General
Training
American Kennel Club
The AKC herding events are a part of their "performance events" area. The program consists of a testing and a trial section. AKC herding events are limited to dogs registered with the AKC from breeds that are in the AKC herding group.
Titles
The AKC currently offers five herding titles.
There are two "test" titles:
HT: Herding Tested. Requires 2 qualifying runs under two separage judges.
PT: Pre-Trial. Also requires 2 qualifying runs under two separate judges.
There are three "trial" titles, all require three qualifying scores under
three judges. A qualifying score is a score of 60 of a possible 100, with at least 50% of
the score on each obstacle.
HS: Herding Started.
HI: Herding Intermediate.
HX: Herding Advanced.
Past the HX level, there is a title of Herding Champion, or H.CH. which would go in front of the dog's official name. This title works on a point system, based on beating a certain number of dogs:
| Dogs in Advanced | Place in Class | Points |
| 3-6 | 1 2 |
2 1 |
| 7-9 | 1 2 3 |
3 2 1 |
| 10-19 | 1 2 3 4 |
4 3 2 1 |
| 20 or more | 1 2 3 4 5 |
5 4 3 2 1 |
To obtain the H.CH title, the dog must earn 15 points, including one 3 point major. In addition, any dog that goes high in trial from the advanced class will earn double points, to a maximum of five points, which is the maximum available for any one event. A dog does not start to earn championship points until it finishes its HX title. In addition, a dog that goes HIT from advanced, and was the only advanced dog will earn 1 point. Two points are earned when there are two dogs in the class.
AKC herding titles are neither stock or course specific. Thus, a dog may earn a title on three different courses and types of stock.
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