As of this writing, a pretty cool event wraps up this week at the Mingo Sportsman Club near Bloomingdale, Ohio. It’s the 2018 AKC Pointing Breed Gun Dog Championships, and the winner receives the Westminster Perpetual Trophy, a reminder of the important relationship that exists between conformation and the field performance of the sporting dog.

The annual event is open to all AKC registered Pointing Breeds that have earned an AKC Field Championship or Amateur Field Championship title within a specified period, or placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd in any AKC Gun Dog stake (Open or Amateur) with at least 13, 18 or 25 starters, respectively. You can read more about the format of the event here, and request to join the AKC Pointing Breeds Gun Dog Championship Facebook page.

“Nova”

What makes the event special is not only that it lets a dog do what comes naturally in a competitive setting, but that it disproves a lot of people who don’t believe that a dog can do both walking and horseback trials. As Jon Hann said last year, “The dog doesn’t care if you’re on foot or on a horse,” and he should know. In 2017, he handled “Nova,” a German Shorthaired Pointer (also known as Flapjack’s Twisted Sister) on her way to becoming the first dog to have her name inscribed on the Westminster Trophy. You can read more about Nova and Jon here.

Though “Nova” was the product of hunting lines,  conformation and field trials aren’t always an “either/or” proposition, and in our perfect world, they shouldn’t be. In 2014, “Karoo,” a 4-year-old Boykin Spaniel retrieved a harvested Canada goose out of a field in Maryland, then on Friday of the same week, gaited across the green carpet of Madison Square Garden at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

And then there was BISS CH Risky Business Pistol’s Fire CD, JH, a Spinone Italiano known to her friends as “Fire.” Fire had an NAVHDA (North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association) NA (Natural Ability) title. She won the Eukanuba Award as the Top Spinone in 2003, went on to win Best of Breed at the Spinone Club of America National Specialty in 2004 and 2005, and back when it was an invitational, got invites to the Westminster Kennel Club show four years in a row,  winning Best of Opposite in 2005. In 2006 she was invited to the Raduno in Italy and won her class as the Best Brown Roan Bitch. She began her career in the field and expanded into conformation and obedience, but what we most love about Fire’s story is that in 2005 at the National Specialty, she ran in the field, then went directly into the obedience ring winning her CD,  and then proceeded to win the National Specialty followed two days later by winning the SCOA Club Specialty.

Several National Specialty winning German Wirehaired Pointers also have hunting titles, as do Vizslak, Brittanys, and many other breeds. In fact, a “dual” title honors the dog that has earned titles in both the field and conformation. If your dog has titles at both ends, share him or her with us!

Image photo credit: sarah … bird, dog. via photopin (license)