Fact or Fiction
Since the first day that this breed landed on US soil, there has been a variety of information or
misinformation circulating. Some of it is factual, and some of it is not. Here, we will try to sort out
some of the points that may lead some people to be confused and mislead about this wonderful
breed we call the Biewer or “Biewer a la Pom Pon”. This breed has been renamed by some as, the
Biewer Terrier.
Are the Biewers AKC accepted?
• No, the AKC has yet to accept the Biewer, as a breed that they recognize. (This also applies to
Biewer a la Pom Pon, or "Biewer Terrier"). The following is a list of the FSS recognized breeds.
http://www.akc.org/breeds/fss_breeds.cfm
In order to be AKC recognized a breed has to be first admitted into the FSS department, to be
evaluated over a number of years. It has been circulated by some that AKC acceptance is "just
down the road". The truth is it will be YEARS before the Biewer breed has shown its stability
enough for the AKC to support full acceptance. If you have any questions about what is happening
please contact the AKC, they will always be able to help.
http://www.akc.org/breeds/fss_breeds.cfm
Which German Registries are accepted by AKC
• One of the many questions asked of us is what German registries that register the Biewer are
accepted by the AKC? In fact, the answer is none. The following link is a list of the ONLY registries
that AKC accepts. There isn’t one on this list that registers the Biewer.
http://www.akc.org/rules/special_registry_services.cfm.
• The rumor that the AKC does not accept a specific German Registry, the IBC, is in itself true. At
the same time, it does not accept ANY other registry from Germany or anywhere else for that
matter that registers the Biewer. This may change in the future, we shall see!
Misconceptions about various Registries
• There are numerous registries throughout Germany, the USA and Canada that register the Biewer.
Each and every one of them uses guidelines that they have developed to their own specifications.
There are rumors that some of the German registries are not well accepted here in the USA. Some of
the American Registries have chosen not to accept any American born Biewer that holds a German
Registry. The only registry that the BBCA can guarantee is the BBIR, Biewer Breed International
Registry, as they still do accept the German Registries in order not to close their studbooks on
various lines that are still being imported from Germany.
UCI/NAKC vs. UCI e.V./IABCA
• For those interested in showing, there has been confusion concerning what show venues are
supportive of this breed and its standard. There are two distinct splits among the main show
venues for this breed. One thing to remember is that the initials, UCI are widely used in Germany
and they are all NOT the same club.
The first USA/Canada show venue is the NAKC which is going by the United Kennel Clubs
International standard. http://www.raritiesinc.ca/
http://www.u-c-i.de/index.shtml
This was the original standard that the breed was shown under when it first was shown in 2004 and
is still being used today.
The BBCA is proud to be a member of the United Kennel Club International for the past 3 years
and the only Biewer club to hold this honor.
The second USA/Canada show venue is the IABCA. http://www.iabca.com . The IABCA has
changed their show standard to reflect a different “type” of Biewer, the Biewer Terrier. They are
using a new standard that has been approved in the past few months by the United Cynologie
International, e.V., http://www.uci-ev.de/ This standard differs from the original standard of the
Breed on various aspects.
Neither one of these UCI’s holds any more importance or superiority over another although, one is
definitely more global and well known and that is the United Kennel Clubs International.
Biewer or Biewer a la Pom-Pon vs. Biewer Terrier?
• The big question, and one that confuses many people is this… “Are all of the different names for
the Biewer considered the same breed?” The answer to this is YES. The “Biewer” and “Biewer a la
Pom-Pon” have been used interchangeably. It is said that dropping the word Yorkshire from the
name Biewer Yorkshire a la Pom Pon is necessary to obtain AKC/FSS status.
The BBCA, BBCC and BBSA board members believe in our Breed Order and Code of Ethics in only
allowing pure Biewer to Biewer breeding, so it was agreed upon to drop the Yorkshire name as to
not cause confusion regarding the Breed in relation to the Yorkshire Terrier. We have treated the
Biewer Breed as its OWN breed since the club’s inception.
The “Biewer Terrier” is a new addition into the "name" pool. Those that have chosen to call their
dogs by this name have claimed that they are different. In what aspects we ask? We are not sure!
They are derived from the same gene pool as the Biewer a la Pom-Pon and all have been breed from
the same dogs that had been imported from Germany years ago. If they have added different breeds
into the Biewer Terrier lines, that remains to be seen.
The Reasoning behind this is…
The AKC only considers adding new breeds to the FSS® or its registry upon request. The breed
must be recognized by an acceptable foreign or domestic registry.
The FSS® is not open to "rare" breeds that are a variation of an AKC-registered breed or the result
of a combination of two AKC-recognized breeds. This includes and is not limited to differences
such as size (over and under), coat type, coat colors, and disqualifications of coat colors and/or
types that are from Conformation Events by AKC breed standards.
In order to be admitted into the FSS the Biewer would have to be proven that it was a mixed breed
not a piebald gene occurrence as stated by Mr. Biewer. How the piebald gene got entered into the
pool of genetic makeup up the Biewer remains a mystery. The original dogs imported to the
Biewers (which produced the first tri colored offspring) came from the Streamglen Kennel in
England. If any other breeds were in the genetic makeup of the dog it is unknown as DNA was not
readily available or often used in Germany in 1989.
Since Mr. Biewer’s Biewer breed originated from the Yorkshire Terrier it would never be allowed
in the AKC under these circumstances. One particular club is making the claim that the breed they
refer to as “Biewer Terrier" is of mixed breed heritage... as per the testing they have obtained
through the MARS Corp. The testing being used at MARS Corp. is for mixed breed heritage testing
and is not recommended for purebred dogs.
The following are statements regarding Mars Testing that were obtained from the Mar’s website.
Here is a link to that page as well… http://www.wisdompanel.com/faq.html
Can you determine breed purity?
Wisdom Panel™ Insights test analyzes over 300 genetic markers to determine the ancestral breed
composition of a mixed-breed dog. Within this panel, there are almost no markers which are
absolutely specific to one breed. Each breed will have a combination of markers within the panel
that represent the breed. Within a mixed-breed dog, depending on the heritage of the breeds, not
all of those markers may be passed down through the generations to appear in the genetic make-up
of the dog that is tested. For example, on average, you would only expect 25% of the breed
markers from a Grandparent to be passed down to the current dog. Thus, the way the test works is
to use a best-fit model that is selected on the basis of the highest probability for each breed
depending upon the analysis of markers that are found in the current dog. The final report is
generated depending on the highest probability breeds found with a lower limit cut-off to ensure
that the false positive reports are reduced to a minimum.
The relationship between the markers and breeds is unfortunately proprietary information as it
forms the basis of the test and is therefore not publicized. Where pure breed dogs are concerned,
most often the report generated by the test will simply indicate the pure strain of the breed in
question as no other markers will be found at a high enough confidence level to generate a result.
However, although our sample base covers 170+ breeds and comprises more than 8,700 samples in
total, there are several cases in which pure breed dogs may not be detected as purebred by Wisdom
Panel Insights test.
First, if the dog in question is not or was not bred within the continental US, even if it is an
example of an AKC recognized breed, then we may not pick up the breed signature as the
distinctive markers that identify the breed may vary greatly in foreign lines. Secondly, if there has
been a very isolated breeding line for the pure breed, then we may not have enough coverage of
that breed's gene pool to identify the dog as purebred. For these reasons, we do not advertise or
recommend the use of Wisdom Panel Insights as a test for confirming the purity of a purebred dog.
This is due to the fact that Wisdom Panel Insights is designed to find multiple breeds in an analysis,
under the assumption that the dog it is testing has more than one breed in its mix. A test to
determine breed purity would need to be designed for that purpose and its accuracy validated.
Do you identify UKC breeds with the Wisdom Panel™ Insights test?
In the development of Wisdom Panel Insights, we have genotyped more than 13,000 dogs. There
are more than 8,700 purebred dogs in our database that our computer algorithm uses to detect
breeds in a tested dog's genetic background. Most of these dogs were registered with either the
American Kennel Club (AKC) or UK Kennel Club (UKC). Wisdom Panel Insights test is not
intended to determine whether a dog is a purebred member of a breed, and because of this, the
computer algorithm we use is optimized to search for combinations of breeds present in a mixed-
breed dog. This may result in minor inaccuracies if the test is used to determine the purebred
nature of a dog, and we do not recommend the use of the test for this purpose.
Will Wisdom Panel™ Insights mixed-breed analysis test for purebred dogs?
• No. Mars Veterinary’s current focus is the development of a state-of-the-art mixed-breed genetic
identification test for dogs. Mars Veterinary has completed over 19 million genetic marker analyses
and has typed over 13,000 dogs from the American Kennel Club (AKC) registered purebred dogs as
well as mixed-breed dogs. This process gave Mars Veterinary the ability to distinguish between a
purebred and a mixed-breed dog as well as the capability of identifying breeds present within a
mixed-breed dog.
However, in order to identify a dog as an official or registered purebred, the DNA collection,
analysis and development of the test would be much different. A purebred is defined as a canine
that is bred from members of a specific or registered breed over many generations. Validation of
purebreds and what constitutes a purebred is a job for kennel clubs such as the American Kennel
Club (AKC).
Biewers imported to the USA are a FOREIGN breed and by the MARS Corp. own admission their
results are NOT to be considered accurate in reference to foreign bloodlines. If the dog in question
is not or was not bred within the continental US from dogs of US origin and influence, even if it is
an example of an AKC recognized breed, then we may not pick up the breed signature as the
distinctive markers that identify the breed may vary greatly in foreign lines.
Secondly, if there has been a very isolated breeding line for the pure breed, then we may not have
enough coverage of that breed's gene pool to identify the dog as purebred. We know that the
Biewers were very heavily linebred. For these reasons, we do not advertise or recommend the use
of Wisdom Panel Insights as a test for confirming the purity of a purebred dog.
This is due to the fact that Wisdom Panel Insights is designed to find multiple breeds in an analysis,
under the assumption that the dog being tested has more than one breed in its genetic makeup. A
test to determine breed purity would need to be designed for that purpose and its accuracy
validated.
• The only constant in all of this is that the Biewer Breed Club of America has ONLY bred Biewer to
Biewer since the clubs inception and will do nothing less in the future. Some clubs have since
chosen to follow OUR lead regarding this type of breeding.
Biewer Parent Club
• Contrary to many posted references to a Parent Club for the Biewer, there is NOT an AKC
National Biewer Club at this time, as they are not AKC accepted. There are several clubs with
different views on the future of the breed. It is a national breed club's responsibility to preserve,
protect and promote the breed and this responsibility should not be taken lightly. The parent club
must educate the public and breeders about the Biewer as a breed on its own merit with research
studies and seminars. It must be dedicated to preserving the gene pool and furthering the
development of the Biewer through strict guidelines for its breeders and promotion by hosting
conformation events, agility & obedience trials and pet therapy. If and when the Biewer breed
does get accepted into AKC at that time the AKC will pick a club that fulfills all the necessary
requirements to be its parent club and not before.
DNA Misconceptions
• The DNA testing profile of a dog is seeing their "genetic makeup" much like a human. Each dog
has its own set of alleles which are unique to them alone. Currently, many different breeds of dogs
are able to be determined by testing of their DNA for breed specific illnesses and even certain breed
identification. This type of mapping is only available to breeds that have a genetic bank to compare
against. These breeds are mainly the accepted purebred dogs that we are accustomed to seeing.
There are many that claim that a Biewer can be proven to be purebred by just this type of DNA
testing. So far, there is no breed specific illness or breed identification that have been traced and
followed to be eligible for this type of testing for our breed. The DNA data profile for the Biewer
has still not been identified as it takes many years and dogs to complete a profile such as this.
So, when you hear that a Biewer can be identified to be purebred by DNA alone, this is very
misleading and totally incorrect. You can check parentage of a puppy by comparing their DNA to
their parents and therefore a claim can be made that this dog is "purebred" if the DNA of the
parents match up to the puppy. This is called DNA Parentage Profiling. The BBCA, in conjunction
with the BBIR, Biewer Breed International Registry, is working with MMI Genomics http://www.
mmigenomics.com/products2.html to build a DNA profile database for the Biewer as each pair of
breeding dogs is required to be tested before breeding and their litter registration occurs.
Biewer Facts & Fictiom
A special Thank You to the BBCA www.biewerbca.org