*We* make the standard. That's where so many have it wrong - the akc doesn't make the stnadards at all, they have nothing to do with making standards. They host a website where the standards are listed - the actual standards come from the breed clubs, and as far as I know, each breed club should have its standard voted upon by the members of the club.
Even if you veer towards a working line dog - does your working line dog have a structural standard to meet? Just working doesn't make it a better dog - there is still a structure to be strived for. For instance, I own a working dog and she is still structurally a nice looking dog even though her entire pedigree hails from europe, and her parents are training and titling in schutzhund.
If a breed has split so much that a large divide has been created - that is there because WE allowed it to be there, not because the AKC did it, or any other breed club. Breeding dogs for working ability ONLY is just as deleterious in some ways, in my eyes, as breeding only for looks in any breed - because no dog can continue without all parts of him being addressed in the breeding. If you ignore health, structure, temperament, or working ability and focus only on ONE thing - eventually ,sometimes in only 1-2 generations, other things WILL be lost, and it will be very hard, very very hard, to get them back. We bred so long for dobermans that look pretty in the ring, we now have many that cannot pass the basic dobe temperament test designed purely FOR dobermans and some that do pass, have to have training to do so beforehand!
I am not dismissing those that enjoy showing - it's not for me (I have shown my puppy a handful of times, and will continue to enter her here and there - she is not too competitive in the AKC ring not because she is Euro, but because she is at the small end of the standard and is a very slow maturer, and compared to 7 month old pups who are 80 lbs and look like mini-adults, she will never take home the points!) - but we show in the dobe only venues as well, including UDC and ADA, and I do hope to get her out in the UKC shows eventually if I can find a weekend free that I can enter her! But I can absolutely stack her, and have someone experienced evaluate her structural flaws and her strengths independent of whether or not she finishes a CH (which she will likely never do - I am honest enough to admit that - first and foremost because it is not where my priority is, and I do not have the funds and time to devote to what it takes to finish a doberman in this country - which is most of the time sending them off with a handler and over 5-6 thousand dollars, MINIMUM) - and I can be happy with that. I can see what she lacks structurally (she could have a little more angulation), what her great aspects are (movement, her head), but you cannot just do that for working ability. You really need to train and work your dog to understand what it takes to do that with your dog, what it takes to get your dog to perform. Training your dog in your backyard or your living room, anyone can have a CD in their minds (rah has his OTCH there!) - but it doesn't all translate to training class, and definitely all doesn't come into the ring. Work ethics, attention, drive, etc - once you get past a CD you really have to start digging in deep with your dog and once you start showing in utility, it's not just showing up and hoping. It's not that you get out there and someone else picks who is the best dog - you actually are judged only on your own merit and whether or not you get your title is purely on your OWN performance. The same goes for schutzhund, agility, etc.
For me, I am biased and I admit that - I enjoy working my dogs, and I do it as much as possible. I find that for me, working a dog tells me more about a dog than many other things. I could have the most beautiful doberman in the world, Top 20 that year, with perfect health testing, but if it wouldn't work for me and I couldnt' figure out a way to motivate it, it had no drive, and simply wasn't a true working dog, I think I would probably have to say it wasn't a dog I would want to breed - because I really truly believe we have to strive to embrace the working aspects of the breeds meant to work.
My puppy came from parents with working titles, and if she is ever bred, she will likely be bred purely on her working titles (of course only after all her health testing is complete!). Her sire had a UDC Ch, and berlin will be shown in UDC, ADA and UKC as I said above - but whether or not she is able to finish those CH's will not be the deciding factor in if she is bred. It will be her health above all, her temperament, and her working abilities that we take into account first as well as her structure - her OVERALL package - knowing the insane drive she brings to the picture, but also how incredibly sharp she is, knowing she will have to be bred to a very stable male, same as her mother. She is her mothers daughter
Though I am not sure the world will ever be ready for little evil ones...