The NAFA racing year begins on October 1st and extends through September 30th of the following calendar year.

There are four classes of competition: Regular, Multi-breed, Veterans and Open. In Multi-breed, teams must consist of different breeds (minimum of 4, maximum of 6, with 4 different breeds running in a heat). In the Veterans class, every dog on the team must be at least 7 years old, the jumps are also lowered and racing is limited. In the Open class, dogs can be combined from any club, but teams are not eligible for record times or regional championships.

In 2016, there were over 333 NAFA-sanctioned tournaments hosted in 38 states and provinces, hosted by 130 US and Canadian clubs.

3,982 teams raced in the Regular class

759 teams raced in the Multibreed class

389 teams raced in the Veterans class

3,217 teams raced in the Open class

8 teams raced in the CanAm class

4 teams raced in the CanAm Multibreed class

Remainder in miscellaneous classes

6,513 new titles plus 195 Iron Dogs were earned during the racing year

3,219 titles were earned during the 2016 racing year

14,070,129 points were earned during the racing year by 5,214 dogs from 149 different breeds (one breed being mixed)

851 new dogs were registered

Tournaments are open to all dogs, including mixed breeds and ALL purebreds (including the bully breeds). NAFA will not sanction a tournament at a site that excludes dogs on the basis of breed unless the exclusion is mandated by governmental law or ordinance and the host club has attempted and been unable to qualify for an exemption to governmental exclusions.