February 2, 2021

COVID: A Look at AKC Entries in 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed our world, including the sport of dog agility. The chart below shows the effect that the pandemic has had on dog agility entries for the American Kennel Club (AKC) by comparing entries from 2018, 2019, and 2020.

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Over the entire 2020 year, there was a 46% reduction in entries compared to 2019, however, in the last 4 months of 2020, there was only a 32% reduction in entries even as the numbers of cases and deaths reached an all-time high both globally and in the United States.

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In addition to the deaths per month, here are a few of the 2020 milestones for agility and COVID:

  • March 6th, 2020: Bad Dog Agility releases the podcast Episode 244: Protecting You and Your Dog from COVID-19 (Coronavirus) warning of the dangers of COVID and the coming disruption to our lives and sport. At the time of recording, there were 319 cases in the United States and 15 deaths. There were 3,494 deaths globally.
  • March 11th, 2020: WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic in part because the agency was “deeply concerned by the alarming levels of spread and severity” as well as concern about “the alarming levels of inaction.”
  • March 13th, 2020: The United States declares COVID-19 a National Emergency.
  • March 13th, 2020: The AKC postpones the 2020 National Agility Championship that was scheduled for March 27th-29th in Georgia.
  • March 19th, 2020: California becomes the first state to issue a stay-at-home order, mandating all residents to stay at home except to go to an essential job or shop for essential needs.
  • April 16th, 2020: The AKC cancels the 2020 National Agility Championship (it was previously postponed).
  • May 22nd, 2020: The United States crosses 100,000 COVID deaths.
  • September 15th, 2020: The United States crosses 200,000 COVID deaths.
  • November 30th, 2020: The AKC posts the premium list for the 2021 National Agility Championship to be held March 26th-28th, 2021.
  • December 10th, 2020: The United States crosses 300,000 COVID deaths.
  • December 12th-13th, 2020: The AKC holds the 2020 Agility Invitational in Orlando, Florida. Only 54% of the entered dogs actually attended the event.
  • January 14th, 2021: The United States crosses 400,000 COVID deaths.

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