>You can thank the specialty club not the AKC if these dogs perform well.<
They hold events that have been and that must be approved and sanctioned by AKC. These events are run by AKC rules, judged by AKC judges and feature AKC registered dogs.
You said AKC and function parted ways. I say you are mistaken and I can prove it. Are many pet dogs bred that couldn’t perform the task for which their breed was created?
You betcha. But, there are a lot of folks that celebrate their dogs’ heritage and who work to keep that function alive in their chosen breed.
I don’t think the AKC conformation standards have much to do with breed function. In fact some of the standards actually impair function.
Herding trials, lure coursing, retriever trials, obedience, etc are great. Maybe every titled conformation dog should also have to pass their breeds function trial in order to qualify for a conformation title. Then form and function would be in sync.