Every May, the AKC quietly redraws the map. Not literally — but the number of Great Danes you need to beat for a 3, 4, or 5-point major shifts, division by division, based on how many dogs were shown and finished in that region the year before. If you’ve ever watched a friend nervously counting the entry at ringside, they were doing this math in their head.
Key Takeaways
- A “major” is a 3, 4, or 5-point win — it takes a certain number of dogs (or bitches) entered to be eligible for one, and that number is set separately for each of AKC’s 15 geographic divisions.
- The 2026 schedule, effective May 12, 2026, ranges from as few as 4 dogs needed for a Great Dane major in some divisions to as many as 9 (dogs) or 15 (bitches) in others.
- We built an interactive map of the full 2026 schedule so you can check what a major takes in your division, or a division you’re planning to travel to.
- Numbers like these get revised — always confirm the current schedule at akc.org before entering.
Why the Point Schedule Matters
A dog doesn’t finish a championship on wins alone — at least two of those wins have to be majors. That’s what makes the schedule more than trivia for anyone showing toward a title: it tells you where a major is realistically in reach and where it isn’t.
As Illini Great Dane Club’s Show Chair, I spent a lot of hours looking at exactly this kind of data — figuring out how our regional entry translated into the points our exhibitors could earn, and explaining to newer members why “just a few more dogs” at a Division 15 show could mean the difference between a 2-point win and a major. It’s one of those things that seems arcane from the outside and is completely central once you’re the one entering.
An Interactive Map of the 2026 Schedule
A friend in the Great Dane community put together a visual breakdown of the 2026 point schedule, and it was too useful not to build a version of for the site. Our version is interactive: click or tap any state to see its division’s full 1-through-5-point breakdown for both dogs and bitches, with the major thresholds (3, 4, 5 points) called out.
A few things stand out in this year’s schedule. Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina (Division 4) require the most dogs of anywhere in the country for a major — 9 dogs and 15 bitches just to clear the 3-point threshold, climbing to 19 and 24 for a 5-point major. At the other end, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico/Mexico (Divisions 10, 11, and 12) sit at a flat 4/5/6 across the board, the lowest allowed. Illinois and its neighbors in Division 15 — home turf for the Illini Great Dane Club — land in the middle: 7 dogs or 13 bitches for a 3-point major.
A Caveat Worth Repeating
The AKC can and does revise these numbers, and the schedule you’re planning around should always be the one currently posted at akc.org, not a screenshot from last year — or from this post, for that matter. Treat the map as a planning tool for figuring out where to point your entry, not the final word on show day.
If you’re new to showing and this all still sounds like a foreign language, that’s exactly the kind of thing programs like the Illini Great Dane Club’s educational series exist for — come to a meeting, ask questions, and someone will walk you through it at ringside.