ThePetAdvisor is a structured public guide for AKC dog events — conformation dog shows, agility, obedience, rally, Fast CAT, dock diving, barn hunt, scent work, trick dog, and family dog programs. It organizes scattered event information — dates, closing deadlines, judges, venues, hotels, and travel — into weekend guides, each labelled with its review status, so you can see at a glance how far a listing has got through our review process.
Each weekend is published as a guide with numbered sections — Overview, Entry, Judging, Venue, Stay & Travel — so exhibitors can see the whole weekend in one place, and so the information is machine-readable for the agents and tools that help exhibitors plan. Guides that have been through review end with a Sources section listing the documents behind them; we are still adding Sources sections to the guides that do not have one yet.
Our review labels
Every event listing carries one of three review labels. The label describes the listing as a whole. It does not describe any single fact on the page, and it does not mean the AKC has approved the listing.
- Listing reviewed — the listing passed our review rule: a dated editor review, sources listed, and not a projected placeholder. It does not mean every fact on the page was checked one by one against an identified official document.
- Verification pending — the listing has not yet been through editorial review. Its details are published so you can plan around the weekend, but treat them as unconfirmed.
- Not yet reviewed — we have no review record for this listing at all. We never default a listing to reviewed.
Listings still awaiting review are published labelled as such, never as reviewed fact. Closing dates can change — always verify them with the superintendent before entering.
Our review labels describe our process. They are separate from the AKC’s own event status for a show. A show can be approved by the AKC while its ThePetAdvisor listing is still “Verification pending.”
How we build our listings — the full picture, including where our information comes from, what is and is not independently checked, and how we count our coverage: How we build our listings.
Research reports — original analysis of our own listing data, each with a stated question, methodology, limitations, and a frozen data snapshot behind every number: Research reports.
What we list — as of November 7, 2026
- 1,154 event clusters listed — 804 Listing reviewed, 350 Verification pending.
- 635 substantive show pages published, out of 748 top-level show pages. The other 110 are stubs or redirects; three more are archive/reference pages that match no cluster record.
- 2,539 clubs in the directory — all-breed kennel clubs, national parent clubs, regional breed clubs, and sport clubs. The directory does not hold every AKC club.
- 211 breed pages published — 122 recognized-breed profiles and 89 Foundation Stock Service and Miscellaneous Class breed directory pages. New profiles are added as they are published.
- 54 judge pages published, listing documented assignments. None is a substantive judge profile yet — we hold no judge biographies that meet our profile standard, so we publish that count as 0 rather than substituting the page count.
Each number is counted from our own data files under the definitions on our methodology page, as of November 7, 2026. How we count each number.
What ThePetAdvisor is not
- Not an entry service — entries go through the superintendent or AKC.
- Not a substitute for the official premium list — the premium list is the final authority.
- Accounts are live — for synced favorites and planning — but login is never mandatory. Everything public stays free to browse.
Frequently asked
How is ThePetAdvisor different from InfoDog?
InfoDog is a proprietary superintendent entry system — it's where you enter shows and check results. ThePetAdvisor doesn't run entries or host results. It's the planning side: upcoming shows, judges, venues, travel, and ring-time planning, built modern and readable at a glance. Every search feature is free with no mandatory login, and each guide links out to entries — and to published results where publicly available.
Contact
Questions, corrections, or source tips: [email protected].
To report a correction, tell us the show, the page, and what is wrong. We check it against the official source, fix the listing, and record the correction. How corrections work, in full: How we build our listings.
For clubs & show officials
Club chairs, show chairs, and superintendents: email your premium list — or anything you would like highlighted for your show, from specialties and juniors events to parking and RV notes — to [email protected]. We will work it into your show's weekend guide.