Why are there two CMD registries?
Wendy Francisco founded the Colorado Mountain Dog and set up the CMDA, but met with resistance over her plan for developing the breed. Founding a breed means innovating genetics until the studbooks are closed years later. Wendy was having trouble with the board of the CMDA and unable to bring foundation dogs into the breed, and the board of the CMDA was not actively innovating in new genetics, but rather producing and selling multiple litters from repeated breedings. The breed was stuck at about ten foundation animals for nearly its first decade, with all animals relating to these ten, and was unwilling to do the work of creating the genetic diversity which is essential to any serious plan to develop a breed.

Wendy took her vision and set up the Colorado Mountain Dog Registry in late 2017. The CMDR was accepted by ARBA the week it opened, and ARBA guided the formation protocols of our breed. Between 2018 and mid-2021, the number of unrelated founding animals increased to over 140. This number represents the Foundation Dog generation alone. The complete database grew to over 1200 very genetically diverse animals, and the speed at which foundation animals are being brought in is steadily growing.

The CMDR has many members now who are passionate about the CMD idea, about genetics, and who have done much of the actual work, risk, and expense of innovating new dogs into the breed. We are excited about finally being able to take the Colorado Mountain Dog forward into the future, working to hone traits out of a widening and healthy genetic diversity.