Titahi Bay Canine Obedience Club

Competing at Dog Obedience

In obedience tests dogs and handlers execute a series of exercises designed to illustrate the ability of the handler to control the behaviour of the dog, following basic commands such as sit, stay, down, heel and come when called. This is the foundation for more advanced commands, such as retrieve, scent discrimination, drop on recall, and call to heel.

The Tests are of ascending difficulty and have defined conditions of entry and criteria for conduct.

Dogs are judged on how well they complete each exercise. Points are deducted from maximum allowable point based on errors.

Summary

Elementary 1

Eligibility: Handlers and Dogs that have not won two first prizes in Elementary 1

Maximum Points: 65

Test Exercises:

• Heelwork on lead with right and about turns.
• Recall from a sit or down position to the handler, dog sitting in front (on the lead).
• Stays on lead - sit (30 seconds) and down (1 minute) with handler facing the dog.

Handler may talk to and encourage the dog except in stays.

Elementary 2

Eligibility: Handlers and Dogs that have not won two first prizes in Elementary 2

Maximum Points: 70

Test Exercises:

• Heelwork on lead with right, left and about turns.
• Recall from a sit or down position to the handler, dog sitting in front (off the lead).
• Stays on lead - sit (1minute) and down (2 minutes) with handler facing the dog.

Handler may talk to and encourage the dog except in stays.

Special Beginners

Eligibility: Handlers and dogs that have not won two qualifying first prizes

Maximum Points: 75

Test Exercises:

• Heelwork on and off the lead with right, left and about turns.
• Recall from a sit or down position to the handler, dog sitting in front then go to heel (off the lead).
• Stays off lead - sit (1 minute) and down (2 minutes) with the handler facing the dog.

Handler may talk to and encourage the dog except in stays.

Novice

Eligibility: Dogs that have not won two qualifying prizes

Maximum Points: 100

Test Exercises:

• Heelwork on and off the lead with right, left and about turns.
• Recall from a sit or down position to the handler, dog sitting in front then go to heel (off the lead).
• Retrieve
• Stays off lead - sit (1 minute) and down (2 minutes) with the handler facing the dog.

Handler may talk to the dog except in stays.

Test A

Eligibility: Dogs that have not won four qualifying first prizes

Maximum Points: 145

Test Exercises:

• Heelwork on and off the lead with combination turns (right about turn).
• Recall from a sit or down position and handler to recall dog to heel and continue with dog until ordered to half (specific variations in the recall are permissible).
• Retrieve
• Stays off lead - sit (1 minute) with the handler facing away from dog and down (5 minutes) with handler out of sight.
• Scent exercise where the dog detects the handler's cloth from up to 12 cloths and presents it to the handler.

Handler cannot talk to the dog in the heelwork except to give the command to Heel when moving off and Sit when halting.

Test B 

Eligibility: Dogs that have not won a total of four qualifying first prizes in Test B or Test C

Maximum Points: 225

Test Exercises:

• Heel Free at fast, slow and normal pace off the lead with only the command to heel when moving off allowed, more complex turns are included.
• Send-away exercise is added where the handler sends the dog where directed by the judge.
• Retrieve
• Stays - stand (one minute) with handler in sight and facing away, sit (2 minutes) and down (10 minutes) handler out of sight.
• Scent exercise with two decoy cloths and other scents are included. 

Test C

Eligibility: Open

Maximum Points: 300

Test Exercises:

• Heel Free work at fast, slow and normal pace off the lead with only the command to heel when moving off allowed, more additional complex turns are included. In addition the dog must achieve three positions (sit, down and stand) on command in the heelwork.
• Send away, drop and recall where the handler sends the dog where directed by the judge, drops the dog and then recalls dog to heel.
• Retrieve of article provided by the judge
• Distant Control exercise is added where from approximately 10 paces away the dog is commanded to attain six positions.
• Stays - stand (one minute) with handler in sight and facing away, sit (2 minutes) and down (10 minutes) handler out of sight.
• Scent exercise the dog detects the judge's scent on a cloth. 

For more specific information refer to http://www.nzkc.org.nz/rulesreg_pdfs/dog_training.pdf and search on Approved Obedience Tests.

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Last modified 27 July 2006