MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR
FIELD TRIALS
FOR ALL POINTING BREEDS

Listed here are the MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS for the recognition of field trial events as adopted by Amateur Field Trial Clubs of America, The American Field Publishing Company and the Field Dog Stud Book.
Wins will not be recognized and recorded unless the trial and/or each stake in which such win is made conforms to the following conditions:
1. The name of the club, place and date of the trial and the secretary’s name and address must be announced in an issue of The American Field bearing a publication date at least fourteen (14) days before the trials are to be run; entry blanks, with complete description of each stake, are to be available to owners and handlers at least six (6) days before the date of the drawing.
2. Recognized stakes are:
Puppy Stakes: From January 1 to June 30 of each year for dogs whelped on or after January 1 of the year preceding, and from July 1 to December 31 of each year for dogs whelped on or after June 1 of the year preceding. (To compete in Puppy stakes during the Spring season, 2001 dogs shall have been whelped on or after January 1, 2000.)
Derby Stakes: From July 1 to December 31 of each year for dogs whelped on or after January 1 of the year preceding, and from January 1 to June 30 of each year for dogs whelped on or after January 1 of two years preceding. (To compete in Derby stakes during the Spring season, 2001 dogs shall have been whelped on or after January 1, 1999.)
All-Age: For dogs of any age. An "open" stake is one in which there are no limitations with respect to either dogs or handlers.
An "amateur" stake is one in which all handlers are amateurs as defined by the By-Laws of the Amateur Field Trial Clubs of America. Winners in Members’ and Shooting Dog All-Age Stakes will be recorded but winners of Children, Ladies’, Brace and other stakes not conforming to the foregoing definitions will not be recognized.
Championship, Winners’ Stakes and Futurities: Wins will be recorded only in such amateur events of this character as are recognized by the Amateur Field Trial Clubs of America and in such open events as are recognized by The American Field Publishing Company and the Field Dog Stud Book.
3. The minimum length of heats for all stakes other than Puppy Stakes shall be thirty (30) minutes on the basis of the time that an average brace takes to negotiate the course. In the case of one-course trials, no more than eight (8) minutes of the thirty (30) shall be spent in the birdfield. Minimum length of heats for Puppy Stakes shall be fifteen (15) minutes.
4. A stake must be drawn no later than the night before the day the stake is advertised to be run.
5. Dogs shall not be substituted after the draw.
6. Braces shall be run, and handled, as drawn, unless given prior consent of the judges, which consent must not be given for the purpose of accommodating owners, handlers or dogs that are not available when reached in the regular order of the draw. In the case of withdrawals, the bracemates of such withdrawn dogs may be run together at the discretion of the judges. Bitches which come in season, braced with a male, are scratched.
7. No entry shall be accepted after a stake is drawn.
8. No more than one brace of dogs shall be run on a course or any part of a course at the same time, irrespective of whether the dogs are in the same stake or in different stakes.
9. Stakes shall be run only on recognized game birds whose flight shall not be impaired by caging, hobbling, wing clipping, brailling or in any other manner.
10. Bitches in season shall not be permitted to run in one-course trials. In multiple course trials they may start only if, in the opinion of the judges, it can be accomplished under conditions which will insure absolute fairness to other entries. Bitches in multiple course trials must be drawn in season and braced with a female.