Which class- A or B

Justicemom

Forums Celebrity
Based on Cheryl's question in another thread I thought I would start other and make a list of which class a dog should be entered in for rally and obedience. Feel free to correct me if I miss something as I don't have the rule book next to me.

Important thing to remember: Rally was designed to be a precursor to obedience so obedience titles count for rally but rally titles do not count for obedience. Just like obedience and rally do not count for agility.

Rally

Novice A- you have never show a dog before in life and have never earn an obedience title or rally title before. Also your dog does not have it RN title. This is the class you enter. You must be the owner or co owner of the dog or a member of the house hold. Once you title a dog for an RN or get any title in obedience. You can not enter this class.

1 time per handler per lifetime. 2nd dog goes into Novice B, 3rd dog etc.

Novice B- Any dog can enter here as long as it does not have a RA leg(too Sheri you're done with Edan :smile2:) A dog with a RN can show here.

Advanced A-as long as your dog does not have an obedience title you can enter this class. You can show as many dogs in this class as you want as long as the dog doesn;t have an obedience title. You must own the dog.

Advanced B-Dog has RA, RE or obedience title, you are not showing your dog.

Excellent A- same as advanced A- no obedience title, no RE, you own the dog

Excellent B- obedience title or RE , not your dog

SO if it is your first dog: the class order is Novice A-Advanced A- Excellent A- if you go for your RAE Advanced B and Excellent B at the same time.

Order for any of you next dog is Novice B- Advanced A, excellent A ,and then Advanced B and Excellent B for the RAE.

If you put on any obedience title at any point then you go into the B classes for everything in Rally regradless if you have your RN, RA, or RE.

Obedience is the same Novice A is only for your first dog in your showing lifetime. The Open A then Utility A then Open B and Utility B if your going for your UDX or OTCH. If you put an OTCH on any dog your are in the B classes for everything for any future dogs. There are opinional titling titles in obedience you could compete in those are prenovice, grad novice, grad open. I don't really know much about them, I think they have similar classes.

So my plan with Birch is Rally Novice B, Rally Advanced A, Rally excellent A, BN, Novice B, Open A,( I could continue showing in Open B while working on utility) Utility A,then Open B and Utility B.

Clear as mud.:smile2:
 
I hate the rally rules for excellent. Makes no sense, and is inconsistent with obedience and agility regs. Lost an excellent run at the National over it. They changed the rules to allow a move from a to b if you hose it up, but not the stupid original rule.
 
Thanks, Dr. Shelli, this helps. Just to make sure I understand, as long as I show Edan or CJ (or any AKC registered dog I may own in the future), I use the "A" path; except for Novice where I must do B because Edan earned an RN. (Let's leave RAE out of it for now.)

Now, if GLEN were to show CJ instead of me, I believe he'd have to also show in Novice B since we are co-owners of Edan and CJ. Is that correct?


I do have one other question and I doubt anyone here has an answer for it... Why the heck does AKC have to make this so darned difficult and confusing? :dead:

Novice A/B in Agility aside, that venue is very straight forward in how you move through compared to Rally/Obedience and their A/B tracks.
 
Last edited:
Oy, my head hurt before reading this. Now it's pounding. I am surprised at all the A/B but go for B if RAE, etc, etc etc. Wowsers! They like to make sure the owners are obedient too (see if we know how to follow rules).

I am awaiting an answer to Sheri's question, only because I'm curious.

My one question, just to make sure the mud is clear. And this is for Rally only as I have no titles in obedience at all.
The rules apply for the dogs, right, not the owner (except for Novice A)?

Edited to make it easier for generalization for other people.

Is this correct:
I enter Dog 2 (no obed/rally titles) into Novice B because I completed an RN with Dog 1.
Then I would enter Dog 2 into Advanced A and Excellent A since I have no other Rally/Obed titles with Dog 1 (no RA/RE)

And is this correct:
If I got an RA title with Dog 1, I enter Dog 2 into Advanced A. Because Dog 2 never received an RA nor obedience title.


Is the mud clear? Or still muddy? lol.

I have to admit, reading the rules is 100x worse, so thank you for making it somewhat clearer. ;)
 
Last edited:
Cheryl, I got most of the A/B stuff pretty clearly from Dr. Shelli's initial post.

Novice A in Rally is like Novice A in Agility; you only enter this if you've never put a Rally title on a dog in your lifetime. (Example: If I enter CJ in Rally, I have to put her in Novice B because Edan's already earned a Rally title, the RN, under Novice A.)

The other "A" classes, Advanced A and Excellent A, are for people who OWN the dog they are showing. So, if I understand Dr. Shelli's post correctly, I will always show Edan and/or CJ in Advanced A and Excellent A since my name is on their AKC Registration and I'd be the handler. (Leave the RAE title out for now.)

If I were to show one of my breeder's dogs in Rally (meaning my name is not on the AKC Registration) I'd have to show in Novice B, because of Edan's RN and Advanced B/Excellent B because I don't own the dog.

Coming back to Edan - if, after earning his RE, I wanted to work on the RAE, I'd have to enter Advanced B and Excellent B because I already earned an RA and RE respectively with Edan.

That sound right, Dr. Shelli?
 
The other "A" classes, Advanced A and Excellent A, are for people who OWN the dog they are showing. So, if I understand Dr. Shelli's post correctly, I will always show Edan and/or CJ in Advanced A and Excellent A since my name is on their AKC Registration and I'd be the handler. (Leave the RAE title out for now.)

So, what you're saying (and I'm sure Dr. Shelli is saying) is that you'll never have to go into Adv/Ex B, with your dogs, unless you want to pursue an RAE, regardless of how many dogs you title? Is that correct?
 
Cheryl, I got most of the A/B stuff pretty clearly from Dr. Shelli's initial post.

Novice A in Rally is like Novice A in Agility; you only enter this if you've never put a Rally title on a dog in your lifetime. (Example: If I enter CJ in Rally, I have to put her in Novice B because Edan's already earned a Rally title, the RN, under Novice A.)

The other "A" classes, Advanced A and Excellent A, are for people who OWN the dog they are showing. So, if I understand Dr. Shelli's post correctly, I will always show Edan and/or CJ in Advanced A and Excellent A since my name is on their AKC Registration and I'd be the handler. (Leave the RAE title out for now.)

If I were to show one of my breeder's dogs in Rally (meaning my name is not on the AKC Registration) I'd have to show in Novice B, because of Edan's RN and Advanced B/Excellent B because I don't own the dog.

Coming back to Edan - if, after earning his RE, I wanted to work on the RAE, I'd have to enter Advanced B and Excellent B because I already earned an RA and RE respectively with Edan.

That sound right, Dr. Shelli?

Yep that is right.

Cheryl whether you put a RA on Dog 1 or not , you could still enter Advanced A as long as you own the dog and that dog (the one your showing) does not have its RA. The handlers previous titles do not matter(unless you have put an OTCH on a dog, I think), only the current dogs titles matter.

In answer to your question Sherri, about Glen showing CJ. As long as your name is on her papers then Glen would need to show in Novice B Rally. Same for Obedience if you had put a CD on Edan. This is unlike agility, where he could show CJ in Novice A even with your name on the papers because the rules specificly state for Agility that the experience of the co owner do not count.

Right now Rachel has this problem with Grizz. Grizz is her husband agility and obedience dog. He has never shown in either before but because Rachel's name are on the papers, he can not show him in Novice A in rally or obedience. Rachel has put a RE and a UD on a dog. Once Grizz finishes his Championship, Rachel will take her name off Grizz's papers and then her husband can show in Novice A.
 
So, what you're saying (and I'm sure Dr. Shelli is saying) is that you'll never have to go into Adv/Ex B, with your dogs, unless you want to pursue an RAE, regardless of how many dogs you title? Is that correct?

Yes as long as its your dog.
 
So complicated! I couldn't even get through your post, Shelli! (But of course, thank you for putting it together. I just don't know enough about obedience to be able to follow it!)

Glad USDAA is simple!
 
So complicated! I couldn't even get through your post, Shelli! (But of course, thank you for putting it together. I just don't know enough about obedience to be able to follow it!)

Ashley, I whole heartedly agree! I really don't know why the AKC has to make this so complex. Their agility structure is very simplistic by comparison; even with trying to figure out who can or can't run Novice A/B in agility.

The premium itself isn't much easier since you enter Rally and/or Obedience on the same form as the confirmation entries.


Thanks for taking the time to explain all this, Dr. Shelli. It's greatly appreciated. I wish the person at the show this past weekend was more helpful than snarky when I asked for help about which Advanced class I had to move Edan into. They said something to the affect of "if you'd have read the rules you'd know."
 
Back
Top