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Licking River Kennel Club, Inc.
Thirteenth Annual Cardinal Cluster
All-Breed Dog Show, Obedience Trial & Rally Trial

Date: April 20, 2009

Location: Ohio Expo Center-Buckeye Bldg., Columbus, OH

Photos & video by Beverly Mullet Randall

 

 

Obedience Trial Classes

The AKC provides the following information on Obedience Trial Classes: ("Getting Started in Obedience." Retrieved July 24, 2009 from the AKC website: http://www.akc.org/events/obedience/getting_started.cfm).

Levels of Competition

There are three levels of competition in obedience:

NOVICE - For the dog just getting started in obedience. Exercises include:

• Heel on Leash and Figure Eight - show whether the dog has learned to watch its handler and adjust its pace to stay with the handler.
• Heel Free - done off leash.
• Stand for Examination - is of great benefit when the dog needs hands-on care by a veterinarian.
• Recall - provides the handler with the ability to call the dog and get an immediate response at all times.
• Long Sit (1 minute) - allows the handler to have control of the dog when visitors come to the home.
• Long Down (3 minutes) - dog must remain in a down position.

OPEN - The second level includes more complicated exercises, which teach the dog to do a variety of tasks and to follow commands either by voice or signal. Exercises include:

• Heel Free and Figure Eight - Same as Novice, but off leash.
• Drop on Recall - can be a lifesaving command for a dog, since it gives the handler control in poten-tially dangerous situations.
• Retrieve on Flat
• Retrieve Over High Jump
• Broad Jump
• Long Sit (3 minutes) - similar to the long sit in Novice, but the position must be held for a longer period of time with the handler out of the dog's sight.
• Long Down (5 minutes) - dog must remain in a down position.

UTILITY - The third and highest level of obedience competition. Exercises include:

• Signal Exercise - shows the dog's ability to under-stand and correctly respond to the handler's signal to stand, stay, down, sit and come. No voice com-mands are given; only hand signals are allowed.
• Scent Discrimination - shows the dog's ability to find the handler's scent among a pile of articles.
• Directed Retrieve - proves the dog's ability to follow a directional signal to retrieve a glove and promptly return it to the handler.
• Moving Stand and Examination - the dog must heel, stand and stay as the handler moves away. The dog must stay and accept an examination by the judge and return to the handler on command.
• Directed Jumping - the dog must go away from the handler, turn and sit. Then, the dog must clear whichever jump its handler indicates and promptly return to the handler.

There were 873 dogs entered in this show and trials with a total entry of 910 in 129 different Breeds or Varieties, including 63 obedience entries and 47 rally entries. ¹²