Judging Panel / Rules

Every year, a few exhibitors are disappointed when they arrive at the National and find out their dog can’t be shown in the class it was entered in or a placement/award is vacated later by the AKC for a rule or policy violation. To help you decide which class is the correct class or whether your dog can be exhibited at the Regional or National, we are providing you with information on AKC policies for multi-day single shows and on the restrictions placed on dogs owned or co-owned by judges.  As a reminder, if you have questions about any AKC Rules and Policies, please contact the appropriate AKC Department.  It is the responsibility of the AKC to interpret its Rules, Regulations and Policies.

Age Restricted Classes

The AKC classifies the DPCA Regional and National as multi-day single shows. This can make entering the correct age-restricted conformation class tricky. The age of your dog or bitch is not always determined by their age on the day they are being exhibited.

The AKC Rules Applying to Dog Shows, page 12, Section 2 states:

In a single show with multiple days of judging, the first day of a show is considered to be the first day on which there is regular conformation judging in accordance with Section 3 of this chapter. (Sweepstakes and Futurities are not considered regular conformation classes.)

The Regional is a two-day single show. The age of your dog/bitch is determined on the first day of regular conformation judging for the Regional, which is Saturday October 4, 2025. Easy enough for all of the classes being judged Saturday (including Sweepstakes.) The class you enter is based on your dog’s/bitch’s age on Saturday. For the age restricted bitch classes and veterans classes on Sunday, the age of your veteran or bitch is based on their age on is Saturday October 4.

For example, if your bitch turns 12 months old on Sunday October 5, she is not eligible for the 12 to less than 15 month class, and must be shown in the 9 to less than 12 month class on Saturday. A bitch that turns 15 months old on Sunday October 5, would be shown in the 12 to less than 15 month class because she was not 15 months old on Saturday. A veteran that turns 9 or 11 on Sunday, would be in the 7 to less than 9 years and 9 to less than 11 years, respectively, because they had not turned 9 or 11 years of age on Saturday and were still eligible for that class.

The National is also a multi-day single show that starts on Wednesday October 8, 2025 and runs through Saturday October 11, 2025. The age of your dog/bitch is determined by their age on Thursday October 9, the first day of regular conformation class judging. Whatever age your dog/bitch is on Thursday determines their age for the entire National, including Futurity on Wednesday.

For example:

• Futurity: If your puppy turns 6 months old on Thursday October 9, he/she is eligible for the 6 to less than 9 month Futurity class (as long as he/she was 2024 Futurity nominated). A puppy that turns 9 months old on Thursday October 9 should be entered in the 9 to less than 12 month Futurity class, not the 6 to less than 9 month class.
• Friday Bitch Classes: Enter your bitch in the class that corresponds to her age on Thursday. If your bitch turns 9 months old on Friday, you still enter the 6 to 9 month class, and so on and so forth. The same rule applies for veteran bitches, as they are also entered in the class that corresponds to their age as of Thursday.

Exhibiting a Dog Owned or Co-owned by a Judge on the Regional or National Judging Panel

Many of the judges on the Regional or National panels are Doberman breeders. If one of the AKC-approved judges on either panel (Jeff Moore, Michael Gelinas, John Schoeneman, Kimberly Meredith, Paula Nykiel, or George Marquis) co-owns your dog/bitch, that dog/bitch may not be exhibited in any of the conformation classes at either the Regional or National.

As stated on page 4 of AKC Rules for Conformation Judges:

Exhibiting and Handling   [P] Conformation judges and household members (as defined in Chapter 11, Section 13 of the Rules Applying to Dog Shows) may not exhibit any breed and judge on the day of, the three days before and the three days after an assignment within 200 miles of the assignment. Sweepstake/Futurity judges may not exhibit on day(s) they judge. Sweepstake/Futurity judges will continue to be allowed to exhibit the day before and the day after the event they judge. A multi-day specialty is considered one event, and the restriction will apply for the duration of the event.

For all exhibiting restrictions: Exhibit refers to personally handling a dog or any dog owned or co-owned regardless of who handles the dog and where the dog resides. Exhibitor restrictions apply to all members of the same household.

Once again, the multi-day single show rule comes into play. The Regional ends on Sunday and the National starts on Wednesday, and the 2 shows are within 3 days of each other (Sunday and Wednesday), so the exhibiting restriction applies to both the Regional and National.

Sweeps and Futurity Judges may not exhibit in the show they are on the judging panel of.  You cannot exhibit a dog co-owned by Hillary Zimmerman in the Regional conformation classes.  You cannot exhibit a dog co-owned by Mary Dependahl or by Lisa Denmark in the National conformation classes.

Exhibiting Conflicts of Interest

Please refer to the AKC Rules, Policies and Guidelines for Conformation Dog Show Judges booklet, amended through March 2024, for complete details on Conflicts of Interest.  Policies and Rules on Conflicts of Interest are covered on pages 2 through 5. You can access this publication on the AKC website https://www.akc.org/rules/

What to Do If Your Dog is Entered in a Class it is not eligible for

There are options for fixing entry errors after entries have closed. 

Please refer to the AKC Rules Applying to Dog Shows for those options, https://images.akc.org/pdf/rulebooks/RREGS3.pdf

For your convenience, pages 43 and 44 are copied here:

SECTION 6. No entry may be changed or canceled unless notice of the change or cancellation is received in writing by the Superintendent or Show Secretary named in the premium list to receive entries, prior to the closing date and hour for entries.

However, prior to the judging the Superintendent or Show Secretary may:

• make a correction in the sex of a dog
• transfer a dog within the divisions of the Puppy Class, the Twelve-to-Eighteen Month Class, the Bred-by-Exhibitor Class, or the Veterans Class,
• transfer a dog between the Puppy and Twelve-to-Eighteen Month Classes or appropriate divisions thereof.

A dog determined to be ineligible, by its owner/ agent, for the class in which it has been entered may be transferred to an eligible Open Class at a show prior to the judging of any regular conformation class within the sex of that breed or variety, and that dogs which according to their owners’ records have completed the requirements for a championship after the closing of entries for a show but whose championships are unconfirmed, may be transferred from one of the regular classes to the Best of Breed or Variety competition, provided this transfer is made by the Superintendent or Show Secretary at least one half-hour prior to the scheduled start of any regular conformation judging at the show; at a single show with multiple days of judging, the transfer must be made at least one half hour prior to the start of judging on the first day of the show (as defined in Chapter 3 Section 2). No dog may otherwise be transferred.