AKC Performance Events

Decades ago, the American Kennel Club (AKC) offered a limited number of performance events. As a child, I showed my Labrador Retriever named Thumper in the conformation ring and then discovered obedience with his daughter Peanut. At the time, the primary AKC performance events were tracking, obedience, and field trials. Only purebreds competed.

Today, the AKC offers a mind-boggling number of performance events that are open to purebreds and mixed breeds. All dog owners undoubtedly can find at least one performance event to redirect their furry friend’s energy away from their favorite slippers.

This is the first of a three-part post on AKC performance events. Some events appear geared more towards the pet owner, such as the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) and Trick Dog tests, while others challenge human and canine competitors, especially at the more advanced levels. Some only require a single pass to earn a title while others require three or more qualifying scores. But all are ways to work and bond with man’s best friend. Most of the information that follows comes from the AKC’s website and related articles as well as personal experience.

Over decades, the AKC shifted its focus from the conformation ring, where dogs are judged on their physical structure and appearance, to performance events. In 1884, a group of twelve sportsmen from dog clubs that recently had conducted conformation shows or field trials, formed the AKC.

The dog club established its stud book registry and modeled its conformation championship requirements after those in England. In 1900, it established a point system for earning a conformation championship which evolved over the past century to what exists today. Children’s handling was introduced to the show world in 1932, and renamed as Junior Showmanship in 1951.

Here are a handful of AKC’s performance events, many suitable for casual pet dogs and others for more competitive canines:

Obedience:

In late 1935, Helen Whitehouse Walker, a noted breeder of Standard Poodles, submitted guidelines for obedience trials to the AKC which approved them the following year. Three obedience classes were offered: novice, open and utility. At that time, dogs need to pass a tracking test before they earned a utility dog title. Eighteen obedience trials, with about 200 entries total, were conducted during the first year of competition, according to the AKC.

Today, dogs compete in a variety of obedience classes including Beginner Novice, Novice, Graduate Novice, Open, Graduate Open, Utility and Versatility. To earn these titles, dogs must qualify three times. That means they must earn at least fifty percent of eligible points in each exercise, with a total overall score of 170 or more out of a possible 200 points.

Novice, Open and Utility classes are divided into A and B sections. Generally, handlers who have earned obedience titles with another dog, are excluded from A classes in the Beginner Novice and Novice classes and must enter B classes. But on the Open and Utility levels, any dog without that particular title, as long as its handler hasn’t trained or exhibited another dog to its obedience championship, may compete in an A class. All others compete in the B classes.

The Beginning Novice class is a great introduction to obedience. Dogs perform all exercises, except the recall, on leash, including heeling, sitting for an exam (the judge pats the dog on its head), and a sit-stay while the owner walks around the ring. The recall requires the dog to come when called and sit in front of its handler.

In 1977, the AKC created a champion obedience title (OTCH), requiring dogs to accumulate 100 points awarded by placing first, second, third or fourth in the Open B or Utility B; and a first place in both the Open B and Utility B class, and one additional first place in either class. That may sound like an easy feat but certainly isn’t, especially considering that canines can win and/or place in these classes without earning any points because of the AKC’s schedule of points. For example, if only six dogs qualified in Open B, and three in Utility B, only the first place dog in each class would earn any points – just two. Dogs that win fourth place don’t receive any points until thirty-one and twenty canines, respectively, qualify in those classes!

Canine Good Citizen:

As a beginning step towards obedience training, the AKC introduced the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test in 1989. For decades, the AKC only issued certificates to dogs that passed the test but now it considers CGC a title. The ten-exercise test generally requires canines to heel, sit, down, come and not jump on strangers or lunge at other dogs.  Its requirements are much less stringent than for obedience.

Dogs with CGCs may now compete for two advanced titles: Canine Good Citizen Community (CGCA) and Canine Good Citizen Urban (CGCU). The CGCA exercises include requiring canines to ignore food (in a container) on the ground and sit for about thirty seconds with a small group of dogs. The CGCU tests a variety of skills including walking through noisy distractions, climbing stairs or entering an elevator, and heeling past dropped food (in a container) on a sidewalk.

The AKC’s S.T.A.R. puppy program requires owners and their pups to attend a puppy or basic training class for at least six weeks before they are tested. Handlers may use food during the test as the puppies walk on a leash, sit, down, come and tolerate petting by an individual other than their owner.

An AKC evaluator either passes or fails dogs competing in each of these tests and a title (certificate for puppies in the S.T.A.R. program) is awarded on a single pass.

The CGC title may open doors for volunteer work. Our local library offers a Reading to Rover program for elementary-school-aged children who read out loud to dogs for fifteen minutes each week during the school year. But dogs must have a CGC title before they can participate in the program which helps children improve their socialization and reading skills. All participants, children, dogs and handlers love the program! See: https://www.caryunkelbach.com/reading-to-rover/

Trick Dog:

In 2017, the AKC started offering trick dog titles. AKC evaluators administer the pass/fall test on four levels: Trick Dog, Intermediate Trick Dog, Advanced Trick Dog and Performer Trick Dog. Canines with CGCs only need to perform five exercises to earn their Trick Dog title. Some of these exercises include: fetch, run through a (agility-type) tunnel, kiss your cheek, obey hand signals for sit or down or come; spin; high-five; and kennel up (into a crate). Dogs without their CGC must perform ten tricks.

The more advanced titles of Intermediate and Performer require passing one test of ten tricks, and the Advanced title, five tricks.

The more advanced levels list many tricks that pet dog owners, not interested in competing in other performance events, may really enjoy:  play dead, cover your eyes, jump over handler’s back, go hide, and balance treat on nose and flip to it when told OK!  And to earn trick titles, handlers may choose from a list of tricks which their dog will perform!

Rally:

To bridge obedience with agility, the AKC approved the sport of rally in 2004. The first trials were conducted the following year and offered three classes, separated into A and B divisions: novice, advanced and excellent. Because it was a new sport, green performance dogs often competed with canines that had already earned their utility dog titles! That’s usually not the case today because many people compete in rally first before switching over to obedience.

In rally, handlers and their dogs navigate a course with signs instructing them what skill to perform, such as a sit, down-stay and walk around dog, and weaving through a serpentine of cones etc. In the novice class, dogs remain on leashes, and handlers can encourage them with extra commands and signals as well as pat their legs (unlike obedience competitions) but can’t entice with food.

The AKC now offers a Rally Advanced Excellent (RAE) title after dogs, open only to those with Rally Excellent titles. A dog must qualify ten times, in both rally advanced and rally excellent classes at the same show, to earn a RAE title.

Recently, the AKC recently added a RI (Rally Intermediate title) for dogs with only a rally novice title, and dogs run the course on leashes.  Additionally, the AKC added a Rally Masters (RM) as well as a Championship (RACH) title. To earn a RACH dogs must earn twenty triple qualifying scores from the Advanced B, Excellent B and Master classes at the same trial at twenty separate events and earn 300 RACH points from the Excellent and Masters classes.

The AKC’s website at http://www.akc.org/events/ has the latest specific requirements of all of the performance events discussed above. The events are just a few that the AKC offers. Check back next month for more sports that you and your dog just may enjoy. Happy training!

GLOSSARY 

VCCH: Versatile Companion Champion, earned when a dog has achieved all three championships:

• Champion Tracker (CT),
• Masters Agility Champion (MACH) and
• Obedience Trial Champion (OTCH).

OM4: Obedience Master (800 points earned for scores of 190 or more in the Open B and Utility B classes)

UDX 3: Utility Dog Excellent (thirty qualifying scores in both Open B and Utility B classes at the same show)

PCDX: Preferred Companion Dog Excellent

GO: Graduate Open

GN: Graduate Novice

CD: Companion Dog

BN: Beginner Novice

CGC: Canine Good Citizen

CCGA: Canine Good Citizen Advanced

TKC: Trick Dog

RAE: Rally Advanced Excellent

RE: Rally Excellent

RN: Rally Novice

MXS: Master Silver Agility

MJS: Master Silver Jumpers With Weaves

CH: Conformation Champion

Related post: https://www.caryunkelbach.com/sportsmanship-rally-obedience-trials/