AKC Announces Changes to the Judging Approval Process and More

The AKC Judging Operations Department announces recent actions by the AKC Board at its February 2022 meeting and/or other newsworthy items relevant to conformation judges.

Acting on recommendations brought forth from the Chairman’s Committee on Judging Approval and Staff, the Board approved modifications to the Judging Approval Process to be effective May 1, 2022.  These enhancements are consistent with the evolutionary direction of the Chairman’s Committee and intended to further improve the quality of judging at AKC conformation dog shows.  A summary of the revisions is provided below which impact New Breed applicants, Additional Breed applicants, and Foreign Judges.

• Eligible fanciers will be permitted to apply for up to one complete group or the equivalent number of breeds in the largest group (not to exceed a complete group) on their first application. Acceptance of each individual breed application will remain dependent on the applicant meeting the criteria as a breeder, owner, and/or exhibitor in that breed.
• Policy will allow dispensation for first time applicants with exemplary qualifications seeking the acceptance of an application for a complete group on their first application, but who do not meet the requirements of 12-5-4 or NB Alternate Method for all breeds in that group. Any request for dispensation under this provision would be approved by the Board.
• Establishes an “Advancement Designation” for current judges. Under this provision, staff may identify and nominate judges for advancement based on their experience, history of observation reports, correspondence from the fancy, conduct and demeanor.  The provision will provide two benchmarks; those approved for at least four groups may be advanced for up to a full group, and judges approved for at least two groups may be advanced for ½ of a group.  Nominees are to be presented to the Board of Directors by staff for consideration, those approved would be designated for advancement.
• Increase the number of breeds a Foreign Judge who has established permanent residency in the United States and wishes to apply under the AKC system to up to one complete group on their initial application. To qualify the foreign judge must meet specific experience requirements including but not limited to the number of years judging AKC events and assignments completed in the breeds requested.  Foreign judges meeting the experience criteria who have not established residency in the US and wish to judge more than eight days of shows per year will continue to be eligible to apply for up to 14 breeds.

The Judging Approval Process displaying the revisions effective May 1, 2022 has been added to the AKC website in the Conformation Judges Resource Center.  Please be sure to refer to the proper version when referring to the policy as links to access both the current and the revised versions will be available on the AKC website until the May 1st effective date.

Forms related to applications affected by these changes will be revised and posted online in April.  The policy revisions will be discussed in further detail in subsequent communications in the weeks and months ahead.  In addition, the revised Judging Approval Process will be covered in Judging Operations next offering of the webinar series on judging procedures and policies scheduled for March 15, 2022 at 5:00 ET.  To enroll to attend the webinar CLICK HERE.

• The Board at its February 2022 meeting approved revisions to the Ibizan Hound and Bergamasco Sheepdog breed standards effective May 4, 2022. For the Ibizan Hound, the revisions impact the Head, Neck, Topline, Body, Forequarters, and Coat sections of the standard.  The revisions for the Bergamasco Sheepdog were extensive impacting almost all sections of the standard. To ensure current resources are available to judges who may refer to the AKC website to access breed standards during judging, the revised standards will not be posted until just prior to their effective date.

Approximately one month prior to the May 4th effective date, the AKC will send via email to all judges approved to judge the Ibizan Hound and/or Bergamasco Sheepdog a link to access the applicable revised standard(s) formatted so that it may be printed and folded to be inserted in your standards booklet, as well as an updated cover page insert for the Hound and/or Herding Group.

• Reminder! The Board at its January 2022 meeting approved revisions to the Standard Schnauzer breed standard effective March 30, 2022. The revision pertains solely to the tail, inserting a description of the un-docked tail.

• The Board approved a modification to the Judges Misconduct Policy. The change pertains to how disciplined judges are managed once they have paid their fine and there is a known end date to their suspension.  The Judges will be allowed to be approved on panels after the end date of the suspension as is currently permitted but will not be published in the online directory until the period of suspension has expired.  The affected area of the Judges Misconduct Policy found within the Board Policy Manual on the AKC website has been updated to reflect this revision.
• The Board approved revisions to the Guidelines for Judging Juniors in Conformation.  A description of the procedure for judging the Best Junior competition was added.  The booklet will be updated to reflect this addition and posted on the AKC website once available.
• At its February 2022 meeting, the AKC Board approved the Russian Tsvetnaya Bolonka to compete in Miscellaneous effective January 1, 2023.

Reminder that the 2022 Low Entry Breed list effective March 1, 2022 has been posted to the AKC website and can be found in the Conformation Judging Resource Center. The Low Entry Breed list should be used as a reference by additional breed applicants to determine the minimum number of CEU credits required to apply for a specific breed, and by judges with permit status breeds in consideration of requirements for regular status.

Judging Operations previously informed the judging community of the Board’s approval of the requirement for conformation judges to complete an exam on current procedures and policies every five years.  The original communication indicated an expected launch date of January 2022, with completion of this requirement through the AKC Canine College.

For those who may not be aware, AKC’s Education Department is currently in the process of transferring the AKC Canine College to a new Learning Management System (LMS).  While all expectations are that this transition will be seamless, the decision was made to delay the launch of the recertification requirement until the transfer of courses and users to the new LMS has been completed, which we expect to occur no later than the end of May 2022.  In the time leading up to launch, Judging Operations will be communicating details concerning fulfillment to the judging community.

Sporting group judges should have completed the Bracco Italiano breed exam in the AKC Canine College by now. Those yet to complete may not be assigned the breed or Sporting group at events held on and after June 29, 2022 until this requirement has successfully been completed.  Failure to complete by the full recognition date will result in the requirement for the judge to apply and be approved for the breed under the additional breeds process to retain their group status.

Individuals not approved for the Sporting Group with significant experience owning, breeding, exhibiting and/or judging the Bracco Italiano in Miscellaneous and other venues prior to AKC recognition may apply for the Bracco Italiano under the Adjunct Application Procedure.  Adjunct applications will be accepted up to June 28, 2022.  After that time, any application for approval to judge the Bracco Italiano must be submitted under the traditional New Breed or Additional Breed application procedures.

Contact the Judging Operations Department with any questions you may have concerning this notification or on any matter related to judging or applications to judge. In addition, do not hesitate to speak with an Executive Field Representative in attendance at an event.