Method
Sources and Method
Every figure on this site can be argued with, because every figure names the document it came from, the section it sits in and the day it was read.
A reference is only worth the checking it allows. This page describes how a figure gets onto a page here, what happens when it cannot be verified, and how a correction is made. Nothing on this site is written from memory of the sport.
Rulebooks are the primary source
The governing documents are the American Kennel Club regulations for retriever hunting tests, the American Kennel Club field trial rules and standard procedure for retrievers, the Hunting Retriever Club rulebook published under the United Kennel Club, and the NAHRA field test rules. Facts and structure are taken from those documents; text is not. No table is reproduced and no sentence is lifted, because the documents are protected and because reformulating forces an actual reading.
A fact read in a rulebook carries three inseparable pieces of information: the edition of the document, the exact section, and the date it was read. Missing any one of the three, it does not go on a page.
| Document | Publisher | Status of the reading | What it feeds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regulations and guidelines for hunting tests for retrievers | American Kennel Club | Read September 2, 2026. Edition amended July 2021, issued November 2025, with a green insert effective January 1, 2026. Chapters 2, 4 and 5. | Junior, Senior and Master requirements, the number of passes for each title, the scoring floors, callbacks |
| Registration and field trial rules and standard procedure for retrievers | American Kennel Club | Not yet read at the source. The stakes, the championship points and the question of distances left to the judge all depend on this reading. | The field trial rows of the table, once read |
| HRC official rulebook | United Kennel Club, Hunting Retriever Club | Located, not yet read at the source. Point schedules seen only in secondary pages, which is not enough to publish a figure. | The HRC rows of the table, once read |
| NAHRA field test rules | North American Hunting Retriever Association | Not yet read at the source. Level names seen only in third party pages. | The NAHRA rows of the table, once read |
Rule stated against common practice
The table keeps two fields apart and never merges them. One holds what the rulebook states, with its section. The other holds what the sport habitually does, presented as an observed habit and never as an obligation. Where a rulebook fixes nothing and the decision belongs to the judges, the first field says so and cites the passage that hands the decision over.
One further precaution matters more than it looks. If a reading does not explicitly confirm that a value is left to the judge, the cell does not claim that the rulebook is silent. It records instead that the value was not found in the rulebook as read on that date. An absence is never inferred from a document that was read quickly.
How a figure enters a page
The order is always the same: a question, then the governing document, then the section, then the fact, then the page. Never the reverse. A sentence is not written first and then given a number to justify it. When the section does not exist or cannot be reached, the sentence changes rather than the number.
Facts that have been seen in a serious secondary source but not confirmed in the governing document are held back. They are not softened with an approximation and they are not published with a hedge. A point schedule that has only been seen on a third party page is worth nothing on a reference site, so what gets written is the part that is certain: that the program counts accumulated points rather than a fixed number of passes, and that the schedule is in the rulebook.
How a correction is made and dated
A correction is three gestures, never a silent edit. The field on the page changes and carries its new edition and its new date of reading. The claim behind it is updated in the evidence file that supports the site. And a dated note appears in notes and rule updates saying what changed and why. That is what makes the journal useful: it is the visible record of the revisions, not a stream of announcements.
Each row of the stakes and levels table shows the edition it came from and the date it was consulted. The table is revised whenever one of the governing documents publishes a new edition, and otherwise on a dated annual review. A table that has not been reread within a year says so itself. Anyone who finds a row that contradicts the document in front of them is invited to write to contact the desk, and to say which edition they are reading. Who answers for that reply, and the wider rules this publication holds itself to, are set out on the editorial policy.