contract partners (one member per country) that each issues its own pedigrees and trains its own judges. The 'owner' countries of the breeds write the breed standards that are used as reference for judges at shows held in FCI member countries. Some member countries have an open studbook by which dogs can be registered based on appearance, and other FCI member countries have closed studbooks. The Dutch studbooks were closed on 1 February 1971. The goal of the FCI is, in part, ‘to protect the use, the keeping, and the breeding of purebred dogs in the countries where the FCI has a member or a contract partner’. The United States is not an FCI member or contract partner. The Dutch Shepherd in the United States The kennel club of registry for the Dutch Shepherd in the United States is the United Kennel Club, having first published their breed standard on 1 January 1995. Established in 1898, the United Kennel Club is the largest all-breed, performance-dog registry in the world, registering dogs from all 50 U.S. states and 25 foreign countries. More than 60% of its nearly 16,000 annually licensed events are tests of hunting ability, training, and instinct. UKC-registered Dutch Shepherds successfully compete in conformation, obedience, agility, rally, weight pull, nosework, dock jumping, lure coursing, and previously in protection/police dog events through the now-defunct Dog Sport program. The Dutch Shepherd Dog Club of America UKC Provisional National Breed Club reveals that the UKC reflects 1,629 permanently registered Dutch Shepherds in their archives, but indicates the number of active (under the age of 12) Dutch Shepherds totals 1,167 dogs (as of 31 December 2018). As of 2012, the Dutch Shepherd is being recorded by the American Kennel Club in their Foundation Stock Service, accepting pedigrees from some FCI members as eligibility, but declining membership to dogs with pedigrees from certain other FCI member countries. FSS breeds are not eligible for AKC registration, but once individually registered under the FSS program, a Dutch Shepherd is able to compete in the AKC companion events of obedience, tracking, agility, and rally. The American Dutch Shepherd Association states they maintain a listing of the dogs registered in the American Kennel Club's FSS database and in 2017 reflected a total of 230 Dutch Shepherds registered in the U.S. and Canada. The American Kennel Club board of directors voted their approval on 16 January 2016 of moving