Obedience

We strongly encourage every puppy owner to attend puppy socialization classes (usually when puppy is 12 weeks old) and then enroll in a Novice/Manners class (usually around 6 months of age), this helps ensure the right step towards a well mannered pet and provides structured socialization lessons that are so very important to an impressionable puppy/adolescent. Some people get 'bitten by the bug' and wish to continue on and maybe enter a CKC licensed Obedience Trial.

The Canadian Kennel Club has organized obedience trials and award titles for the three main levels of testing. The titles are (CD, CDX & UD) Companion Dog, Companion Dog Excellent and Utility Dog, also known as Novice, Open and Utility. These titles are to be following a dogs name but once a dog earns its "UD" it is entitled to place "OTCH", Obedience Trial Champion, before its name. A dog is entitled to use these titles once it qualifies in three obedience trials and under at least two different judges. The CKC have added other classes before, in the middle and after these three. Pre-Novice (PCN) before Novice, Novice Intermediate (CDI) before Open and Master Obedience Trial Champion (MOTCH) and Grand Master Obedience Trial Champion (GMOTCH) after Utility.

The basic level of obedience, the CD, is basically a demonstration of sit, stay, come and heeling. Another, often missed, advantage of obedience training and related titles is that it is a statement of a dog's temperament. If a dog shows any signs of aggression toward people or other dogs it is disqualified.

Dogs are judged against a standard where a perfect score would be 200. Each dog must earn at least 170 points and at least 50% on each exercise to qualify. In this respect it is a test. It becomes a trial by announcing the scores and placing the dogs, recognizing "high in class" and "high in trial".

The obedience tests are the same throughout Canada. The judge has little, if any room, to have an easy or a difficult test. The obedience judges are also experienced dog trainers and have trained, handled and qualified dogs to the top level of UD. It is quite difficult to become an obedience judge but most participants find them to be the same, except for personalities. If the dog does the essential part of the exercises they will earn a qualifying score. The variances in scoring come mainly as to degree of an error, such as a crooked sit or a slow recall.

Anyone who trains obedience and then plans to take part in field events should consider some variances to the normal obedience commands, e.g. "over" to an obedience person means jump. To a field person "over" would mean, "over there". A field person would normally train to have the dog deliver a retrieved object to the "heel" position. Obedience rules dictate that the retrieve shall be delivered to the "front" position. Holding your hand high over your head would normally be a signal from an obedience person when he wanted his dog to "down". This same signal would tell the field dog to go straight back.

Obedience Trials

The purpose of obedience trials is to demonstrate the usefulness of the purebred dog as a companion of man, not merely the dog's ability to follow specified routines in the obedience ring. The basic objective of Obedience Trials Defined & Class obedience trials is to produce dogs that have been trained to behave in the home, in public places, and in the presence of other dogs, in a manner that reflects Trials credit on the sport of obedience.

Obedience trials are a sport an all participants should be guided by the principles of good sportsmanship both inside and outside the ring. All contestants in a class are required to perform the same exercises in substantially the same way so that the relative quality of the various performances may be compared and scored.

The Classes:

Pre-Companion Dog (PCD) or Pre-Novice Class:

This is intended to be a precursor to the Companion Dog title. The exercises are simpler but still a reasonable expectation for a well-behaved dog. The exercises included healing on-leash, circling left and right, sitting for a simple examination, a recall and sitting and staying with a group of other dogs.

Companion Dog (CD) or Novice Class:

The first level, Novice, results in your dog earning a Companion Dog (CD) title. The title actually describes what is expected of your dog: demonstrating the skills required of a good canine companion. The dog will have to heel both on and off leash at different speeds, come when called, stay (still and quietly!) with a group of other dogs when told, and stand for a simple physical exam.

The CKC now offers a Novice C class for dogs that have earned at least a CD. This class is useful for handlers who would like to give their dogs more ring experience at a simpler level. It may also be good for the team like enjoys showing together but are not able to compete at the Open level.

Companion Dog Intermediate (CDI) or Novice Intermediate Class:

The exercises at this level include honouring while another dog is working in the ring, off-leash heelwork, standing for a physical examination, come when called while carrying a dumbbell, dropping into a down while heeling and jumping a broad jump.

Companion Dog Excellend (CDX) or Open Class:

The second level, Open, results in your dog earning a Companion Dog Excellent (CDX) title. He must do many of the same exercises as in Novice, but off-leash and for longer periods. Additionally, there is a down in the middle of a recall, retrieving on level ground and over a jump and a broad jump. The group stays are peformed with the handler out of sight for longer periods of time.

Utility Dog (UD) or Utility Class:

The final level results in a Utility Dog (UD) title. These are intended to judge the dog's ability to perform more utilitarian exercises. All exercises are performed off-leash. Under CKC rules, the dog must find a dropped glove, perform scent discrimination tasks, respond to hand signals, stop and stand in the middle of heeling and go across the ring, stop and jump as directed by the handler. Under AKC rules, the dropped glove exercise is replaced with a directed retrieve of a glove. In Canada, the dog earns a Obedience Trial Champion (OTCh) title when it earns its UD.

If you are interested in pursuing Obedience either for fun or competitively, contact us and we will be happy to put you in touch with trainers in your area!

 

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