My Dog Events

May I practice on equipment my dog is fearful of during setup of the trial the day before the show starts?

No. Taking a piece of the “show” equipment out on setup day and letting an exhibitor practice on it would be considered training on the show grounds and would expose both the exhibitor and club to sanctions. As the newsletter states, the purpose of the change was specific – i.e. to allow for classes normally held at that facility to continue. This is not the case.

Perhaps the hosting Club would let the exhibitor borrow the equipment before the trial weekend, for use at their home or at a training facility.  We certainly understand needing to work through an obstacle fear issue.

Following is an excerpt from the April 11, 2011 AKC Agility Trial Secretaries Newsletter:

Training on the Show Grounds

There has been an issue brought to AKC’s attention regarding the recent regulation change to the Regulations for Agility Trials, Chapter 1, Section 15 Training on Show Grounds. Clubs have contacted AKC to state that exhibitors have felt it is now allowable for them to practice on the club’s equipment on the day preceding an event because the regulation changed to say training on the equipment is not allowed beginning at 12:00 a.m. the day of the trial. This is not the case.

AKC has not changed the requirements to allow “fun matches” or “show and go’s” and the requirements regarding these can be found in the Match Regulations, Chapter 1, Section 3. “Fun Matches. A fun match is an informal dog event that is not approved by The American Kennel Club as a sanctioned match. These events are commonly held by clubs that are not on the records of The American Kennel Club as being eligible to conduct sanctioned matches, dog shows, agility or obedience/rally trials. Once a club becomes eligible to hold AKC sanctioned matches, it may not conduct fun matches unless entries are restricted to members of the club. Any event for which the club solicits or accepts entries from non-members must be approved by AKC as a sanctioned match.”

The Regulations for Agility Trials state in Chapter 4, Section 15, "Training on Show Grounds. No agility obstacle training is allowed on the show grounds except for the use of the warm-up jump. No training is allowed on the trial equipment from 12:00 a.m. the day of the trial, to at least one (1) hour after the completion of the trial (on the last day of any set of trials)."

The emphasised text that changed still does not allow agility obstacle training on the show grounds and was implemented to allow clubs/facilities the ability to hold their training classes the night before a club’s trial without impacting their normal training schedule. Previously clubs were impacting the rental facilities training schedules due to their trial requirements.

Clubs are not allowed to hold fun runs at an event site on the equipment unless they apply with the American Kennel Club to hold a Sanctioned Match. Clubs may submit an application to hold a Sanctioned B Match and AKC will process and approve it for an upcoming event, or the club could apply to hold a Special Attraction offering the Time 2 Beat class for the upcoming event.

The employees of the American Kennel Club do not have the ability to over-ride or provide an exception to the regulations and rules, only the AKC Board of Directors can approve changes to such regulations and rules at their general meetings.