom-Pon and all have been breed from the same dogs that had been
imported from Germany years ago. If they have added different breeds into the Biewer Terrier lines, that remains to
be seen.
The Reasoning behind this is…
The
AKC only considers adding new breeds to the FSS® or its registry upon request. The breed must be recognized by an acceptable
foreign or domestic registry.
The FSS® is not open to "rare" breeds that are a variation
of an AKC-registered breed or the result of a combination of two AKC-recognized breeds. This includes and is not limited to
differences such as size (over and under), coat type, coat colors, and disqualifications of coat colors and/or types that
are from Conformation Events by AKC breed standards.
In order to
be admitted into the FSS the Biewer would have to be proven that it was a mixed breed not a piebald gene occurrence as stated
by Mr. Biewer. How the piebald gene got entered into the pool of genetic makeup up the Biewer remains a mystery. The
original dogs imported to the Biewers (which produced the first tri colored offspring) came from the Streamglen Kennel in
England. If any other breeds were in the genetic makeup of the dog it is unknown as DNA was not readily available or
often used in Germany in 1989.
Since Mr. Biewer’s Biewer breed originated from the Yorkshire
Terrier it would never be allowed in the AKC under these circumstances. One particular club is making the claim that the breed
they refer to as “Biewer Terrier" is of mixed breed heritage... as per the testing they have obtained through the
MARS Corp. The testing being used at MARS Corp. is for mixed breed heritage testing and is not recommended for purebred
dogs.
Can
you determine breed purity?
Wisdom
Panel™ Insights test analyzes over 300 genetic markers to determine the ancestral breed composition of a mixed-breed
dog. Within this panel, there are almost no markers which are absolutely specific to one breed. Each breed will have a combination
of markers within the panel that represent the breed. Within a mixed-breed dog, depending on the heritage of the breeds, not
all of those markers may be passed down through the generations to appear in the genetic make-up of the dog that is tested.
For example, on average, you would only expect 25% of the breed markers from a Grandparent to be passed down to the current
dog. Thus, the way the test works is to use a best-fit model that is selected on the basis of the highest probability for
each breed depending upon the analysis of markers that are found in the current dog. The final report is generated depending
on the highest probability breeds found with a lower limit cut-off to ensure that the false positive reports are reduced to
a minimum.
The relationship between the markers and breeds is unfortunately
proprietary information as it forms the basis of the test and is therefore not publicized. Where pure breed dogs are concerned,
most often the report generated by the test will simply indicate the pure strain of the breed in question as no other markers
will be found at a high enough confidence level to generate a result. However, although our sample base covers 170+ breeds
and comprises more than 8,700 samples in total, there are several cases in which pure breed dogs may not be detected as purebred
by Wisdom Panel Insights test.
First, if the dog in question is not or was not bred within the continental
US, even if it is an example of an AKC recognized breed, then we may not pick up the breed signature as the distinctive markers
that identify the breed may vary greatly in foreign lines. Secondly, if there has been a very isolated breeding line for the
pure breed, then we may not have enough coverage of that breed's gene pool to identify the dog as purebred. For these
reasons, we do not advertise or recommend the use of Wisdom Panel Insights as a test for confirming the purity of a purebred
dog. This is due to the fact that Wisdom Panel Insights is designed to find multiple breeds in an analysis, under the assumption
that the dog it is testing has more than one breed in its mix. A test to determine breed purity would need to be designed
for that purpose and its accuracy validated.
Do you identify UKC breeds with the Wisdom Panel™ Insights test?
In the development of Wisdom Panel Insights, we have genotyped more
than 13,000 dogs. There are more than 8,700 purebred dogs in our database that our computer algorithm uses to detect breeds
in a tested dog's genetic background. Most of these dogs were registered with either the American Kennel Club (AKC) or
UK Kennel Club (UKC). Wisdom Panel Insights test is not intended to determine whether a dog is a purebred member of a breed,
and because of this, the computer algorithm we use is optimized to search for combinations of breeds present in a mixed-breed
dog. This may result in minor inaccuracies if the test is used to determine the purebred nature of a dog, and we do not recommend
the use of the test for this purpose.
Will Wisdom Panel™ Insights mixed-breed analysis test for purebred dogs?
No.
Mars Veterinary’s current focus is the development of a state-of-the-art mixed-breed genetic identification test for
dogs. Mars Veterinary has completed over 19 million genetic marker analyses and has typed over 13,000 dogs from the American
Kennel Club (AKC) registered purebred dogs as well as mixed-breed dogs. This process gave Mars Veterinary the ability to distinguish
between a purebred and a mixed-breed dog as well as the capability of identifying breeds present within a mixed-breed dog.
However, in order to identify a dog as an official or registered purebred, the DNA collection,
analysis and development of the test would be much different. A purebred is defined as a canine that is bred from members
of a specific or registered breed over many generations. Validation of purebreds and what constitutes a purebred is a job
for kennel clubs such as the American Kennel Club (AKC).
Biewers imported to
the USA are a FOREIGN breed and by the MARS Corp. own admission their results are NOT to be considered accurate in reference
to foreign bloodlines. If the dog in question is not or was not bred within the continental US from dogs of US origin
and influence, even if it is an example of an AKC recognized breed, then we may not pick up the breed signature as the distinctive
markers that identify the breed may vary greatly in foreign lines.
Secondly,
if there has been a very isolated breeding line for the pure breed, then we may not have enough coverage of that breed's
gene pool to identify the dog as purebred. We know that the Biewers were very heavily linebred. For these reasons,
we do not advertise or recommend the use of Wisdom Panel Insights as a test for confirming the purity of a purebred dog. This
is due to the fact that Wisdom Panel Insights is designed to find multiple breeds in an analysis, under the assumption that
the dog being tested has more than one breed in its genetic makeup. A test to determine breed purity would need to be
designed for that purpose and its accuracy validated.
The only constant
in all of this is that the Biewer Breed Club of America has ONLY bred Biewer to Biewer since the clubs inception and will
do nothing less in the future. Some clubs have since chosen to follow OUR lead regarding this type of breeding.
Biewer
Parent Club
Contrary to
many posted references to a Parent Club for the Biewer, there is NOT an AKC National Biewer Club at this time, as they are
not AKC accepted. There are several clubs with different views on the future of the breed. It is a national breed
club's responsibility to preserve, protect and promote the breed and this responsibility should not be taken lightly.
The parent club must educate the public and breeders about the Biewer as a breed on its own merit with research studies and
seminars. It must be dedicated to preserving the gene pool and furthering the development of the Biewer through strict
guidelines for its breeders and promotion by hosting conformation events, agility & obedience trials and pet therapy.
If and when the Biewer breed does get accepted into AKC at that time the AKC will pick a club that fulfills all the necessary
requirements to be its parent club and not before.
DNA Misconceptions
The DNA testing profile of a dog is seeing their "genetic makeup"
much like a human. Each dog has its own set of alleles which are unique to them alone. Currently, many different
breeds of dogs are able to be determined by testing of their DNA for breed specific illnesses and even certain breed identification.
This type of mapping is only available to breeds that have a genetic bank to compare against. These breeds are mainly
the accepted purebred dogs that we are accustomed to seeing.
There are
many that claim that a Biewer can be proven to be purebred by just this type of DNA testing. So far, there is no breed
specific illness or breed identification that have been traced and followed to be eligible for this type of testing for our
breed. The DNA data profile for the Biewer has still not been identified as it takes many years and dogs to complete
a profile such as this.
So, when you hear that a Biewer can be identified to be purebred
by DNA alone, this is very misleading and totally incorrect. You can check parentage of a puppy by comparing their DNA
to their parents and therefore a claim can be made that this dog is "purebred" if the DNA of the parents match up
to the puppy. This is called DNA Parentage Profiling. The BBCA, in conjunction with the BBIR, Biewer Breed International
Registry, is working with MMI Genomics http://www.mmigenomics.com/products2.html to build a DNA profile database for the Biewer as each pair of breeding dogs is required to be tested
before breeding and their litter registration occurs. 
