Justicemom
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In AKC, there are 3 levels-Novice, Open and Utility. In those levels there are A and B classes. A classes are for those dogs without titles except for Novice A which is for handlers who have never put an AKC obedience title on a dog. One dog in your lifetime. B classes are for dogs with the title for that class or untitled dogs owned by those people who have put an AKC OTCH on another dog. There are also alternate titling classes now Beginners Novice, Grad novice and Grad Open that started in the last few years. They are transition clases and are not required to advance to the next level but give those dogs who are not quite ready for Novice, Open or Utility something to work for while they get ready.
The titles are CD- companion dog earned with 3 legs in Novice
CDX-Companion dog excellent earned with 3 legs in Open
and UD-utility dog earned with 3 legs in Utility
After you earn your UD you can work on:
UDX utility dog excellent -earned by Q in both Open B and Utility B on the same trial/same trial 10x if you do it again then you add a number UDX2, UDX3 etc
OTCH Obedience trial champion -earned by earning 100 OTCH points which are based on # of dogs competing. 3 dogs must compete in Utility B to get pts and 6 dogs in Open B. 1st place gets points always if the minimum # in reached and usually 2nd place. Less commonly 3rd and 4th will earn points but the class must be quite large.(there is a chart) In addition to the points you must win 1 Open B class and 1 Utility B class and 1 additonal Open B or Utility B class. This is a very difficult title to earn and you are usually competing against other OTCH dog to do it.
OM and GOM(10x OM) titles Obedience Master and Grand Obedience Master -new titles as of a year or 2 ago- earned based off scores. You only get points for scores over 190.(again a chart). 40% need to be earned in Open , 40% in Utilty and 20% in either. Justice would have a OM4 if he was grandfather in.
A leg is a run of 170 out of 200 points with atleast 50% of the points earned in each exercise.
The exercise in Novice are (always in this order)
1. heeling and figure 8 on leash
2. stand for exam
3. heel free(no leash)
4. recall
5. 1 minute sit stay handler across the ring
6. 3 minute down stay handler across the ring
The exercises in Open are(B classes are mixed up in 6 different orders0
1.heeling and figure 8 off leash
2.drop on recall
3.retrieve on flat
4.retrieve over high jump
5. broadjump
6. 3 minute sit stay handler out of sight
7. 5 minute down stay handler out of sight
The exercises in Utility are(B classes are mixed up in 6 different patterns)
1. Singal exercise(heeling pattern ending with a stand, stay, handler going about 40 ft away, down,sit, come, finish all on hand signals only, no verbals commands allowed)
2. and 3. 2 Scent article retrieves(1 leather and 1 metal)
4. Glove retrieve(lineup of 3 gloves in straight line, start with your back to glove and pivot to the correct one, will be sent to retrieve any of one gloves(judge posts which one before start)
5. Moving stand for exam
6. Directed jumping(send dog 40 ft away between to jumps and tell them to sit and then direct them to the jump called(bar or high jump) by judge. repeat 2x)
There is also UKC obedience in the US too similar but with some differences and a couple different exercises. It is quite fun too.
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which is rather off putting to many people.
