Japan's Premier Purebred hound
The Kishu Ken is in AKC's Foundation Stock Service. Once the breed and club are prepared, they will move into the Miscellaneous group before they are fully recognized. Where do they go from there? Their current group assignment is the Hound Group as of 2023.
This request for the change from Working Group to Hound Group was not made lightly on the part of the club and breed enthusiasts in the USA. It was made after careful review of the definitions of AKC's group system and with the guidance of the Kishu Ken's preservation society in the country of origin itself.
To fit the American Kennel Club’s definition of the Working Group, the Kishu Ken would have to have a function other than hunting and companionship. The Kishu Ken has never had any other consistent function historically or in the modern era. They aren’t a particularly reliable watch dog, they aren’t a property guardian, they are not a sled-hauling breed. They are a boar (and deer) hound - to a point of pride of Kishu Ken enthusiasts in Japan and internationally. Their identity as a hound and a hunting dog is so strong that even the original breed club, the Nihon Ken Hozonkai which standardized the breed in 1934, has mentioned their use and function as a hunting dog multiple times on their web page.
The American Kennel Club, by its published definition, confesses that the Hound Group cannot be generalized by anything other than their common ancestral trait of being used for hunting. While the idea of a spitz-type hound is not new to the AKC (first established by the Norwegian Elkhound), it does tend to draw attention. Continue learning about the Kishu Ken's hunting ability below.
This request for the change from Working Group to Hound Group was not made lightly on the part of the club and breed enthusiasts in the USA. It was made after careful review of the definitions of AKC's group system and with the guidance of the Kishu Ken's preservation society in the country of origin itself.
To fit the American Kennel Club’s definition of the Working Group, the Kishu Ken would have to have a function other than hunting and companionship. The Kishu Ken has never had any other consistent function historically or in the modern era. They aren’t a particularly reliable watch dog, they aren’t a property guardian, they are not a sled-hauling breed. They are a boar (and deer) hound - to a point of pride of Kishu Ken enthusiasts in Japan and internationally. Their identity as a hound and a hunting dog is so strong that even the original breed club, the Nihon Ken Hozonkai which standardized the breed in 1934, has mentioned their use and function as a hunting dog multiple times on their web page.
The American Kennel Club, by its published definition, confesses that the Hound Group cannot be generalized by anything other than their common ancestral trait of being used for hunting. While the idea of a spitz-type hound is not new to the AKC (first established by the Norwegian Elkhound), it does tend to draw attention. Continue learning about the Kishu Ken's hunting ability below.