R- or B- registry

Mudi is still a "new" breed; the breed was recognized in 1936, when the first standard was written, and the stud book is still open in Hungary. It’s been estimated, that even today a great number of the mudis (or mudi-type dgs) born in Hungary are still today un-registered farm and working dogs. The owners/breeders may know their lineage back for several generations, but since these dogs have been used just for working purposes, these dogs have never had official pedigrees. However, occasionally these dogs are been taken to special breeding examinations, where they are carefully examined. If the dog meets the standard, it will be issued a special pedigree (so called B- or R- pedigree) and registration number, and it can be used for breeding and it’s progenies will officially be recorded and issued FCI-papers. During year 2006, three dogs were permitted a R-pedigree registration. The pedigree of these R-registed dogs will be empty, because the parents of the R-registered dog are not listed, as they are unknown and not pedigreed dogs.

The R- registry gives the opportunity that many breeds don't have today. The open stud book helps to widen the gene pool of the breed by enabling the registration of the mudi-type farm and herding dogs. On the other hand, the R-registry is sometimes used wrongly, because it allows registration to dogs who were not given pedigrees at birth by irresponsible breeders, but who have known pedigreed parents.

For many breeders the R-pedigreed dogs offer a way to preserve the genetic variation of the breed to avoid the problems so many dog breeds suffer today; inbreeding depression, health problems and other difficulties. Entering farm-dog mudis to the breeding stock gives a possibility to introduce new foundation dogs to the breed. In most breeds, when the breed was established, only small number of foundation dogs were registered, and then the stud books were then closed. In case of Mudi, the stud books are still open.

The R- registry gives a possiblity to keep the breed healthy and vital. On the other hand, in some countries these R-registry dogs bring a head ache to the kennel clubs. The pedigree dogs are supposed to have a full pedigree, right?

In Finland, these R-registry dogs can be registered by the Finnish Kennel Club, but they will be given a special registration number. Instead of the normal "FINxxxxx/xx" number the dog will be given ERxxxxx/xx number, ER stands for "Erikoisrekisteri", special registry. Also the R-registered dog's progenies will be given ER- pedigree number, until the original R-registered dog is in the third generation on the background. For example, one of Pipõ's grandparents is B-registered, therefore Pipõ's Finnish pedigree number is ER18758/04. Pipõ's progenies have normal FIN- register numbers. Kopja, who's mother is B-registered, will also have ER-number, as well as his progenies, and their progenies, until Kopja is in the third generation.

In USA the situation is bit different. At the moment the American Kennel Club hasn’t given mudi official status – there’s so few of them in USA. AKC has accepted the mudis in to the Foundation Stock Service in 2004. The AKC FSS is a "recording" service used to create the stud books with the AKC for rare/new breeds who will eventually ask for recognition and all the AKC privileges and event entries that go with recognition. The Mudi is not recognized by the AKC and therefore has no access to anything else within the AKC venue. On the other hand AKC recognized breeds are "registered" which along with the AKC maintaining their stud books these breeds have access to all the AKC privileges and event entries.  

Before AKC will give full recognition, there must be complete 150 mudis with full 3-generation pedigree registered in AKC FSS. A dog that doesn’t have full set of 3 generations, can be registered with AKC FSS, but won’t be counted as one of the 300 dogs needed for changing the breeds status in AKC.

Formally when the count reached 150 the breed club(s) could ask the AKC to let the breed compete in companion events. As of January 1, 2008 the Mudi is welcomed into both companion (obedience, rally, tracking and agility) and performance (herding). When there will be 300 3-generation pedigree mudis registred in AKC, mudi can be given full recognition. If that would happen tomorrow, the dog with incomplete pedigree would remain in stud books, but wouldn’t be issued full registration papers and would not have AKC privileges (can’t enter AKC shows and events). The dog could be used for breeding, though, and if his progenies will have complete 3-generation pedigree, they will be issued full registration papers and have full AKC privileges. At the moment there’s around 30 mudis in USA, and even in most optimistic case, it will take more than few years to get full AKC recognition for mudi.

If you import a non 3-generation puppy to USA, you can record him with United Kennel Club to enter UKC events, but you should also record him with AKC FSS using the original FCI pedigree. If you enter dog to AKC FSS using the UKC registration papers, AKC won’t record its grandparents etc., so the dog will have blank AKC-pedigree with only dog’s parents in it.

The situation and instructions with AKC and FSS might change, so best and most up-to-date information you get by contacting the AKC.