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The American Kennel Club Board of Directors voted to accept and approve the report of the Group Realignment Committee. The rule changes necessary to implement going from 7 to 11 groups was read at the December, 2011 Delegate Meeting for a vote in March, 2012. The final decision on assigning breeds rests with the AKC Board, which will consider the input of the breed parent clubs. If adopted, these changes would become effective in 2015.
Additional information and background on this proposal can be seen on the AKC website at:
Realignment Proposal
In addition to the information provided by the AKC at the above links the Dog Show Superintendents Association (DSSA) believes there are some other factors to consider based on our direct expereince in the operation and execution of dog shows.
Adding the "new" breeds in the coming years should have little impact on most shows at the Group level. Few shows have most or all breeds in the current 7 groups represented at that level. For those occasions where the Group Ring available is too small for the number of breeds the Judge can divide the dogs as they do now with a large class in a breed.
There will also be increased expense since 28 Additional group rosettes and, for some clubs, additional trophies must be purchased. More multiple Group Judges must be hired which typically charge a higher fee.
The addition of 4 groups will add time to the length of a normal all-breed show day at a time when AKC is urging judging schedules be compressed and have no delays. Since additional time will be needed to move 4 more groups in and out of the ring(s) as well as time to make the trophy/ribbon presentations to those 1st-4th placements, the DSSA as well as others think it reasonable to expect this will add approximately 1 to 2 hours. Additional time would also have to be allocated for those shows with special attraction groups such as Puppy, Bred By exhibitor, Veteran etc. For those shows with larger entries this would certainly lengthen the day. One option to reduce the length of time would be to judge groups concurrently or to judge them as they become available throughout the day, which poses other challenges.
The DSSA would like your feedback on this proposal in order to better understand the thinking of the Fancy and possibly how best to implement the new Variety Groups. Please take a moment to answer the following questions. Thank you for your valuable input.
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