What is a Field Trial?

Per the AKC Rulebook, “the purpose of a Non-Slip Retriever trial is to determine the relative merits of Retrievers in the field. Retriever field trials should, therefore, simulate as nearly as possible the conditions met in an ordinary day’s shoot.”

You can, and should, read the full AKC Retriever Field Trial Rule Book here: (https://images.akc.org/pdf/RFTRET.pdf )

So, what does that mean exactly?

Very simply put, a Field Trial is a retriever competition to evaluate dog performance in picking up marked and blind retrieves. It is dog against dog and the dog who performs the best, based on the opinion of the judges, wins the event. The events are judged by volunteer judges that have passed a Judges Test provided by the AKC. At the end of the event, the judges have determined which dogs performed the best and those dogs are awarded placements.

There are different categories of Retriever Field Trials (there are some variations of the below stakes, but for now, we’ll just focus on the 4 main stakes).

• Derby Stake (Minor stake)

• Qualifying Stake (Minor Stake)

• Amateur Stake (Major Stake)

• Open Stake (Major Stake)

In Field Trials, dogs are expected to retrieve birds thrown in the field known as “marks” or “marked retrieves” and also be able to take direction from their handlers and handle to birds they have not seen thrown in the fields, known as “blinds” or “blind retrieves.” (Derby stakes don’t have blind retrieves.)

What is a Derby?

A derby is for young dogs that are at least 6 months old but have not reached 2 years of age, this stake involves marked retrieves only. These setups may consist of a single, double or triple. And usually, but not always, the gunners remain visible and do not retire. Derbies are a fun event for young dogs yet they are still very competitive and challenging. Join the NTRC today if you’re interested in learning more about how to train for derbies.

Derby Points are awarded to dogs who place in this stake and count toward a yearly Derby Championship sponsored by the Retriever Field Trial News, a publication owned by the Retriever National Open and Amateur clubs.

Derby Points:

• First Place - 5 pts

• Second Place - 3 pts

• Third Place - 2 pts

• First Place - 1 pt

What is a Qualifying Stake?

A Qualifying stake is open to all retrievers that are at least six months of age. However, a dog may not be entered in a Qualifying stake if that dog has been awarded a place or a JAM in an Open, Limited, Special or Restricted stake; or has been awarded a place in an Amateur or Owner/Handler Amateur stake; or has been awarded 1st place in two Qualifying stakes. Both amateur and professional handlers may handle dogs in a Qualifying stake.

A Qualifying stake parallels the Open and Amateur stakes in that the dogs should be tested on land and water marked retrieves as well as land and water blind retrieves.

A typical Qualifying will have 4 series. A land marking series, a land blind, a water blind and water marking series. Typically in that order but not always.

The difference between the All-Age stakes and a Qualifying is that typically the difficulty of the tests in a Qualifying is somewhat less than the All Age stakes, and judges are allowed the latitude to be more tolerant with respect to abilities acquired through training relative to the major stakes. That is, some faults that are classified as major in regard to the all age stakes and therefore call for automatic elimination are classified as moderate in regard to a Qualifying stake leaving elimination to the judges’ discretion.

What is an Amateur Stake?

An Amateur stake is open to all retrievers that are at least six months of age. The only difference between an Amateur and an Open stake is that Professional Trainer/Handlers are not allowed to handle a dog in an Amateur stake. The club holding the trial may designate an Amateur stake to be an Owner/Handler Amateur, which imposes the further restriction that each dog must be handled only by its owner. Otherwise the Amateur and Open stakes are the same with respect to the skills tested and level of difficulty.

A dog can earn his Amateur Field Champion (AFC) title by acquiring a Win (5 pts) in an Amateur Stake and earning an additional 10 Points for a total of 15 Points. A dog can also acquire points towards his AFC if an Amateur runs the dogs in an Open Stake and receives placements.

What qualifies someone as an Amateur? You can find the full definition in the Rulebook, on page 38 (as the date of this post), but to put it simply, it is someone who does not receive compensation for the direct training of a dog for hunting, hunt tests, or field trials and/or handling a dog in the same.

What is an Open Stake?

An Open stake is “open” to all retrievers that are at least six months of age. Either an amateur or professional handler may handle dogs in an Open stake. The Open stake is where a dog would achieve his Field Champion (FC) title. A dog needs a WIN and an additional 5 points for a total of 10 points to achieve his FC title.

The club holding the trial may reduce the number of entries by designating the Open stake to be a Limited, Special or Restricted. To be entered in a Limited stake, a dog must be Qualified All Age. To be entered in a Special stake a dog must be Qualified All Age and must have earned that status during the current or prior calendar year. To be entered in a Restricted stake a dog must have previously placed in an Amateur, Open, Limited, Special or Restricted stake.

In an Open stake the dogs should be tested on marked retrieves on land and water and blind retrieves on land and water. Typically an Open stake will consist of four separate tests starting with multiple land marks, a land blind or blinds, water blind or blinds, and finally multiple water marks. However, marks and blinds can be combined and there is no requirement as to the order of the tests. Also there is no specified limitation as to distance for either marked or blind retrieves. After each test or series, the dog work is evaluated to that point and with no preset numbers or percentages, the dogs that exhibited the relatively better work are called back to continue the trial and all other dogs are excused from the competition. This process is continued until the remaining dogs have been tested on the four required areas and until the dogs have separated themselves as to the relative quality of their work to the point where the best four dogs can be determined and ranked for 1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd and 4 th placements. If more than four dogs should finish a stake and exhibit outstanding work, after the four dogs that earned the four places are determined, the judges at their option may award the dog with the next best work a Reserve Judges Award of Merit (RJAM) and may award any remaining dog a Judges Award of Merit (JAM).What are All Age Points?

What are Field Trial titles?

FC - Field Champion

AFC - Amateur Field Champion

QA2 - The dog has achieved two 1st place finishes or two 2nd places finishes or a combo of either in the Qualifying stake to achieve this QA2 title.

QAA - Qualified All-Age. This is not technically a title awarded by the AKC, however you will see it often. The QAA designates that the dog has a 1st or a 2nd in the Qualifying stake.