The Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI; English: International Canine Federation) is the largest^[1] international federation of national kennel clubs and purebred registries. The FCI is based in Thuin, Belgium and has 98 members and contract partners (one from each country).

The FCI was founded in 1911 under the auspices of the kennel clubs of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Its objective was to bring global uniformity to the breeding, exhibiting and judging of pure-bred dogs.^[2][3][4] It was disbanded in World War I and recreated in 1921 by Belgium and France.^[5] Since its foundation the FCI's membership has grown to include kennel clubs from the majority of countries worldwide, with members in Europe as well as Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.^[3]

The purpose of the FCI is to make sure that the pedigrees and judges are mutually recognised by all the FCI member countries. In contrast to national kennel clubs, the FCI is not a registry and does not issue pedigrees to individual dogs, with the issue of pedigrees and record keeping of breeders and breeder addresses the responsibility of the national canine organisations recognised by the FCI.^[6]

At present the FCI recognises 356 breeds, with each breed being considered as the 'property' of a specific country, usually based upon the country where the breed has first originated. These breed 'owner' countries write the breed standard of the specific breed, with the breed standard being a detailed description of the ideal type of the breed, in partnership with and under the oversight of the Standards and Scientific Commissions of the FCI. The FCI is responsible for publication and maintenance of these breed standards,^[7] along with the translation of breed standard into the four working languages of the FCI (English, French, German and Spanish).^[6] The FCI breed standards act as the reference for the judges at shows held in the FCI member countries, as well as maintaining the qualification and license of judges in dog shows in FCI member countries.^[6] For breeders, the FCI breed standards are used as the reference in their attempt to produce top-quality dogs according to the ideal type as set out by the FCI.^[7]

The FCI is considered to the largest kennel club in the world with only Africa and the Middle East poorly represented, partly through the absence of national kennel clubs or purebred registries in countries of these regions. In Europe, only the United Kingdom, Kosovo and Bulgaria are not represented by the FCI. Likewise, in the Americas only the USA and Canada are not members.^[8]

The official purebred registries in North America that are not members or contract partners of FCI include the American Kennel Club (AKC), Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) and United Kennel Club (UKC), and in Europe, The Kennel Club (TKC) of the United Kingdom.^[9] Despite not being members or associates, the FCI has a long standing agreement (or 'Letter of Agreement') for mutual recognition of pedigrees under outlined circumstances, and cooperation between the FCI and the AKC, TKC and the CKC of the USA, United Kingdom and Canada respectively. In addition, the TKC and the FCI have agreements regarding the mutual recognition of judges. In contrast, the FCI does not recognise the UKC and no agreement is in place.^[10]

According to AKC's Denise Flaim, crafting a workable standard is a challenge, and the "FCI standards typically have a greater number of disqualifications, which are sometimes subjective, and their impact on a dog's career is not as dire."^[11] In contrast, the FCI takes a stronger line on certain issues compared with some non-member national kennel clubs, particularly the AKC and UKC, regarding general animal health and welfare. Unlike the AKC and UKC, the FCI has moved towards banning the practices of ear cropping and tail docking in breed standards, as well as forbidding the entry of dogs with cropped ears and dock tails from being shown in dogs shows in FCI member countries.^[12][13] In addition, the FCI takes a stronger stance on improving the health of dogs as opposed to the appearance of dogs in situations where a breed's health is impacted due to severely restricted gene pools, or concerning brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome.

The FCI automatically recognises all registered breeds recognised by any of its member kennel clubs, therefore its list of recognised dog breeds includes breeds not known outside of their country of origin.^[3] The FCI divides the breeds it recognises into ten groups based on various discriminators such as appearance or role:^[14]

1. Sheepdogs and cattle dogs (except Swiss cattle dogs)
2. Pinschers and schnauzers - molossoid breeds - Swiss mountain and cattle dogs and other breeds
3. Terriers
4. Dachshunds
5. Spitz and primitive types
6. Scenthounds and related breeds
7. Pointers and setters
8. Retrievers - flushing dogs - water dogs
9. Companion and toy dogs
10. Sighthounds

The FCI has members, associates and partners in 98 countries.^[15]

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