What is Obedience?
Obedience is one of AKC’s oldest events; starting all the way back in the 1930’s. It demonstrates that dogs have been trained and conditioned to behave politely at home, in public and in the presence of other dogs.
The GTCGRC and Obedience
The club has been hosting obedience trials since April 1984. Since then, the club has hosted two obedience trials in January and August in conjunction to the specialty. In 2015 the club began hosting an all-breed trial.
Levels of Competition
Novice – this is the first level all dogs enter when starting their obedience career. In this class, dogs must
complete the following exercises:
• Heel on leash and figure eight: demonstrates that the dog has learned to watch its handler and adjust its pace to stay in heel position
• Heel off leash
• Stand for examination: dog must stay in position while the handler walks a short distance away and the judge comes up and lightly touches the dogs
• Recall – shows that the dog will come when called
• Long sit (1 minute) – dog must stay in sitting position for 1 minute while the handler is standing on the other side of the ring
• Long down (3 minutes) – dog must stay in the down position for 3 minutes while the handler is standing on the other side of the ring
Open – this is the second level. Dogs must have completed the novice title in order to enter this class. Exercises in this class include:
• Heel off leash and figure eight – the same as the novice level but no on leash
• Drop on recall – dog comes when called and with the command of the handler the dog must drop then wait for the second command to resume coming to the handler
• Retrieve on flat – dog retrieves an object on command
• Retrieve over high jump – dog retrieves an object on command while jumping an obstacle
• Broad jump – demonstrates that the dog can jump an obstacle that is twice as long as the dog is tall
• Long sit (3 minutes) – dog must stay in the sit position for 3 minutes while the handler is out of sight
• Long down (5 minutes) – dog must stay in the down position for 5 minutes while the handler is out of sight
Utility – this is the third and highest level in obedience. The class exercises include:
• Signals – demonstrates that the dog can understand and respond correctly to the handler’s hand signals (no voice signals are allowed) to sit, down, stand and come
• Scent discrimination – shows that the dog is able to detect the hander’s scent in a pile of articles
• Directed retrieve – demonstrates the dog’s ability to follow directional signal to pick up a glove and return it to the handler
• Moving stand and examination – while heeling, the dog will be commanded to stand and stay as the handler walks away then the judge approaches and examines the dog
• Directed jumping – the dog is sent away from the handler to the other end of the ring, sits, and waits to be commanded to talk whichever jump the handler tells them to
How it is scored
In order to receive a qualifying score, a dog must perform all of the required exercises to that class. A qualifying score is earned when more than 50% of the points are awarded in each class and with a total of 170 points out of 200.
Titles
| Qualifying Scores Required | Scores Obtained From | |
| CD | 3 | Novice A or B |
| CDX | 3 | Open |
| UD | 3 | Utility |
| UDX | 10* | Open B and Utility B |
*For a UDX title, the dog must qualify in both Open B and Utility B on the same day 10 times to receive 1 qualifying score.
To obtain the Obedience Trial Champion (OTCH) title a dog must win 100 points and a 1st place in Utility B and Open B, plus a third 1st place win in either class. Points are awarded to only the dogs that place in the top four in their class. The number of points awarded is determined by the number of dogs in the class.
Adapted from www.akc.org
Please check out our links page to find the nearest training facility for obedience classes.
Check out the events page for information of our upcoming obedience events.