Obedience trials

[winewood]

We are having a discussion at our local club regarding obedience trials, in Sydney the first Registered title/ not club title, is CCD (Community Companion Dog)
Heeling on lead with turns, and a figure of 8 pattern with at least one halt, losing points for tight leads, not in right position dog must also sit without command with the judges instruction to halt ,30 points,
Stand for exam, all four feet must not move while judge runs hand down back of dog  , on lead handler out front of dog 10 points,
Recall from around 15 feet off lead, dog must come in straight keeping the same pace, to handler sit automatically in front of, handler then returns around dog. 20 points. If you get through this you must score more than 50% for each section, if you fail heel pattern you do not progress any further you leave the ring. Groups,  usually around 6 handlers at a time in a line, dogs sitting 1.5 metres apart  1 minute sit stay ( 20 points)  and 3 minute drop stay ( 20 points) both off lead handler about 15 feet away. You are not allowed to correct/or praise your dog while in the ring (using correction collars), talk, feed, use toys and mostly people outside the ring a fairly quiet so there is very little noise. After completing Heel, before SFE you can reward your dog with a pat or talk to your dog, and again after recall then you leave the ring until enough people have passed then complete your group work. All trials are outside, rain or shine, in the hot weather (summer) we have night trials.  What are rules for the first title  and is it all quiet around the rings what is the etiquette for trialing in the UK ?

[sportsmonki]

Hearing about obedience in other countries is so interesting...everywhere seems to do things differently!


Technically there are 3 classes you could start with your dog in obedience in the UK.

Everyone starts off in Pre-Beginners...exercises...

Heel on Lead, Heel Free (off lead), Novice Recall (to front), 1-minute sit-stay, 2-minute down-stay.

Heelwork, the general fashion is for the dog to touch the handlers leg with the shoulder and head...people over the pond call it 'heel-by-feel'.  Like you if the dog loses position, tight lead, or doesnt sit promptly on the halts it will be penalised.  The heelwork pattern is the judges choice, but left-about turns arent included at this level.  Novice recall sounds the same as your recall, but the dog finishes to the handler.  Stays the same, no extra commands, no movement from dogs.  We do our stays as a whole class (usually 30-60 dogs).  They are often done in a seperate 'stay ring' at an appointed time during the day.

If a dog gains 10 points in Pre-beginner (1st = 10, 2nd = 4, 3rd = 2, 4th = 1) they qualify Pre-Beginner Excellent (P-Beg Ex after name).

You get one win in Pre-Beg, and then you are out for life.


So, if as a handler you have won a Pre-Beg with a dog you will go straight into Beginners with your dog.

Beginners is the same as Pre-Beginners apart from the retreive...similar to novice recall, but dog goes from beside you out to pick up the handlers article to present to the handler.

20 points are needed to qualify Beginner Excellent (Beg Ex).

You get 2x wins at Beginners and you win out for life (doesnt have to be with the same dog).


So...if you are out of Beginners, you always start in novice with each new dog.

Novice is the same as beginners apart from the temperament test.  Dog in the stand and judge runs their hand down the dogs back.  Usually dogs are only penalised for signs of aggression, nervousness, or not being under control (e.g. jumping up).  That depends on the judge a bit though.  The other subtle dfference is that the retrieve must be a dumbell.

As with Beginners, 20 points = Novice Excellent (Nov Ex).  2x wins and you are into 'A'.

In all the above classes we can talk to our dogs in all exercises, apart from stays, it is only once you are in A that no extra commands are allowed.  We cant touch them or use the lead during exercises, and no food, toys, etc can be carried by the handler or given to the dog whilst the dog is working in the ring.


Generally it is fairly quiet round the rings, just people quietly warming their dogs up and chatting, but this is more courtesy than a rule.  Some competitions are in barns/halls over the winter, but most are held outside (usually on grass, but a couple are on tarmac).  We can fail an exercise and still keep working the rest of the round if we choose to. 

When your dog gets a new qualification it replaces the lower class one after the dogs name.

Titles in the UK refer to the letters before a dogs name e.g. Obedience Champion (Ob Ch). 

[winewood]

Thanks for reply, wish I could move to UK no stand for exam at early level. Indi is a little nervous and the tail gets faster as judge approaches then all feet move and we are out of the ring, but she can do really good retrieves,  scent discrimination, box, all top level ,and heeling is very good, but can't get past the first level with basic stand for exam. As you go up each level the SFE gets gets harder, SFE on lead, then off lead about 1 metre, then further and further away until all dogs are left standing 1.5 metres apart, then handlers are 5 metres away then the judge goes over each dog in turn. So I have to get it right, now we may be very old when it happens But we are working on it and she is getting better she is letting about 4 different people do the SFE on her without moving a mussel shame none of them are judges!!!

Edited to add. Here even if you have top titles you still start at the bottom/base level against total newbees to the sport me included which is very daunting when you see dogs that are still puppies competing against yourself which are so much better it is a little off putting and does nothing for your ego again love to move to the UK think we would do better Oh well its character building  and cockers can do it if they want. Kody has one pass  now needs two more for his first title, his first pass was 89 out 100. Here we put titles after dogs name and you add them so a top dog would have,  C.C.D, C.D,C.D.X,U.D,AND U.D.X.,  Top title being O.CH going beforethe dogs name.

[sportsmonki]

As you go up each level the SFE gets gets harder, SFE on lead, then off lead about 1 metre, then further and further away until all dogs are left standing 1.5 metres apart, then handlers are 5 metres away then the judge goes over each dog in turn.

Wow!  That is really interesting...and I can see it would be quite a challenge for some dogs.  We only have the stand for exam...(we call it a temperament test here) in novice, once past novice we dont have that exercise anymore.

It is soooo frustrating when there is one exercise a dog finds hard isnt it, especially when all their other exercises are good (my young collie cant cope with stays  ).  Hope Indy gets more confident with her SFE soon, and good luck for Kody's titles  .

It is tough for the little dogs, but there are a few cockers in the UK that have been holding their own in the lower classes    What's the highest a cocker has ever got in Australia in obedience?  At the moment in the UK there are 2x cockers that have won up into novice at open/champ shows...one of them has won out of novice at limit level and has a win in A (the class above novice).  I believe many years ago a chap had his cocker in B at open level (the class above A)!