American Kennel Club

Modification to the Rules Applying to Dog Shows

At their June 2022 meeting the AKC Delegate body approved changes to Chapter 11, Section 6 of the Rules Applying to Dog Shows. The changes provide exhibitors more flexibility in transferring an entry between classes that are defined by age.

The changes include:

Allow transfer between the divisions (if offered) of the Bred-by-Exhibitor class (Puppy/Adult)

Adds verbiage to specify transfer between the divisions of the Twelve-to-Eighteen Month class

Adds verbiage to specify transfer between the divisions of the Veterans class

Inserts language to recognize that transfer between Puppy and Twelve-to-Eighteen Month classes may involve divisions of either

Adds language for clarity as to when a transfer between classes must be completed at an individual event with multiple days of judging

This change is effective at events occurring on or after July 6, 2022.

Investing in AKC’s Future – Updating the Competition Management System

The AKC has launched a multi-year project to modernize one of its core computer systems called the Competition Management System (CMS). CMS is used to manage a wide variety of information that pertain to AKC sports. This includes event applications and results, club information, judge information, dog placements and titles, owner information and event site information. This is a joint effort between the Sports & Events Department and the Information Technology (IT) Department.

The goals of this multi-year project are to make it easier for clubs to manage their events, support the internal staff in efficiently managing event related processes such as event application and result processing, and enhance reporting capabilities by providing flexible to access and utilize data.

Some of the early deliverables from this effort are –

Automated Letters for Companion Events – The automation of standard letters that are mailed to exhibitors related to the processing of results will improve staff efficiency and consistency.

Cluster Coordination Report – A report has been developed to assist cluster coordinators in monitoring the status of the applications and judges panels for the events participating in the cluster. Currently the approval status is only communicated to each individual club in the cluster. A premium for the cluster cannot be published until all events in the cluster have been approved.

This report has been tested by a group of cluster coordinators and is now available to assist all cluster coordinators. The Cluster Coordination report can be found at https://www.apps.akc.org/cluster-coordination/.

Updating the Judge Panel Management (JPM) tool – This tool will allow event secretaries and superintendents to better manage judge panels for a club/cluster. The tool allows users to manage judge panels for multiple events in a cluster at the same time. It will replace the current tool that is limited in managing judging assignments to one judge and one event at a time.

AKC has dedicated a team specifically to work on this project. This team includes members of the Sports & Events staff, an IT project manager, internal and contract developers, a user interface designer, and quality assurance engineers (testing). The CMS Update Project will be on-going for a number of years, with changes being implemented as they are finalized.

Please contact the Event Operations department at eventnews@akc.org with any questions.