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AKC Certificate of Merit (CM) Points Calculator

For Miscellaneous Class and Foundation Stock Service breeds. Pick the award and how many dogs competed to see the CM points, save your wins, and track your dog to 15 points and the CM title - then CM2, CM3 and on.

A curly-coated rare-breed dog standing proudly beside a ribbon-tied certificate scroll
1 Which award?

Saved wins

The Certificate of Merit in plain English

For breeds on their way in

Breeds in AKC's Miscellaneous Class, and Foundation Stock Service breeds, cannot earn championships yet. The Certificate of Merit is their title.

Points like a championship

Best of Breed, Best of Opposite Sex and Best in Miscellaneous earn 1 to 5 CM points, depending on how many dogs competed.

The goal

15 CM points earn the CM title, and every 15 more adds a number: CM2, CM3.

Record it here

Save each win, keep the running total, and print a certificate of your dog's record when you are done.

How Certificate of Merit points work

An exhibitor showing a rare foundation-stock breed dog to a judge

Breeds in AKC's Miscellaneous Class, and Foundation Stock Service breeds at FSS Open Shows, cannot earn championship points yet. Instead, their wins earn Certificate of Merit points. 15 CM points earn the CM title, and every 15 more adds a number: CM2 at 30, CM3 at 45.

Points by dogs competing

  • 2 or 3 dogs: 1 point
  • 4 to 7 dogs: 2 points
  • 8 to 11 dogs: 3 points
  • 12 to 15 dogs: 4 points
  • 16 or more dogs: 5 points

What each award counts

  • Best of Breed: every dog of the breed that competed
  • Best of Opposite Sex: the dogs of its own sex that competed
  • Best in Miscellaneous: every dog that competed in all the Miscellaneous breeds
  • At FSS Open Shows, a Group winner gets the highest points of any breed in its Group

Example

Nine dogs of a Miscellaneous breed compete and your bitch wins Best of Breed: 9 dogs earn 3 CM points. Five of the nine were bitches, so if a dog had won Best of Breed instead, your bitch winning Best of Opposite Sex would earn 2 points for 5 bitches.

Source: AKC Rules Applying to Dog Shows, Chapter 3, Section 22. The table is read as the fewest dogs for each point value, the same way AKC's championship schedules work.

Common questions

How many points does a Certificate of Merit need?

15 CM points. Every 15 more adds a number to the title: CM2 at 30 points, CM3 at 45.

How are CM points counted?

By the dogs competing: 2 dogs earn 1 point, 4 earn 2, 8 earn 3, 12 earn 4 and 16 or more earn 5. Best of Breed counts the whole breed, Best of Opposite Sex counts its own sex, and Best in Miscellaneous counts every dog in all the Miscellaneous breeds.

Which breeds can earn a Certificate of Merit?

Breeds in AKC's Miscellaneous Class, and Foundation Stock Service breeds at FSS Open Shows. Fully recognized breeds earn championship points instead.

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