The story
History
UKC was founded by Chauncey Z. Bennett, on February 10, 1898, after feeling that other dog registries in existence at the time catered too much to Conformation-only show dog owners or wealthy hobbyists, whom he called "the big city idle rich". Bennett's goal for UKC was to be a registry that recognized a wide range of breeds, as opposed to some of the working dog registries, which only recognized a handful of breeds. He envisioned UKC-registered dogs occupying a wide range of uses, from working, to companionship, to hunting. Bennett found a niche among the owners of working dogs, such as herding and hunting dogs.
The first dog registered with UKC was an American Pit Bull Terrier, Bennett's own dog, named Bennett's Ring. This also made UKC the first registry to recognize the breed.
Starting in 1905, UKC began publishing a journal called Bloodlines, devoted to purebred dogs of all kinds. The journal continued to grow, and in 1974, the journal would split into two distinct magazines. Coonhound Bloodlines would devote itself to the UKC-recognized Coonhound breeds, while Bloodlines, devoted to all breeds, would continue to publish until it was discontinued in 2015. Coonhound Bloodlines continues to this day.
Bennett continued to run UKC out of his home until his death in 1936. Upon his death, The New York Herald Tribune credited Bennett with developing breeds such as "the American Eskimo, the Columbian (white) Collie, the Redbone Coonhound, American Water Spaniel, American (Pit) Bull Terrier, and the American Fox and Coon Hound."
After Bennett's death, his daughter Frances Ruth Bennett took over management of the company, and in 1944, she and husband Dr. Edwin Gould Fuhrman moved operations at UKC into the Hanselman Building in Kalamazoo. Operations would continue there for less than a decade before moving to a new space in Kalamazoo, where they would remain until 1979.
In the early 1970s, the Fuhrmans opted to give up leadership in the company, and in January 1973, UKC announced the sale to businessman Fred Miller, who would take over as president. Miller oversaw a shift to computerization for UKC records in the mid-1970s, and by 1978, UKC was the first known dog registry in the world to computerize all its registration records.
In January 1979, Miller announced that UKC would be moving to what would become their current offices in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The company would occupy the new building in March of that year.
In the 1980s UKC added Obedience as a performance sport, and in 1984, UKC partnered with the newly formed Hunting Retriever Club to create a new format of field trials for hunters. The partnership also saw UKC begin publication on what was at the time a third magazine, Hunting Retriever Magazine, which continues to this day.
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In April 1996, UKC became the first All-Breed dog registry to offer a DNA program, which it opened up to dogs from other registries in March 1997.
In March 2000, Miller died, and leadership shifted to vice president and General Manager Wayne Cavanaugh. Cavanaugh continued to digitize and modernize UKC, adding and developing a variety of new performance sports, and launching the company website in April 2008.
In July 2014, with Cavanaugh getting ready to pursue retirement, UKC VP of Operations Tanya Raab was named UKC President. Cavanaugh would continue with the organization until officially retiring in October 2015.
Raab's tenure as president saw the development of a few more performance sports, and the onset of a new hunting sport in the Elite Shed Dog Series. In October 2018, Raab announced that she would be stepping down as president, though she would remain involved with the company in other capacities.
UKC continues to operate out of Kalamazoo, licensing more than 16,000 events every year across the United States. The registry currently recognizes over 370 breeds of dogs. In September 2021, the company announced that it had come to an agreement to acquire American Field Publishing Company, including its Field Dog Stud Book, specializing in upland field trials for pointing dogs and field trial breeding records.
Presidents
Chauncey Z. Bennett (founder, and president from 1898 to 1936) initiated the system of numbering the registered dogs. The first dog registered, UKC Number 1, was Bennett's American Pit Bull Terrier, Bennett's Ring.
Frances Bennett Fuhrman (president from 1936 to 1944), daughter of Chauncey Bennett, improved the editorial content and appearance of the UKC magazine, Bloodlines.
E. G. Fuhrman (president from 1944 to 1973), husband of Frances Fuhrman and son-in-law to Chauncey Bennett, promoted dog shows and introduced the four types of UKC coonhound events: bench shows, night hunts, field trials, and water races.
Fred T. Miller (president from 1973 to 2000), took many steps towards modernization, which improved customer service and turnaround time on registration applications.
Wayne R. Cavanaugh (president from 2000 to 2014), furthered UKC's mission as a proactive and performance-based registry where the health and vitality of each breed were at the forefront of all decisions and advancements. Cavanaugh was chairman of the board from 2014 until his retirement in October 2015.
Tanya Raab (president from 2014 to 2018), had been with the organization since 1989, and was promoted at the time of Cavanaugh's resignation.
Jeff Nicholson (president and owner from 2018 to present), took over UKC, according to Michigans Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, and is also the owner of a large development company in Kalamazoo Michigan called PlazaCorp. He is not involved in the day-to-day operations of UKC.
Conformation
Conformation is the official term for a dog show, referring specifically to the external and visible details of a dog's build and structure. The preferred details are written out in each breed's standards, which are published and held by each registry.
UKC began to license Conformation Dog Shows in the 1920s, with the first annual UKC Bench Show held in May 1926.
From Wikipedia’s article on United Kennel Club, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4