STOCKDOG TRIAL AND HERDING TITLES
All Titles are Suffix titles unless indicated otherwise!
ASCA (Australian Shepherd Club of America)
STD — Started Trial Dog, beginning level
OTD — Open Trial Dog, intermediate level
ATD — Advanced Trial Dog, advanced level
ATD-M – Advanced Trial Dog Multiple requires two qualifying scores each from Courses A and B from two different judges. In addition, two qualifying scores on courses C – H for a total of six additional scores.
ATD-X – Advanced Trial Dog Multiple requires two scores of 100 pts or higher on Courses A and B from two different judges. In addition, two two scores of 100 pts or higher on courses C – H for a total of six additional scores.
WTCH — Working Trial Championship (prefix) (dog has attained ATD on all three classes of stock)
WTCH-M – Working Trial Champion Mixed – Dog as attained ATD-M on all three classes of stock
WTCH-X – Working Trial Champion X – Dog as attained ATD-X on all three classes of stock
SDCH – Stockdog Champion (prefix) – Must attain all of these titles: WTCH-X, AFTDc and AFTD on another class of stock, RTDs, RTDc, PATDs, and PATDc.
PATD — Post-Advanced Trial Dog is an advanced course on six acre minimum field.
RTD — Ranch Trial Dog is a special course set up to mimic ranch work, includes open field gather, sort, chute, pen work.
OFTD — Open Farm Trial Dog is an intermediate course similar to Ranch Trial but within the size of an arena.
AFTD — Advanced Farm Trial Dog is a more difficult course than Open, similar to Ranch Trial but within the size of an arena.
c, d, or s designation after a title = cattle, ducks or sheep. Titles are earned separately on each species. PATD and RTD are only earned on sheep and cattle. Goats may be substituted for sheep and geese for ducks. A further designation, m for “mixed” may be used after a Farm Trial title, designating that the courses involved several species
The arena course series (STD through ATD) use five patterns, A through H; A and B are the oldest and most common.
RD — Ranch Dog – Non-competitive observation in daily working situation.
There is no instinct testing program in ASCA.
AKC (American Kennel Club)
HT — Herding Tested (test certificate)
PT — Pre-trial Tested (test certificate)
HS — Herding Started
HI — Herding Intermediate
HX — Herding Excellent
HC — Herding Champion (prefix) This title is earned via a point system based on beating a certain number of dogs.
FDC – Farm Dog Certified – A suffix title.
There are three different types of courses. “A” is similar to an ASCA arena course. “B” is similar to an ISDS (Border Collie) open field course, “C” is similar to a German-style boundary/tending course.
CKC (Canadian Kennel Club)
HJ — Herding Junior (test certificate)
HS — Herding Started
HI — Herding Intermediate
HX — Herding Excellent
AHBA (American Herding Breed Association)
HCT — Herding Capability Tested (test certificate)
JHD — Junior Herding dog (test certificate)
Standard Course:
HTD I, II, III— Herding Trial Dog levels one through three
Ranch Course:
HRD I, I, III — Herding Ranch Dog levels one through three
Ranch Large Flock:
RLFI, II, III — Ranch Large Flock, for ranch courses involving large groups of animals
HTCh — Herding Trial Champion (prefix, earned by third-level dogs who qualify 10 more times in their class)
The AHBA HTD title can have up to 4 suffixes: -d (ducks) -s (sheep) -g (goats) or -c (cattle). The title will always have at least one of these suffixes. HRD and RLF also have a “mixed” category for different species used during the same course.
