by Judy Robin

Futurities basically is for breeders and owners to show off the potential of our breed.

Within thirty days of whelp, a litter owner who must be a member of the ABC sends in a futurity nomination application (in back of ABC magazine). This entitles every puppy in the litter to have the option for the new owner to show/run the puppy.

Example: If the puppy was born in 2006, it would be eligible to run/show in 2008.

The ABC Futurity Secretary in charge of final forfeits and running handles the other forfeits. The following year after the puppy was born, the ABC Futurity Secretary in charge of final forfeits and running will mail to all breeders the forms for each puppy. Since ABC does not have the information as to whom the breeder has sold the puppies, the breeder then has the responsibility to forward to each new owner the paperwork to be completed for the forfeit due in September. Once this second forfeit paid in September is completed, only those owners of dogs paying this forfeit will be mailed the final entry form; and upon receipt of form and fees, be allowed to compete the following year in the futurity field/show events.

The ABC Futurity
by Ella Conable

The American Brittany Club Futurity - a breeders stake - was started as a field event in the late 1940's. Those who were breeding bitches and wished to participate in the first trial, paid a forfeit on bitches bred after October 30, 1946. An additional forfeit was due when the puppies were whelped in 1947. The following summer (August 1948) an individual nomination was due on any pups the owners deemed were of a quality to compete in the stake. A final fee was due on those same pups just before the stake was run. After expenses were deducted, the monies were divided among the four placing dogs with 2/3 of the purse going to the owners of the winners and 1/3 going to the breeders. The first stake was held near Detroit and run in September, before the trial season began. Peg B of Loufel, owned, bred and handled by Lucien Ufford was the winner. The next couple of years the Futurity was held at Crab Orchard, IL, in conjunction with the Illinois Brittany Club's fall trial. In 1951 it was again at Crab Orchard, but this time as part of the Nationals, where it remained (except for the 1967 Futurity) until 1974. The Futurity was strictly a field event until 1963 when Ann White inaugurated the Bench Futurity. In this event, the dogs are separated by sex into three age brackets; senior, intermediate and junior. The three class winners compete for first place; a reserve winner (second money) and a second reserve (third money) are chose in each sex. First place dog and bitch compete for the two top money spots; Best in Futurity and Best of Opposite Sex to Best in Futurity. The forfeits for the bench futurity are paid in the same manner as the field forfeits. Doc's Shotgun Popper, owned by Dr. John Schuckert, won Best in Futurity at the inaugural event. Best of Opposite Sex went to Holley Haven Marty Star. The show was judged by Jerome Halle who had also judged the first ABC Specialty Show. With the addition of a bench futurity, a Dual Award was also offered in 1963.  It was to be given to the dog who placed in the field and either placed in the show against competition or was a champion at the time of the show. The first Dual Award went to Pinoak Sue owned by Dave and Mable Olund in 1963.

When the Bench Futurity began, breeders had the option of nominating their litter for either field, bench or both. In 1967 the Futurity rules were changed so that a litter nomination covered both field and bench and the choice was made by the owner at the time of the final forfeit. At about this same time, the ABC was being pressured by the AKC to make the Futurities AKC Sanctioned events. This would have had little impact on the Bench Futurity other than requiring that Futurity entries also be entered in a regular class in the Specialty Show. The Field Futurity presented a bigger problem in that it allowed the running of bitches in season, unheard of in AKC trials at that time. When it became apparent that conditions at Crab Orchard were making the running of the Nationals increasingly difficult, and with little hope of improvement, the Lake Murray Grounds at Ardmore were offered as one alternative. As a way of "checking them out" the Board of Directors voted to hold the 1967 Futurity in the Spring of 1968. At the Board Meeting held at Ardmore in February, 1968 the problems of AKC sanctioning were discussed and the Board voted to limit all participation in the Futurities to ABC members and their immediate families.

With a few simple rules and only the couple of changes mentioned earlier, the futurity prospered. The number of litters nominated, the individual forfeits paid and the number of starters increased during the 50's and 60's. Four of the five years from 1968 through 1972 saw entries between 102 and 129. In 1973, the first major change was made effective with the 1974 running; the futurity would be split off from the Nationals and run as three sectional events. The Eastern would encompass the East Coast and East Central Regions; the Central would be held within the Central and Midwest Regions and the Western in the West coast Region. Dogs from eligible litters could be enrolled in any or all of the Sectional Futurities at the time the final forfeit was paid. Initially the sectional futurities were kept as Fall trials, but over the years they have moved to the Spring of the year following. During the early years of the split, entries in the 50-60 range were common and the Central very often drew 70-80 dogs. In the recent past, an entry of 40 is on the high end of the scale.

In the last few years, the ABC Board has made other major changes to the Futurity program, including a National Futurity Run-off (both field and show) for Sectional winners and additional qualifying participants; adopting a "Standard of Performance"; accepting full year nominations (breeding dates October 30 through October 29; whelping dates the full calendar year following, i.e., January 1 through December 31); the addition of an individual forfeit "late penalty" and the elimination of Champions from the Dual Award point schedule.

In 1996 the Futurity Committee was asked to outline recommendations for the addition of a Gun Dog Futurity to accompany the All Age Futurity. The committee report was submitted to the ABC Board at the 1997 meeting. They approved the Gun Dog Futurity under these rules; to be run in conjunction with the All Age futurity and Bench Futurity. Judged on Gun Dog Standards and to be foot handled. It can be run consecutively or concurrently, at the host club's discretion. The July forfeit could be paid for either All Age or Gun Dog or both. At the time of running, those that paid both field forfeits had to make the choice between All Age or Gun Dog as no dog could participate in both events at the same sectional futurity. The Gun Dog Futurity would have its run-off in conjunction with the Gun Dog Nationals. The first class of Gun Dog Futurities ran in the spring of 2000 with the run-off held at the May ABC Gun Dog Nationals.