AKC Agility Move-Up Rules and Deadlines

A dog moves up after it qualifies for an agility title, and only when you ask. AKC’s agility rules (Chapter 1, Section 20) say a dog is moved to a higher class at the owner’s request once it has earned the title for its current class. Three Qs in Novice Standard finish the Novice Agility (NA) title, for example, and then your dog can move up to Open Standard.

Standard and Jumpers With Weaves move up on their own. A dog that finishes its Open Standard title can run Excellent Standard while it’s still in Open Jumpers, because each class has its own title and its own level. FAST works the same way, and Time 2 Beat has only one level, so there’s nothing to move up to.

The deadline depends on which day the set of trials starts. Every move-up also depends on there being room in the class, and you pay any difference in the entry fee.

The rules say move-up paperwork has to be on site during the trial weekend, and that’s the club’s job, but I’d still keep a copy of what you sent. Some premium lists add that an emailed move-up only counts once the trial secretary replies, so if you don’t hear back, follow up before the deadline.

Yes. AKC has a one-page Agility Trial Move-Up Form, and it goes to the trial secretary, not to AKC. You don’t have to use it, though, because the rule only asks for a written request, which is why the answer you find online changes from trial to trial. Most clubs list an email address for move-ups in the premium list, some trial secretaries take them through their online entry system, and many keep a paper form at the trial for same-weekend requests.

If you send an email instead, copy what AKC’s form asks for: the club and trial date, your dog’s breed and sex, its registered name, AKC number and call name, the class and jump height you’re moving to, and the owner’s and handler’s names.

At back-to-back trials, the club decides whether dogs can move up from one day to the next, and the premium list has to say so clearly. When it’s allowed, you hand the trial secretary a written request at the trial no later than the day before the run you want to move up for. If your dog finishes its title on Saturday, Saturday is the day to ask for Sunday.

If the club doesn’t take day-to-day move-ups, your dog simply runs the rest of the weekend in the class it was entered in. That still counts: a dog can keep running at its level until it earns a Q in the class above it.

Usually not. AKC’s class rules (Chapter 2, Section 1) let a dog stay in Novice B until it earns a qualifying score toward its Open title, in Open until it earns one toward Excellent, and in Excellent until it earns one toward Master. So if your dog finishes a title and you’d rather stay put for a few weekends, you can.

The one time it isn’t your choice is the first title. A dog that earns its first AKC agility title, in Standard, Jumpers With Weaves, FAST or Time 2 Beat, has to move from Novice A to Novice B for every trial whose entries haven’t closed. If entries had already closed when it earned that title, it stays where it was entered or moves up a level if you ask.

Yes, after entries close, a dog can be moved down to a level it’s eligible for, such as from Master to Excellent. The request goes in writing to the trial secretary or superintendent, 30 minutes or more before the trial starts (Chapter 1, Section 22). The same section lets a dog that was entered in Novice A but isn’t eligible for it move to Novice B, again in writing at least 30 minutes before each trial, with the reason.

Preferred is its own titling program, so titles and points don’t move between Regular and Preferred. The one exception is newer than the rulebook: AKC’s Board now lets you move a dog’s unused MACH points and double Qs to its PACH once, after the dog is entered in Preferred Master. A dog crossing from Regular to Preferred can enter at the level it’s eligible for in Regular, separately for Standard, Jumpers and FAST, and that crossover can only happen once for each. After that, a Preferred dog moves up through the Preferred levels the same way a Regular dog does.

Moose and I trial mostly in the Northeast, where a lot of AKC agility trials are run by PawPrint Trials as the trial secretary. PawPrint has an online system for entering trials, and move-ups go through it online too, so moving up for a trial next weekend doesn’t need an email or a form. The one exception is a move-up for the next day at the same trial. That one is still done at the trial, on a paper form you hand to the trial secretary.