Click here to view Obedience Regional Events
The new Obedience Regional Competitions were developed to provide an additional avenue for exhibitors to qualify for the National Obedience Invitational (NOI).
These competitions will not replace the current qualifying methods as outlined in the AKC Obedience Regulations for the NOI, but are intended to give exhibitors and their dogs another avenue to qualify for an invitation to compete at the NOI.
The requirements to qualify at a regional competition can be found in Chapter 8, Section 2 of the AKC Obedience Regulations but have also been listed on this page; see below.
Please note: In the event an exhibitor qualifies by both methods for the NOI, the traditional method (OTCH Points and/or Breed Ranking) and in one or more regional competitions, the selection process will be as follows:
- OTCH points and/or Breed Obedience Ranking will take precedent over the placement at the Regional Level.
- If a dog is selected by OTCH points and/or Breed Obedience Ranking the placement at the regional level will be awarded to the next highest scoring dog, based on points, from the affected regional competition.
- All non-qualifying (NQ) scores will be counted as zero and will be included in the cumulative score.
- Only the top scores will be listed for each event up to 20 dogs in the online results.
Section 2. AKC Regional Competitions. The American Kennel Club will identify yearly the events/shows to be regional qualifying events for the next year. Events will be selected based on criteria established by the American Kennel Club Companion Events Department. Regions will be based on divisions currently established for conformation by the American Kennel Club. The only exception will be the division containing Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, which will be combined as one division, with separate qualification criteria to be set. For all divisions, the top four dogs based on the qualification criteria as established by the Companion Events Department will be invited to attend the American Kennel Club National Obedience Event.
The qualification time period for regional competitors will be from July 1 to June 30 for qualification to attend the National Obedience Invitational following the June 30 cut off date.
For events to be identified as AKC Regional Obedience competitions:
- The selected division events must have obedience trials over three consecutive days. Only three consecutive obedience trials will be recognized as the regional trial. (Each division will only have one regional competition per year.)
- Previous shows for trials at the events must have a minimum of 80 plus entries (this may vary by region).
- If there are no events that meet the given requirements in a region, the Events Selection Committee can select a smaller show or allow another region to have two events.
*Criteria for Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico may vary.
To qualify dogs must:- Have a UD title
- Compete in both Open B and Utility B in all three of the shows identified as an AKC regional competition
- Have a cumulative score obtained from the dog's participation in Open and Utility at the regional competition
- Be ranked from highest to lowest based on their cumulative score with 1,200 points being a perfect score
- Qualify by cumulative score as one of the top four at one regional competition for an invitation to the National Obedience Invitational
Should a dog qualify for the NOI in more than one regional event, the next highest scoring dog will qualify.
