Tyson was approximately 12 weeks old when he joined Cindy’s family in July 2010. He was rescued off the streets of Detroit, found by a local rescue group, in a box labeled “Free Puppies” along with three others.  Cindy took Tyson to puppy class and progressed to basic obedience and early agility training. “At 18 […]

RATCHX Rex Von McKinney Rausch BCAT CGC owned by Jeanette Rausch of Mount Juliet, TN Eight-year-old Rex was once a stud dog at a kennel that was shut down by the authorities.  “I stumbled across his photo online and fell in love with him so I reached out to the organization to arrange meeting him […]

Emmy is 11 years old, and was adopted from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, UT, in 2008.  At the time, she was an insecure dog who knew very little about being a dog and generally seemed to lack any sense of purpose.  Eventually, she followed another dog in the family into agility classes. It […]

MACH BRADLEY'S BRANDY RN MXG MJS MXP2 MXPB MJP2 OF XFP T2B2 RATM CGCA owned by Kevin & Alison Bradley of Fayetteville, AR Kevin and Alison adopted Brandy from Fayetteville Animal Services on Nov. 22, 2008. They discovered an intelligent, energetic young dog and got her involved in training. Soon, Brandy was competing in agility […]

RATCHX Rex Von McKinney Rausch BCAT CGC owned by Jeanette Rausch of Mount Juliet, TN Eight-year-old Rex was once a stud dog at a kennel that was shut down by the authorities. “I stumbled across his photo online and fell in love with him so I reached out to the organization to arrange meeting him […]

Multi-Talented Twins Share Love for Therapy Dog Service & Hunting Owned by Bonnie & Charles Bird of Bellingham, WA Jigi and Zuzu are All-American Dog twins, born on Bonnie's birthday and brought to their forever home on Charles’ birthday. They are both Grand Champion Barn Hunters and AKC Distinguished Therapy Dogs.  Jigi is additionally the […]

By Gary N. Sadler It may be hard to imagine, but at 14, Kayla is an "old hand" when it comes to training and running pointing dogs in AKC Hunting Tests. Around dogs all of her life, Kayla was introduced at age six to German Shorthaired Pointers by her Grandmother, Stacie Smith. At seven, Kayla […]

Pointing Breed Hunt Tests - Judges’ Eligibility Current Requirements For all Judges Information please review Chapter 1 of the Regulations for AKC Hunting Tests for Pointing Breeds Prior to Apprenticeship Minimum Age: 18 yrs. Handling Experience: 1 qualifying leg at level to be judged or higher (club’s responsibility to monitor) Prior to Judging Apprenticeship: Twice […]

  Barn Hunt events may be held in conjunction with AKC events provided they are held "separate and apart". Separate and apart means there must be a clear demarcation between the two events. The clear demarcation can be achieved in a number of ways --- Different times -- Starting the Barn Hunt event after the […]

by Senior Field Rep Tom Meyer January 1st, 2012 marked the entry of the Flat-Coat Retriever into the Spaniel Hunting Test program. The Spaniel Hunting test program is a demonstration of a breed's usefulness in finding, flushing and retrieving upland game. This is one of the functions for which the Flat-Coats were bred. This is […]

Club Resources All the forms and resources your club needs to host an AKC Spaniel Hunt Test: After the Event Results must be submitted to AKC Performance Events within 7 days after the event and can be emailed to: performanceresults@akc.org  Spaniel Hunt Test Forms Other Forms and Publications Event Application Junior Handler Certification Hunt Test Report […]

Event Materials   All the forms and resources your club needs to host an AKC Retriever Hunt Test: After the Event Results must be submitted to AKC Performance Events within 7 days after the event and can be emailed to: performanceresults@akc.org Retriever Hunt Test Forms Other Forms and Publications Retriever HT Event Application Junior Handler Certification […]

by Mike Aldrich, Executive Field Representative Hunt tests were designed to evaluate the abilities of various types of dogs by testing them against a standard. Committees that were comprised of representatives of the parent clubs of the breeds to be tested designed these tests. An example of this would be a representative from the German […]

Growing Up In A GSP Family Ten-year-old Brandon Novoa, a 5th grader at Boston Valley Elementary in Boston, NY, has reason to feel proud: He recently put a Junior Hunter title on one of his parents' German Shorthaired Pointers. Active in school extracurricular activities such as the school newspaper, orchestra (playing violin), chorus and various […]

Luis Neves and Betinho do Choupal -- Our Road to Master Hunter -- July 30, 2012 I was born in Portugal and spent my youth hunting with my father and our dogs. It was there that I developed my life-long love of hunting. I moved to America when I was 18 years old. I continued […]

Pointing dogs are unique individuals who by nature are both independent thinkers and team players.  They hunt with courage and high spirit, searching for upland game birds in all types of cover and in all kinds of weather.  They often range well out from their handlers in their quest, yet they keep in tune and respond to […]

By: Zach Simpson Zach Simpson is a16-year-old from Wadsworth, IL, who knows exactly what he wants for his future. An All Honors or Advanced Placement student, this Junior is heavily involved in competitive shooting as well as his Hunting Test activities with his Vizsla, Otis, who Zach trained and handled to his Master Hunter title. […]

Airedales Earn Their First Field Titles   by Tom Meyer, AKC Spaniel Field Representative In just a little over two months from when Airedales were first allowed to participate in the Spaniel Hunting Test program, two dogs have become the first to earn AKC Hunting Test titles: The first Senior Hunter (SH): CH MACH5 Connemara's […]

Here are some guidelines for conducting the test: When submitting a hunt test video it must be continuous and without interruption or editing. Try not to retest in any phase, other than if it is clear the dog was not tracking a thrown towel during Chase Retrieve or Hidden Grass. If you find yourself trying […]

TSA/ACS Hunt test We ask you to take your puppy through this test at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months and send us the video. Several downloadable resources are shown below and more information is available in the Blog section of this website. Hunt Test Score Sheet (download below) Hunt Test Score Sheet and Reference […]