The Tracking Club of Wisconsin is a Licensed Club of the American Kennel Club
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Certification
Are You And Your Dog Ready To Be Certified?
Before entering an AKC TD test, you will need to have your dog certified as ready to participate in a test.
If you think you and your dog are ready to be certified – fist ask yourself the following questions.
(1) Have you read the AKC Tracking Regulations, and do you understand them? You can download a copy of the regulations at the AKC web site: http://www.akc.org/pdfs/rulebooks/RU9999.pdf or from the TCoW web site at [About TcoW] [Downloads] http://www.tcow.net/files/2007-AKC-Tracking-Regs.pdf
(2) If you are working with an instructor, they may be able to tell you if you and your dog are ready to attempt certification. If you work on your own, ask yourself these questions:
(3) Have you and your dog done several blind tracks without help from the tracklayer?
(4) Have you tracked in wind, rain, both hot and cold weather and at different locations?
(5) Is your dog used to tracking with people nearby, similar to having judges and gallery following at a test?
(6) Have you attended a tracking test as a spectator, or better yet, been a tracklayer? This is not essential, but can be very helpful for you to have a better idea what a test will be like.
If you’ve answered yes to all these questions, then you are most likely ready to contact a judge and schedule a certification test.
Contact an approved or provisional AKC Tracking Judge and schedule a time for the judge to plot a track and record your dog’s performance. This is normally a courtesy offered by the Judge. Judges are not required to certify your dog so be polite and arrange a time that fits within the Judge’s available work schedule.
Go to the AKC website judge’s directory
http://www.akc.org/judges_directory/
Under “Advanced Search Options:”, click on “Search for Agility, Obedience, Tracking or Rally Judges”. Next to “Competition Type:”, select Tracking, and under “State”, select the state you want to search, then click the “Search” button. Find a judge near you and contact them via their email or phone number.
If you live more than several hundred miles from an AKC judge you may have someone else plot a regulation track and submit the map and tracklayer’s statement regarding your dogs passing performance to the AKC. Contact the AKC Tracking Department in Raleigh, NC for additional information.
AKC Tracking Department
Phone: (919) 816-3521
Fax: (919) 816-4204
Email: tracking@akc.org
A certification track is a blind track with the same requirements as a standard AKC TD test track. It will be from 440 to 500 yards in length and will have 3 to 5 turns. The track will be aged from 30 minutes to 2 hours old.
The Certification is the judge’s statement that the dog has satisfactorily performed a certification track and is ready to enter a TD test.
If you and your dog complete the certification track, the judge will give you 4 certification forms valid for one year from the date of the certification. Each time you enter your dog in a test you will include one of the certification forms with your entry form. If your dog fails four AKC TD tests or does not pass within one-year of the date you were certified, your dog must be recertified.
If you enter your dog in an AKC test and your dog is drawn as an alternate or if you withdraw your dog from the test prior to test day and you do not compete in the test, the club will return the certification to you.
It is permissible for a dog to be entered under the certifying judge.
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