The Royal Kennel Club is the official kennel club organization in the United Kingdom. They are one of the oldest kennel clubs in the world and in 2023 they celebrated their 150th anniversary. That’s when they got their prefix ‘royal’ and became the Royal Kennel Club.

They cover breed registration, dog registration, dog shows, agility shows, and working trials.

The Beginnings

It all began on the 4th of April in 1873 in London when S.E. Shirley with twelve other men founded the Kennel Club. Their actions were reasonable. They wanted to establish a set of rules that every dog breeder in the UK would have to follow.

They wanted their dogs to not only be perfect examples of their breeds but also to be healthy. That was the initial reason and desire that should have remained till today. There have been some issues, whether proven or not remain disputable, but the good thing is that the Kennel Club made some changes to ensure the health of a dog is the top priority.

Breeds

There are currently 223 purebred (pedigree) dog breeds recognized by the Royal Kennel Club. You can navigate their official website The Kennel Club and find all the breeds they recognize. However, the Dangerous Dogs Act from 1991 still bans four dog breeds from even entering UK soil, let alone breeding these dogs.

These four dog breeds are the Pit Bull Terrier, the Fila Brasiliero, the Dogo Argentino, and the Japanese Tosa.

These dog breeds were banned under the assumption they were bred as aggressive dog breeds that could hurt people or animals around them. Of course, a lot of Pit Bull owners from the States will tell you that’s all ridiculous.

And, the Kennel Club stands behind the owners from across the pond. They state “No breed of dog is inherently dangerous. Scientific research has proven that the Pit Bull Terrier and related breeds are physiologically no different from any other breed of dog.”

It is not up to them to make the state law, so it still remains an active legislation act.

How To Register?

The Royal Kennel Club registers over 200,000 new dogs each year. They accept, as mentioned, over 200 purebred dog breeds, but the Kennel Club also registers the crossbreeds.

Depending on what you want to do, you can register a litter, an imported dog, a single dog of a certain breed, etc. You can download the registration form you need on their website Click Here. 

One litter registration form (online) is around $33 (or £25.00). When (and if) the litter has been approved, you will get the documents for each puppy via mail within 15 working days. The delivery might be longer, depending on the time of the year you applied.

If you are interested in activity registration, the online form for activity number 5 is around $26 (£20.00) and includes flyball, agility, heelwork to music, obedience, rally and working trials. These activity registrations are also available for crossbreed dogs not just purebred.

All of the registrations are available to do online or you can download the forms.

The Other Side Of The Coin

We cannot talk about the Royal Kennel Club without mentioning the Pedigree Dogs Exposed. It is a BBC One documentary about how breed standards required by the Kennel clubs (not just the one we are talking about) lead to numerous health issues for purebred dogs.

The documentary also specifically criticized the Crufts (a dog show held by the RKC). They implied the show allows inbreeding, modifications, and specific “breed design” that severely impacts a dog’s health.

The impact of the documentary was significant. It led to the BBC removing Crufts from their programming and caused numerous sponsors to revoke their Crufts sponsorships.

The Kennel Club revised and changed their breeding standards. The judges were also advised to judge dogs that are in good health, and not only look for dogs that are “perfect examples of the breed”.

However, how much has been changed still remains debatable. While The Kennel Club needs to make sure all breeders are responsible breeders and never allow registration of a dog that has health issues (but “looks good”), they cannot control the entire population.

It’s on us as well to strive for the health of our dogs, not just the looks.

In The End

The Royal Kennel Club is an important organization. While some changes need to be made, they are today, in my opinion, on the right track. Such organization is needed because without rules there is chaos and anyone could do whatever they wanted to with their dogs in the name of “making a new breed”.

However, I applaud the bravery of the documentary makers and stand on their side.

One of the examples of wrong breeding and overbreeding for the show is the German Shepherd Dog. The show lines of this breed have become twisted and so modified they are on the verge of being disabled.

But, as always, there are good breeders out there that keep us dog lovers in good light. And, I applaud and stand by their side even more.