NADAC vs AKC Agility

Both welcome mixed breeds. NADAC takes purebreds and mixed breeds once they’re registered with NADAC. AKC takes registered purebreds, and mixed breeds through Canine Partners, which asks that the dog be spayed or neutered before it competes.

The ages differ a little. AKC lets a dog compete at 15 months. In NADAC a dog can start Intro at 15 months and Novice at 18 months.

AKC has three classes with their own title ladders: Standard, Jumpers With Weaves and FAST. Time 2 Beat and Premier sit alongside them with titles of their own. Each is a separate track, so a dog can be in Master Standard and Open FAST at the same time.

NADAC has eight titling classes: Regular Agility, Jumpers, Chances, Touch N Go, Tunnelers, Weavers, Grounders and Gamblers, each with its own titles at each level. Hoopers is no longer a titling class, though hoops are used in Touch N Go, Weavers, Grounders and Gamblers courses.

AKC has four levels: Novice, Open, Excellent and Master. Standard and Jumpers With Weaves move up on their own, and moving up is your choice after a title. A dog can keep running its level until it earns a Q at the next one.

NADAC has Intro, Novice, Open and Elite. Intro is optional, and Gamblers starts at Novice. A dog needs the Novice title in a class before entering Open in that class, and the Novice and Open titles before Elite. Moving up is never required, and a dog can move back down for any reason. Our dog agility levels chart lines up both sets of levels.

AKC scores Standard and Jumpers runs out of 100. A Q at Novice, Open and Excellent is a score of 85 or more, and at Master it has to be a perfect 100. The lower levels forgive a refusal or two, but at Excellent any refusal, run-out or wrong course is an NQ.

NADAC turns each qualifying run into points. A clean run under course time earns 10, and Regular Agility also gives 5 points for a run with 5 faults or fewer. Grounders and Gamblers can earn more.

NADAC titles take 30 points in that class and level, so most dogs need three clean runs for a title. A Novice Regular title can also come from six runs with a few faults.

After the first title, a dog can keep going in the same class and level. The Outstanding title adds an O in front, like O-NAC, and the Superior title adds an S, like S-NAC. NADAC also has lifetime awards for the points a dog earns across all classes and levels, starting at 1,000 points.

AKC titles take 3 Qs at Novice, Open and Excellent and 10 at Master, with Standard and Jumpers With Weaves climbing side by side.

After Master, AKC keeps counting with the Master metal titles, one for every 25 Qs in each class. Watch the letters if you run both: NADAC’s NAC is its Novice Regular title, while in AKC, NAC is the National Agility Championship.

A MACH takes 750 MACH points and 20 double Qs, all from Master Standard and Master Jumpers With Weaves. Your dog earns one point for every full second it finishes under course time on a qualifying run, and a double Q is a Q in both classes on the same day. MACH2 is 1,500 points and 40 double Qs, PACH is the Preferred version, and AKC’s AGCH counts Master-level Qs across six classes.

NATCH, NADAC Agility Trial Champion, takes 230 points in Regular, 130 in Jumpers and 130 in Chances. After that, every 200 more Regular points and 100 more each in Jumpers and Chances earns another NATCH, with no limit. The bigger versions build on it: Versatility NATCH adds 130 points each in Touch N Go, Tunnelers and Weavers, and there are Gamblers, Grounders, Platinum and Non-Jumping versions too.

Both championships add up points, and the MACH also needs double Qs. Our agility championship titles compared page has both side by side with the other organizations.

Up to 22 inches the two use the same bands. A 17-inch dog jumps 16 in NADAC Proficient and AKC Regular, and 12 in NADAC Skilled, as a NADAC Veteran or in AKC Preferred. Above that they part: at regular NADAC weekend trials every dog over 18 inches jumps 20 together, while AKC has a 24-inch height for dogs over 22 inches.

NADAC is the one place a dog can’t jump higher than its height. AKC lets a dog enter a higher Regular height, though never a lower one, and any dog 22 inches or under can choose 24C. NADAC’s lower heights also share titles: points from Veterans, Junior Handler and Skilled count toward the same titles, while AKC Preferred is a separate program with its own titles and 5 extra seconds of course time. The dog jump height chart works out your dog’s height in both.

Points are the heart of it. A NADAC dog builds 30-point titles in eight separate classes, then keeps going toward Outstanding and Superior titles, and classes like Tunnelers, Weavers and Touch N Go each have titles of their own. Its courses are known for flow and distance between obstacles, and its jump heights never go above a dog’s own height.

AKC has its own extras: FAST, Time 2 Beat and Premier each have their own titles, Novice A is set aside for a new dog with a handler who has never titled a dog in AKC agility, and the Master metal titles add one for every 25 Master Qs in each class. Neither set is better. They’re different ways of building a career.

Yes, and plenty of handlers run in more than one organization. Each one keeps its own titles and record, so a run counts only in the organization that held the trial. NADAC does let a dog start at the level that matches where it competes elsewhere, class by class, if you send in its titles. Its points above Novice show as 0 until NADAC approves the request.

That means two sets of records: points in each NADAC class and level, and Qs, points and double Qs toward AKC titles and the MACH. Keeping them apart from the start makes it easier to see where your dog stands in each.