The American Kennel Club (AKC), the world’s largest dog registry and leading industry authority and advocate for dogs, announced the 2021 AKC Trick Dog National Competition earlier this week. The event will once again be virtual allowing trick dogs everywhere to enter. New to this years’ competition is a juniors division.

“We are so happy to bring this event back this year,” said Mary Burch, Ph.D., AKC Family Dog Director. “It’s such an enjoyable competition. The talent we see from these dogs and handlers is truly amazing, and we’re thrilled to open it up to juniors. We look forward to all of the submissions.”

The event is open to all trick dogs that have earned the Elite Performer title by the deadline of Oct. 1, 2021, at 5 p.m. EST.

The new Juniors division is open to handlers age 17 and younger and will be broken into age groups of 9 years and under, 10 to 13 years old, and 14 to 17 years old. Dogs handled by Juniors do not have to have an Elite Performer title — they can compete with the highest level of Tricks title that the dog has earned (Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Performer, and Elite Performer).

The deadline to submit videos is Oct. 1, 2021. Winners will be announced in January 2022.
For more information about the event and competition rules, visit akc.org/sports/trick-dog. There you can also watch tutorials on how to train your pup to do tricks… who knows maybe you have the next winner!