AKC Walking Gun Dog Championship
Walking field trial stakes, where the handler is on foot, make it easy to get involved in pointing breed field trials. Today, more than 20% of AKC’s gun dog stakes are walking, which represents a fourfold increase over the past ten years. Walking stakes have encouraged the owners of dogs earning the Master Hunter title in the Hunting Test program – where all handlers must walk, like a hunter normally would -- to transition into walking field trials, where there is no requirement for a horse.
To acknowledge and promote this growing segment of the sport, the AKC has created the AKC Walking Gun Dog Championship. The inaugural event will be held at the Mingo Sportsman Club near Bloomingdale, Ohio (50 miles west of Pittsburgh, PA) starting Saturday, April 27, 2013. The event format will be one-hour, single series, non-retrieving. All dogs that have earned a placement in any AKC gun dog stake or have been awarded the Master Hunter title are welcome to enter. The winner of this annual event will be crowned National Walking Gun Dog Champion (NWGDC).
Bookmark the AKC website or join the new AKC Walking Gun Dog Championship Facebook group to receive regular updates on the event as they become available.