The American Kennel Club’s hunt test program is the most widely run pass-against-a-standard test in the country, and for good reason: it is accessible, well organized, and produces titles that mean something to anyone who knows bird dogs. For a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon owner, it is the natural companion to NAVHDA — a second, AKC-recognized way to prove your dog can do the work. This is the third post in our Field Tests & Trials series.
One thing to understand up front: AKC pointing-breed hunt tests are upland-only. There is no water work and no tracking leg, so they do not measure the full versatile picture the way NAVHDA does. What they measure — bird finding, pointing, steadiness, and retrieving — they measure very well, across three rising levels plus a recently added pinnacle.
How AKC Hunt Tests Are Scored
Your dog runs in a brace with another dog, but it is judged entirely on its own merits against the written standard. Two judges score each dog on a set of abilities, each rated from 0 to 10. To earn a qualifying score — a leg — the dog must average a passing mark across the abilities and score no lower than 5.0 in any single category. Collect the required number of legs and the title is yours. No dog is competing against another for placement.
At every level, a score below 5.0 in any one ability is an automatic non-qualifier, no matter how strong the rest of the run. One blown retrieve, one broken point, one moment of refusing to honor — and the leg is gone. The floor, not the average, is what trips most teams up.
Here is the AKC’s own short primer on what a Junior-level pointing test looks like in the field — the clearest introduction there is, straight from the source.
Junior Hunter (JH)
The Junior Hunter title asks for natural instinct with little trained polish. The dog must hunt independently and with desire for the length of the brace — at least fifteen minutes — find birds, and establish a point on at least half the pointable birds it encounters. A “flash point” that the dog immediately abandons does not count. It must hold the point until you walk in to normal gun range, where you fire a blank. Crucially, steadiness is not required at this level, and no retrieve is asked. The four scored abilities are Hunting, Bird Finding, Pointing, and Trainability.
Legs required: 4. A dog that simply will not find and point a bird cannot pass — bird finding is effectively the make-or-break ability.
Senior Hunter (SH)
Senior Hunter is where real training shows. The dog must now do everything the Junior does and add three demanding new skills: it must be steady to wing (remain in place when the bird flushes, by command if needed), retrieve every shot bird deemed retrievable, and honor its bracemate’s point. Live ammunition is fired by a designated gunner. Blaze orange is required. The retrieve need not be perfectly to hand — within a step or two is acceptable — but a dog that renders a bird unfit for the table through hard mouth fails on the spot. Six abilities are now scored: the JH four plus Retrieving and Honoring.
Legs required: 5 (only 4 if the dog already holds its JH).
A score below 5.0 in any ability, hard mouth (a bird rendered unfit to eat), stealing the bracemate’s point, or a flat refusal to honor when given the opportunity all end the leg.
Master Hunter (MH)
Master Hunter is the standard of a truly finished hunting companion, and the line between Senior and Master is steep. At this level there is no tolerance for commanded help. The dog must be steady to wing and shot on every bird — it cannot be commanded to stop, and breaking on any bird is a non-qualifier. The retrieve must be promptly and tenderly to hand, with the handler forbidden to move toward the downed bird. The dog must honor on its own, spontaneously, with no command. Any commands while pointing or honoring must be quiet and infrequent, and the dog must work at a range suitable for a handler on foot. The same six abilities are scored as in Senior.
Legs required: 6 (5 if the dog already holds its SH).
| Level | Legs required | Steadiness | Retrieve | Honor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Junior (JH) | 4 | Not required | Not required | Not required |
| Senior (SH) | 5 (4 with JH) | Steady to wing (command OK) | Required (near hand OK) | Required (command OK after acknowledging) |
| Master (MH) | 6 (5 with SH) | Steady to wing & shot (no command) | Absolutely to hand | On own (no command) |
Source: AKC Pointing Breed Hunt Tests and the official AKC regulations.
Master Hunter Excellent (MHX) — The Newest Summit
Introduced in 2024, the Master Hunter Excellent title sits above MH and is open only to dogs that already hold the Master Hunter. It is a two-series test: the dog must pass both Series 1 and Series 2 to earn a single leg, and three legs earn the title. The passing bar rises, too — an average of 8.0 or higher in each series, scored to the half point, with nothing below 5.0 in any category. The judged categories shift slightly to Hunting Desire, Hunting Intelligence, Handling, Bird Work, and Retrieving; honoring is no longer required unless it happens naturally. MHX is the hardest hunt-test title the AKC offers a pointing breed.
Junior asks whether the dog wants to hunt. Senior asks whether you have trained him. Master asks whether he is finished. Master Excellent asks whether he is finished beyond any doubt, twice in one day.
Where Hunt Tests Fit for a Griffon
The Griffon’s naturally close range and cooperative, foot-hunting style fit the AKC standard well — the program rewards exactly the manners a versatile gun dog is bred to show. The chief investment is in the upper levels: Master’s spontaneous steadiness and honor-on-own demand serious training time. Because the tests are upland-only, most Griffon owners run AKC hunt tests alongside NAVHDA rather than instead of it, and the American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association recognizes AKC titles like Master Hunter in its awards program.
If a competitive, placement-style program interests you more, read on in the series for AKC field trials, the UKC pointing program, and NSTRA — and for the bench side, our look at AKC conformation.