President’s Message
2026
It has been an exciting year for the Society as we finally resolved our continuing Export pedigree issues arising from FCI and our indigenous Saluki populations gaining FCI registration opportunities. 2025 brought us several FCI and other Registry issues that meant we were again, in conversation with the SCOA (our Saluki parent club with AKC here in the US) and AKC staff.
In June of 2025 two Salukis were correctly entered for competition at the SCOA National Specialty. AKC allows exhibitors to use their foreign registration for entry with a limit of 30 days commencing from the FIRST day of competition. The Foreign registration does not require a three-generation pedigree, however, AKC registration must be completed within 30 days to keep any awards earned during this registration grace period.
Export pedigrees from the birth country showed one of these Salukis to be a Generation one Saluki, the other a Generation two Saluki. Both of these Salukis won their classes; one had class competition. Both Salukis were critiqued by SPDBS at the National Specialty.
SPDBS registration was not completed on these two Salukis and when contacted the owner stated they would not be completed at that time. Shortly after that contact, the Society Registrar received an inquiry on registration status and notice that AKC registration was now in place on these two Salukis. Upon verification of AKC registration, the SPDBS Registrar, Mary Beth Rogers, contacted AKC as our understanding of FCI Export pedigree requirements and transfers said this was not correct. AKC staff responded quickly stating AKC would always respect their reciprocity agreements and a valid export pedigree had been provided.
This event followed other FCI Export Pedigree irregularities requiring assistance by the SCOA Board of Directors. FCI is now present through much of our Salukis homelands with only Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq not in some phase of the FCI recognition process. What was clear to the SPDBS Registrar’s Committee was our inability to deal with the increasing requirements for Export pedigrees and our lack of knowledge in regard to AKC Reciprocity agreements, necessitating continued guidance from both the SCOA Board of Directors and AKC Staff.
As a result of these continuing interactions SCOA President Diane Divin and SPDBS President/Registrar Mary Beth Rogers agreed to query AKC Staff, again, on how these responsibilities could be transferred to AKC, particularly the accepting and issuing of export pedigrees. AKC Staff was very willing to meet, and a videoconference meeting was set up for November 20.
This meeting lasted about an hour and AKC staff had a clear path laid out; they wanted to transition our studbook into AKC. AKC Staff laid out what needed to occur, the progression needed and demonstrated a clear desire to get this accomplished. We specifically asked would a SCOA club vote be needed and if so, the type of vote needed. We were directed to AKC Board policy and rules for Opening the Studbook as the type of vote margin for opening a studbook had changed since 1999.
We (respective presidents of SCOA and SPDBS and the SPDBS BOD) formulated the proposal based on the meeting and that proposal is found in the SPDBS AGM report to SCOA and at this link. We sent the first version to Mari-Beth O’Neill who asked that we add the second clause under Foreign Registration with KNOWN parents, #2 Registration and acceptance decisions by AKC are final.
As we formulated the proposal, we did look up what AKC requires for a club to OPEN their Studbook. An inquiry was sent to Mari-Beth O’Neill asking if we were missing anything as SCOA had ALREADY opened our Studbook. Did anything need to be repeated as AKC had accepted SPDBS as the Saluki Domestic Registry for imports from countries of origin in 2002. Specifically, we asked if we needed to do another vote to OPEN our studbook as that was already done. I should reiterate, AKC does make it very clear that ALL registration decisions are AKCs. The vote decision would be up to the AKC Board.
The proposal was then voted on by the SPDBS Board who made no changes. The SPDBS Secretary then sent the proposal over to the SCOA Board who made no changes and voted to send it over to AKC as was reported in the SCOA Newsletter. The basic proposal was published twice on the Secretary’s page of the AKC Gazette, the second time in March and was discussed at the SCOA Presidential candidate Eric Steel’s videoconference in March. The AKC Board voted on the proposal in April and it passed with no changes.
Since April 14, both AKC Staff and SPDBS have been in conversation with other breed clubs on how best to achieve what SCOA and SPDBS have done. Any breed can do what SCOA did and SCOA and SPDBS have the knowledge on how to set up a critique program and manage a studbook as well as how to Open an AKC Studbook.
We have also now learned how to set up DNA typing associations and PAL number associations between the SPDBS registration system and AKC’s registration system. The SCOA Board has updated our PAL permissions and they have been accepted by AKC; only imports without AKC registered parents (known) and with CRN numbers are now eligible, as well as updated the AKC color choices for registration, all with the guidance of AKC Staff.
The Society has always endeavored to execute our registration responsibilities with integrity. I and my Board are grateful for the support and help of the SCOA Board who have always responded to our inquiries and AKC Staff who have been there for us since 2002 providing guidance. If anyone has questions, contact secretary@desertbred.org or visit our website, www.desertbred.org, we would love to hear from you.
Mary Beth Rogers