Dog Show Terms

Conformation is what most people think of as a “dog show”. It's officially not a dog beauty pageant: the dogs are each being judged against the written standard for that particular breed. The dog closest to the breed's standard should be selected Best of Breed. But particularly as you get closer to Best in Show, yeah, it's a beauty pageant.

AKC description of conformation shows

AKC's advice for getting started

Class — lowest level group of dogs to which your dog is being compared. Common classes are 6-9 mo old puppies, 9-12 mo puppies, 12-18 mo dogs, and open dogs. (There are also some rarer specialty classes.) There are parallel classes for boy dogs (“dogs”) and girl dogs (“bitches”—yes, you will hear that all the time at a dog show, so get over it).

Winners dog/bitch — the best boy or girl dog who is not yet a Champion

Best of Winners — the best non-champion dog of either sex, competes for Best of Breed

Special — dog competing for Best of Breed who is already a Champion (i.e. not in one of the classes)

Best of Breed — best overall dog or bitch in the breed

Points — points are awarded to Winners Dog or Winners Bitch (or higher) depending on the number of dogs that have been “defeated”, i.e. not selected. The number of points received depends both on the breed and show location. For less common breeds like Flat-Coats or Swissies, you get roughly one point per dog defeated. However, for very common breeds like Labs, you get one point if you defeat one dog, but you need to defeat 7 dogs for two points, 13 dogs for three, etc. For bitches, it is even worse: 1, 11, 22, etc. For an example of dependence on location, for a 3-point major (see next), a Swissy needs to defeat only three dogs in California, but he would have to defeat five dogs in New England.

Major — a win where three to five (the maximum) points are awarded.

Champion (officially “Champion of Record”) — a title earned when the dog has reached at least 15 points, and where at least two of the wins are Majors.

Beyond Champion there is Grand Champion, Grand Champion Bronze, Grand Champion Silver, Grand Champion Gold, and Grand Champion Platinum. Many more points and majors are needed for each level, but the process is basically the same. These are really AKC's way of extracting more money out of the really good dogs' owners, but it provides serious competition and bragging rights, so it can get pretty fierce.

Group — AKC divides the 200+ breeds they recognize into seven groups with roughly 30 breeds per group. They are divided more or less by function. AKC's introduction to the groups.

•  Herding Group (7):: dogs whose primary purpose is to herd things: sheep, cattle, reindeer, young humans, cats …
•  Hound Group (2):: dogs who pursue warm-blooded quarry either by scent (Scent Hounds) or by sight (Sight Hounds).
•  Non-Sporting Group (6):: dogs who don't quite fit anywhere else; more polite than “Miscellaneous” or “Whatever”.
•  Sporting Group (1):: dogs who assist hunters in capturing and retrieving game birds.
•  Terrier Group (4):: dogs that specialize in getting rid of vermin (or one's yard while pretending to dig for vermin …)
•  Toy Group (5):: dogs designed for human companionship; tend to be the smallest breeds, though I question whether anything less than 40 lbs is truly a dog ;-) [Before the Toy Group people chase me down and have their dogs attack my ankles, please note that I do actually like Toy dogs. A friend has some Papillons of which I am rather fond, so Toys are still very worthwhile. Just not Chihuahuas … or French Bulldogs, though they are in the Non-Sporting Group.]
•  Working Group (3):: dogs who assist humans in work: pulling carts or sleds, guarding flocks or home, and protecting their people; tend to be the largest breeds and are clearly the best :-)

Generally the groups are to be shown during the group competition phase in the order given by the numbers, but things are often rearranged based on the actual number of entries for each breed and group to make the scheduling work out.

Group 1, Group 2, also 3 and 4 - the Best of Breed dog from each breed then competes within their group. The top 4 are awarded, with the “Group 1” from each of the seven groups going on to compete for Best in Show.

AKC's Conformation Rules and Regulations

Obedience trials are amongst the oldest sporting events run by the AKC. Developed in the 1930s to demonstrate communication between dog and handler and the dog's willingness to work, they are open to all dogs, including mixed breeds.

The AKC description of Obedience

Regular titles:
CD — Companion Dog - qualifies in 3 Novice tests (Rules and Regs Chapter 3)
CDX — Companion Dog Excellent - qualifies in 3 Open tests (Rules and Regs Chapter 4)
UD — Utility Dog - qualifies in 3 Utility tests (Rules and Regs Chapter 5)
UDX — Utility Dog Excellent - qualifies in both Utility and Open 10 times (Rules and Regs Chapter 6)

Alternate/intermediate titles:
BN — Beginning Novice - (Rules and Regs Chapter 16)
GN — Grad Novice - (Rules and Regs Chapter 17)
GO — Grad Open - (Rules and Regs Chapter 18)

Obedience Rules and Regulations

Rally is a form of obedience trial for people who actually want to have fun with their dogs. (I'm only being slightly biased and facetious!) Dog and handler go through a course with a number of signs, each of which indicates some skill that needs to be completed. The human is allowed to talk to the dog and make a bunch of gestures all the way through the course to get the dog (or at least try to convince it) to do what you want it to do.

The AKC description of Rally obedience

Titles:
RN — Rally Novice - on leash, uses only signs 1 through 42 (see below for sign links)
RI — Rally Intermediate - on leash, adds signs 101 through 123 (in addition to 1 - 42)
RA — Rally Advanced - off leash, same signs as Intermediate
RE — Rally Excellent - off leash, adds signs 201 through 216, plus 298 and 299
RAE — Rally Advanced Excellent - must pass Advanced and Excellent on the same day 10 times
RM — Rally Master - off leash, adds signs 301 through 322, must pass ten times
RC — Rally Choice - same as Rally Master without the jump
RACH — Rally Champion (title goes before the name), completes a ridiculous set of Rally requirements (see the Rules and Regs document)

Note: “double-Q” is earning qualifying scores in Rally Excellent and Advanced levels on the same day—needed for earning the RAE title; “triple-Q” is earning qualifying scores in Rally Master, Excellent, and Advanced levels all on the same day—needed for earning the RACH title.

Rally Rules and Regulations

A list of all the Rally signs with their descriptions

Rally Novice Sign Demonstrations
Rally Intermediate and Advanced Sign Demonstrations
Rally Excellent Sign Demonstrations
Rally Master Sign Demonstrations

The purpose of a retriever dog (flat-coated retriever, for us) is to fetch birds. The purpose of a hunt test is to demonstrate that your dog can do just that. While the details of a hunt test can vary a bit by breed, the overall principles are the same.

The AKC description of Hunting Tests

The following summaries of the titles are my distilled observations having assisted in a number of tests. They may or may not be politically correct.

Titles:
JH — Junior Hunter - will the dog go pick up a duck and bring it back, and get wet while doing it?
SH — Senior Hunter - does your dog have a memory and will it listen to you while retrieving?
MH — Master Hunter - can your dog deal with a three-ringed circus with birds flying everywhere and distractions from all sides?

Yeah, something like that …

Hunting Test Rules and Regulations

Draft tests demonstrate that your dog can pull a cart in a controlled and obedient manner. For Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs, imagine you are a Swiss farmer bringing your meat or milk to market — you want to get your products there in good condition, so your draft dog can't run around and mess everything up.

The Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Club of America (GSMDCA) gives a basic description of Swissies and drafting here. While draft tests are really the responsibility of the breed clubs rather than the AKC, AKC's Canine Partners Spotlight article has a pretty good summmary of a draft test.

GSMDCA Titles:
NDD — Novice Draft Dog, basic draft test on leash, one pass required for title
GNDD — Graduate Novice Draft Dog, same test but needs five passes
NBDD — Novice Brace Draft Dog, basic draft test with two dogs hitched to the cart
GNBDD — Graduate Novice Brace Draft Dog, same brace test but needs five passes
DD — Draft Dog, open test off leash, one pass required
MDD — Master Draft Dog, open test off leash, five passes required
BDD — Brace Draft Dog, open test off leash with two dogs, one pass required
MBDD — Master Brace Draft Dog, open test off leash with two dogs, five passes required

Notes:

• A number can be added after the MDD for every time the dog passes an additional 5 open tests: MDD2, MDD3, etc; similarly for MBDD2, MBDD3, etc.; I don't know the record, but in 2024 there was an MDD10 dog — 50 passes
  
• The two dogs in brace can be of any breed or sex - they do not need to be a perfectly matched pair.
  
• AKC will recognize some of the GSMDCA titles under their Parent Club Titles program and will add them to the AKC title string. Definitely allowed are NDD, DD, NBDD, BDD. Advanced titles like MDD, etc., are not specfically called out, so I do not know if they are allowed or not.

GSMDCA Draft Rules and Regulations

In addition to pulling carts, Swissies are also good at hiking with packs. Hikes are either single-day 10 mile hikes, back-to-back days of 8 miles each, or “primitive” back-to-backs of 5 miles each where you camp overnight after the first 5 miles.

GSMDCA Pack Hike description

Titles: NWPD — Novice Working Pack Dog - four passes with 20% body weight
WPD — Working Pack Dog - 5 passes with 20% or 4 passes with 30%
WPDX — Working Pack Dog Excellent - 10 passes with 20% or 8 with 30%

Unlike many of the other events here, these titles must be earned sequentially; i.e. the dog must earn a NWPD before working on WPD, WPD before WPDX. AKC will also recognize these titles under their Parent Club Titles program.

GSMDCA Pack Hike Rules and Regulations

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