The American Kennel Club (AKC) was formed in 1884 to advance the interest in purebred dogs. It is a nonprofit organization which recognizes over 140 different breeds of dogs, with over a million dogs registered each year.
Purebred dogs have specific traits common to their breeds. A mixed dog is one whose mother and father are either mixed themselves or each from a different breed.
If you want to register your purebred dog with the AKC be sure and get an AKC application from the breeder who is selling you your dog. The breeder will partly fill in the application and you complete the rest and mail it into the AKC with the registration fee. The application will state the breed, gender, color of dog, date of birth, and registered danme of the dog's mother and father, and the name of the breeder.
If you intend to show your dog with the AKC, your dog must be registered so be sure you obtain the application at the time of purchase and verify with the AKC that your dog is eligible for registration. Also be advised that if you intend to show your dog, your dog cannot be spayed or neutered.
There are about 4,500 affiliated clubs with the AKC which hold all types of events. The AKC recognizes 11 types of clubs:
All-breed
- Specialty (single breed)
- Obedience Links to local AKC clubs and AKC clubs offering training
- Tracking Links to local AKC Tracking Clubs
- Field trial Links to local AKC Field Trials Club
- Hunting test Links to local AKC Hunting Clubs
- Herding Links to local AKC Herding Clubs
- Coonhound
- Lure coursing
- Agility Links to local AKC Agility Clubs
- . Earthdog
AKC Prefixes for Breed, Obedience, Herding and Lure Coursing
Ch Champion
FC Field Champion (Field Trail/Lure Coursing)
AFC Amateur Field Champion
OTCh Obedience Trial Champion
HCh Herding Champion
DC Dual Champion (Ch and FC)
TC Triple Champion (Ch, FC, and OTCh)
AKC Suffixes for Obedience, Hunting, Herding, and Lure Coursing Titles
CD Companion Dog
CDX Companion Dog Excellent
UD Utility Dog
NA Novice Agility
OA Open Agility
AX Agility Excellent
MX Master Agility Excellent
TD Tracking Dog
TDX Tracking Dog Excellent
JH Junior Hunter
SH Senior Hunter
MH Master Hunter
HT Herding Tested
PT Pre-Trial Tested
HS Herding Started
HI Herding Intermediate
HX Herding Excellent
JC Junior Courser
SC Senior Courser
JE Junior Earthdog
SE Senior Earthdog
ME Master Earthdog
Dog Show Outline - This is for Conformation
At dog shows the conformation of a dog is evaluated by a judge. Conformation is how closely the dog's physical structure conforms to his particular breed's "standard."
The standard for that breed is a detail description written by the breed's parent club. Dogs are not judged against one another but against the "standard" for that particular breed.
The dog will be judged against the "standard" for the following:
General Appearance
- Head (expression, eyes, ears, skull, muzzle and bite)
- Neck and body
- Forequarters
- Hindquarters
- Coat
- Color
- Gait (the movement of the dog)
- Temperament
Fifteen points are needed for a championship title, which requires several wins over the course of seversl shows.
All-breed show
The dogs are separated by breed, then by gender (males are called dogs, females are called bitches) and then divided again by the the first level classes below.
The first level classes:
- Puppy
- Novice
- Bred by Exhibitor
- American-bred
- Open
There will be a first, second, third and fourth place winner from each class.
The second level is Winners and Reserve Winners.
The above class winners then go into the winners class for bitches or winners class for dogs. This produces one Winner Dog and one Winner Bitch and there is also a runner up for each called the Reserve Winners Bitch and the Reserve Winners Dog.
The third level is the Best of Breed, Best of Opposite Sex and Best of Winners
Dogs and bitches that have already won at the lower levels compete at this level for the above titles. If Best of Breed is a dog, then Best of Opposite Sex is a bitch and vice versa. Best of Winners is chosen from the male and female Winners of of the second level.
The fourth level is Groups.
At all-breed shows, the next event brings the Best of Breed winners from all the breeds together and they are sorted by Groups. There are seven groups:
- Sporting
- Hound
- Working
- Terrier
- Toy
- Non-sporting
- Herding
In each group, first, second, third and fourth places are awarded and the first place winners enter the next and final levels.
The fifth level is the final level and is Best in Show
The group winners (the top seven dogs) will compete for the top price of Best in Show.