About the American Gundog Club

The American Gundog Club is dedicated to promoting the use and enjoyment of gundogs as hunting companions and efficient finders and retrievers of game. The AGC promotes the use of gundogs as essential to the quick and efficient collection and dispatch of wounded game.

The AGC promotes the widespread use of trained gundogs as a major contributor to the conservation of waterfowl.

AGC promotes the selective breeding of the retrieving breeds to preserve and enhance the behavioral qualities of high value for a gundog. Those behaviors are:

  • Calm demeanor and good manners in a high distraction environment
  • Game finding initiative and hunting persistence
  • Gentle delivery to hand of game
  • Tractability for ease of training

The American Gundog Club serves as agent for a breeding selection process intended to produce good gundog candidates that the average hunter can successfully train. In this capacity, The American Gundog Club sponsors and regulates a body of field trials which measure the behaviors of high value to gundogs. AGC maintains a registry for sporting breeds and issues pedigrees showing the titles won in AGC Field Trials so that breeders will have a tool to use in selection of breeding stock that is high in the behavioral qualities of value to gundogs. These behavioral qualities are highly valued by AGC Field Trial Judges and thus the titles earned are reflective of qualities and behaviors of high value for gundogs.

The regulations governing AGC Field Trials are derived directly from the British Kennel Club Rules governing retriever field trials. The British Retriever field trial system has been a very effective breeding selection process for nearly 100 years. Because of the behaviors judged In the British Field Trial system a Field Trial Winner has an extremely high probability of exhibiting and of passing along to his progeny the following behavioral tendencies:

  • Calm demeanor and good manners in a high distraction environment
  • Game finding initiative and hunting persistence
  • Gentle delivery to hand of game
  • Tractability for ease of training

Since this British Field Trial System has worked so well for the past 100 years at producing pleasant effective gundogs, the American Gundog Club has modeled the AGC field trial system upon the British system.