understanding your dog's papers
What is a Pedigree
What Do Titles Mean?
List of Titles Because Cockers are so versatilel, you will find them receiving titles in many arenas: Conformation, Obedience, Agility, Tracking, and for hunting dogs they'll have field trial titles and working certificates. And, of course, Cockers trained as Canine Good Citizens and as service dogs have another set of titles. Here are some of the more common titles you'll find listed on a pedigree and in a Cocker's registered name. The AKC, CKC, UKC and American Spaniel Club (links on the right) have extensive information on competitions and titles.
A list of AKC Conformation & Performance Titles
Prefix titles:
Ch. Champion (conformation)
FC Field Champion (field trial, lure coursing)
AFC Amateur Field Champion (field trials)
MACH Master Agility Champion
NFC National Field Champion (field trials)
NAFC National Amateur Field Champion
NGDC National Gun Dog Champion (field trials)
OTCH Obedience Trial Champion
NOC National Obedience Champion
HC Herding Champion
DC Dual Champion (Ch. and FC or HC)
TC Triple Champion (Ch., FC, or HC & OTCH)
CT Champion Tracker (TD, TDX and VST)
Suffix titles:
CD Companion Dog
CDX Companion Dog Excellent
UD Utility Dog
UDX Utility Dog Excellent
TD Tracking Dog
TDXTracking Dog Excellent
VST Variable Surface Tracking Dog
JH Junior Hunter
SH Senior Hunter
MH Master Hunter
JC Junior Courser
SC Senior Courser
MC Master Courser
NA Novice Agility (NAP = Preferred)
OA Open Agility
AX Agility Excellent
MX Master Agility Excellent
MXJ Master Excellent Jumper w/Weaves
JE Junior Earthdog
SE Senior Earthdog
ME Master Earthdog
NAJ Novice Agility Jumper w/Weaves (NJP = Preferred)
OAJ Open Jumper w/Weaves
AXJ Agility Excellent Jumper w/Weaves
CGC Canine Good Citizen® certificate
Additional Abbreviations: ( AKC certified pedigrees only include AKC titles, but additional abbreviations may be shown on custom pedigrees for an individual dog.)
BOB Best of Breed (conformation)
BOS Best of Opposite Sex (conformation)
RWD/RWB Reserve Winners Dog/Bitch
WD/WB Winners Dog/Bitch
BW Best of Winners
Group 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Group Placements
BIS Best in Show (conformation)
BISS Best in Specialty Sweepstakes
Multi BISS - ( means they've won muliple BISS)
BOSS Best of Opposite Sex Specialty Sweepstakes
JAM Judge's Award of Merit (Bench or Field)
Res. JAM 1st Judge's Award of Merit (field)
HIT High in Trial (Obedience - regular classes)
HC High Combined (Obedience-Open Utility)
OAA Open All-Age (Field)
AAA Amateur All-Age (Field)
Qual. Qualifying (Field)
NQ Not Qualifying
Ptd. Pointed
Am. American
Can. Canadian
Int. International
Why is it important to know how to read a pedigree?
The registration papers are nothing but that -- papers assigning a number to the dog so that it can be tracked for purposes of pedigree (to the serious breeders) -- to the backyard breeder it is an attempt to explain that the dog is purebred and add value to their dogs.
It's the pedigree that shows the parents of a dog, the parents' titles, and the parent's health certifications. It is important to study this information for the father (sire) and mother (dam). If you can learn to read a pedigree, the pedigree will give you a lot of informatiion about the dog.