There is no spectacle in the dog world quite like a horseback field trial at full cry — a gallery strung out across a mile of broomsedge, the judges riding easy, and somewhere out front a dog running so big and so bold it seems to be hunting the whole county at once. It is a grand, old-fashioned sport, and it is worth understanding even if you never enter one. If AKC hunt tests measure your dog against a written standard, AKC field trials measure your dog against every other dog entered that day. They are competitive and placement-based: judges award first through fourth in each stake, and only placed dogs earn championship points. A dog can run a beautiful brace, point cleanly, and finish fifth — and take home nothing. This is the fourth post in our Field Tests & Trials series, and the distinction between a test and a trial is the whole hinge it turns on.
A point worth making plainly, before we get into the mechanics: open All-Age field trials are not a natural home for a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. But there is real opportunity in the Gun Dog stakes, and any serious owner should understand how the ladder works.
The classic field-trial picture: dogs running a brace, a gallery following on horseback, and only the placed dogs scoring.
How a Field Trial Runs
Dogs run in braces — pairs — on a course where birds have been set. Judges follow and compare performances, then award placements. Points toward a championship are awarded to the first-place dog (and in some configurations lower placements), and the size of those points depends on how many dogs started. The more dogs entered, the more a win is worth. Every dog must be AKC-registered and at least six months old. The Wirehaired Pointing Griffon is an eligible breed for all pointing-breed field trials.
Here is a plain, on-the-ground look at what attending an AKC pointing field trial actually involves — the stake-outs, the breakaway, the brace, and the call-back retrieves — from an owner who runs them.
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The Stakes, Entry-Level to Advanced
Stake
Age
What is judged
Steadiness
Format
Puppy
6–15 months
Desire, boldness, ground coverage, indicating game
The Puppy and Derby stakes are for young dogs and judge promise rather than polish — no steadiness is required, though a placed dog must have indicated or pointed game. The Gun Dog stake asks for a finished performance at a range suitable for a handler on foot, checking in regularly and never ranging out of sight for long. The All-Age stake rewards the opposite temperament: a wide, forward-driving, independent dog that hunts the country on its own judgment and rarely looks back to the handler. There are also Limited versions of each, restricted to dogs that have already placed.
Why the Gun Dog stake suits a Griffon — and the All-Age stake does not
All-Age competition favors the fastest, widest-ranging dogs — the classic Pointer and English Setter type, often run from horseback across big country. A Griffon’s close-working, cooperative, foot-hunter style is at a real disadvantage there. The Gun Dog stake, judged at handler-on-foot range, is a far better match. If your goal is competitive trialing in a Griffon’s natural style, NSTRA is usually the better road than open AKC All-Age.
Field Champion (FC) and Amateur Field Champion (AFC)
The titles at the top of this ladder are Field Champion (FC) and Amateur Field Champion (AFC). Earning an FC takes 10 championship points accumulated at a minimum of three licensed or member field trials, with structural requirements baked in: at least 3 of those points must come from a single win in an Open adult stake (Open All-Age, Open Gun Dog, or their Limited versions), no more than 2 points may come from Puppy and Derby stakes combined, and no more than 4 of the 10 may come from first place in Amateur stakes.
Championship points by number of starters (first place, Open stakes)
The AFC carries the same 10-point requirement but is earned entirely in Amateur stakes, under the amateur restrictions. Because points scale with the field, a win at a big, well-attended trial is worth far more than a win where only a handful of dogs showed up — the heart of what makes a trial a competition rather than a test.
A hunt-test leg you can earn alone, against a standard. A field-trial point you can only earn by beating the dogs who showed up — which is why the entry list matters as much as your dog.
The Verdict for Griffon Owners
AKC field trials are a legitimate, historic sport, and the AWPGA does recognize AKC Field Championship titles in its awards program. But for most Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, the Gun Dog stake is the realistic ceiling, and open All-Age trialing fights the breed’s nature. If you want to test your dog competitively in a format built around its strengths, look hard at NSTRA and the UKC pointing program — and remember that for measuring a Griffon’s full versatility, NAVHDA remains the gold standard.
It is worth knowing that the AWPGA recognizes AKC Field Championship titles in its own awards program — one more reason the parent club sits at the center of a serious Griffon owner’s plans. We cover that club in depth in our piece on the AWPGA and the American Griffon community, and the registry that underwrites these trials in our guide to choosing a registry.
If a field trial is in your dog’s future, our events page lists upcoming AKC trials and tests for pointing breeds across Montana and the region.
How this article was made: researched and written with AI, then reviewed, edited, and published by Daniel Hartzheim of Griffons Out West in Belgrade, Montana.
