Last update was on: December 28, 2008

A Better Score In The Novice Obedience Class by Dalene

First of all, here's my disclaimer.  I have not covered everything you can do wrong and lose points on, but I have covered the more common mistakes.

Walking  (also known as heeling)

But who does the heeling?  The dog, right?  And YOU do the walking. 

Everyone knows how to walk, correct?  Well you wouldn't think so to watch handlers in the ring with their dogs.  Some people, of course, make this "walking" an art.  However, the obedience regulations say "natural", not affected.

Most of these abbreviations of walking are caused by the handler adjusting to the dog.  Adjusting?  But don't the regulations say the handler does not adjust to the dog?  It's supposed to be the other way around.  That's what the Figure 8 is in there for  to see if the dog will adjust to the handler who keeps an even or constant pace while walking around the two posts.  When the dog is on the inside circle, he has to slow down to stay in heel position, and when he's on the outside he must speed up to stay in heel position.  The dog does the adjusting.

I've actually had people in the ring who slowed way down when the dog was on the outside and then went really fast when the dog was on the inside.  When I would mention this to them, they said that is the way they were told to do it.  I'm not so sure of that, possibly they weren't paying attention in class.

Two other common mistakes in the figure 8 are the handler who bends his body to the side as he goes around the posts  if he had his arms straight out to his side he would look like a little kid playing airplane; and the left hand (consciously or unconsciously) pull back when going around the left post to put some tension on the leash to warn him you're going to be turning.  My favorite is the handler who plays the lead out when the dog is lagging around the right-hand post.  Some of them are very clever at it, and you hardly see their hands move as they reel it in and out.  However, I don't have to watch their hands, I can see they started out with an almost tight leash and going around the right hand post the dog suddenly has 4 feet of leash.

The regulations say the dog is to heel on a loose leash.  This means, the dog stays in heel position and doesn't forge ahead, forge wide, or lag back; it does NOT mean the handler will keep the leash loose by playing it in and out.  Also, if your dog is lagging, don't keep looking back at him which just shouts at the judge, "My dog is lagging, take off points."  Don't do the judge's work for him/her by showing him what your dog is doing wrong.  If your last sit is crooked, don't tell your dog "sit straight" when the judge finishes the exercise.  They might not have even noticed the sit was crooked because they were thinking of something else.

When your judge says "fast", keep that pace until they say "normal".  Many handlers slow down on their own and that will cost you points

And no wiggling your fingers when starting to heel or as you make turns.

Not fair, you say, if it is unconscious.  I challenge you to find the word "unconscious" in the regulations, such as "if the handler is unconscious he is moving his hand, no deduction will be taken off."

Remember, the dog and handler are to be a "team".  Team means you work together, not one of you cueing the other all the time.  It isn't basketball where you can move your arm or your head to indicate to a team mate which direction you are going to throw the ball.  Any precision sport involves teamwork where both members of the team know what they are doing.  Can't you just see a pair in ice skating where one of the pair is constantly telling the other one what they're going to do next?

Another common error is handlers who wait on the turns for their dog.  Is this the way these people turn when they're walking alone?  If they did, probably someone would think they had an orthopedic problem, but would be too polite to mention it.  I remember being at a National and out of sight for an open down stay and a well-known handler was among the group.  He went to great lengths to show some of the people in the group how to do this "cute" little about turn that took about 4 steps.  I've also heard people say that before you turn left, you put your right foot out at an angle to warn the dog you are turning.  If it is an aid to your dog, then it is scorable.  Or rather, if the judge feels it is an aid to the dog

A few more obvious aids are the big first step when you say "heel" (just in case he wasn't paying attention), stomping one of your feet when you halt (just in case he's not paying attention), and stepping over into your dog when you stop (just in case he's too far away).

I can't tell you how many times people who have shown under me tell me they've never read the obedience regulations.  Why would you spend all that time and money training your dog and all that money entering dog shows and not know how you are going to be judged?  You can get one copy of the regulations from AKC for FREE, so if you don't have a copy, order one.  You can also get a copy from the show superintendent (if they haven't run out) at most of the all-breed shows.

I know you get nervous when you go in the ring, especially if you're showing your first dog.  Because of this you should have your dog trained well enough that you can be confident he will do his part and you only have to worry about YOU while you're in the ring.  Then you can pay attention to the judge's commands.  And if you are walking up the right side of the ring, there are only two turn commands the judge can give you (unless they goof), either a left turn or an about turn.  Same for going up the left side of the ring, only a right turn or an about turn.  So you only have to worry about two turns at a time.  And if you were at ringside watching at least one or two dogs before you, you're going to know the pattern anyway.  Just be sure you don't anticipate a turn because you know it's coming up and drift in that direction.

Next time you're at a dog show sitting at ringside, take your hand and put it out from you and cover up the dog that's heeling in the ring so you can only see the handler.  Do they look "natural", or do they look stilted, or just plain stupid?  Have someone watch you like this while you're training and see how natural you look.

Hand position is another place where handlers lose points.  It doesn't state where you should have your hands on the heel on lead, just that the leash may be held in either or both hands.  However, there are definite statements about hand position in the heel off lead.  You can either have " the arms and hands must move naturally [there's that word again] at the sides  and must hang naturally at the sides when stopped or "the right hand and arm must move naturally at the side, while the left hand must be held against the front of the body, centered in the area of the waist, with the left forearm carried against the body."  You can adjust the position during the "fast" in order to maintain balance.  If you are going to hold your left hand against your body, put it there before you say heel, not as you say it or after you step off.

If you don't have your hands in one of these positions, it is a MAJOR deduction, that's a minimum of 3 points.  Now, what a dumb way to lose that many pointsthat's worth 4 to 6 slightly crooked sits, depending on how crooked and on your judge. 

Clean up your training at home, so you don't accidentally do something in the ring that isn't allowed  such as pushing the dog into a sit (even between exercises), pulling up or back on the leash when you halt, or using your right foot to straighten the dog up on a sit.  Many times we do these things (especially when we're under stress) without even thinking and many times aren't even aware we did it.

Once while judging in Nevada, this very good handler and dog came into my open ring.  After measuring the dog, I asked the handler to go down to the far corner to start the heel free exercise.  When I turned around from putting my ruler on the table the handler had stopped half way to that corner and had her dog sit.  I took off 2 points for practicing in the ring.  She ended up with a total score of 198.  Here's an obvious case where the handler lost more points than the dog.  Do you think a dog who heels that well really needed that extra sit before they started?  I doubt it.  When I told her about it afterwards, she tried to tell me she hadn't done it.  Later she came back and apologized and said several of her friends watching outside the ring confirmed that she had done a halt there.

There are innumerable ways to lose points in any of the heeling exercises  and you have at least one in each division, novice, open, and utility.

Then there is the stand for examination.  Three common mistakes handlers make on this exercise is to have one hand on the dog or it's collar when you give it the "stay" command; backing away from the dog instead of walking away and then turning to face the dog; and not returning to heel position.  Don't take a chance, stop by the dog's neck and there won't be any questions that you're in heel position. 

On the recall, there's another MAJOR deduction for the position of your hands  they must hang "naturally"  there's that word again  at your side.  That doesn't mean stiffly or with your hands plastered against the side of your legs.  Another things that handlers do is they don't walk straight away from their dog, so when they turn around to face the dog, they take a step or two to the right or left to line up with the dog.  Especially in novice, all this moving around after you've turned around could make your dog break.  I know he should be trained better, but why take the chance.  You can practice moving around at home like that, but try not to do it in the ring, the dog is under more stress in the ring and may not react exactly as he does at home or your training class.  When you leave your dog, look at something straight across the ring and walk toward that, don't drift around out there, and don't look back at your dog, it might make him break.

When you call your dog, nodding your head, raising your shoulders, or any body motions may be scored.  It is not the judge's duty to determine whether you do these things on purpose or not.  The regulations say you won't, so don't.  Another "cute" move I've seen is the handler who stands with their legs spread wide apart.  They probably think they're giving the dog a wider target or some such thing, but boy are they making it easier for the judge to see whether or not the dog is sitting centered in front of the handler.  If you can see one of the handler's legs and not the other, it makes it pretty obvious, the smaller the dog the more obvious it is.  If you stand "naturally" with both feet just a few inches apart, the judge probably won't be able to see either leg even if the dog is off a little.

Now we come to the finish.  If you tell your dog to "heel" and he just sits there and looks at you, just look back at him with love in your eyes.  He's already lost a major deduction by not finishing, don't compound the error by giving him another command or stepping back on one foot to get him up and going.

Between exercises you're allowed to guide the dog gently by the collar to get from one place to another, but you cannot use the collar to get the dog in a sitting position.  This is another place where bad training habits get people in trouble, they pull up on the collar without even thinking.  That's another MAJOR deduction, and I've judged people who have lost up to 9 points for doing that.

There will be times when you get a bad deal because of a judge's mistake, but there will probably be more times when you get a break because the judge doesn't see something and get a higher score than you deserve.

So instead of going to great lengths to figure out ways to aid your dog, just do a better job of training.  All judges have trained dogs through utility and if they don't know all the training tricks, they've seen most of them used in the ring if they've been judging for very long.  Once in a while a handler will come up with something new and the first time you see it happen, it kind of takes you back and you have to think about it.  Just a warning  don't make your judges think, you'll probably end up losing points.

Don't make your experience in the ring a contest between you and the judge to see how much you can get away with.  Just like telling the truth is easiest because you don't have to remember what lies you told, if you go into the ring and work your dog in an honest manner you won't have to worry about what you can and can't get away with under each particular judge.  The judge is there to give you an honest evaluation of you and your dog's work as a team.  Don't insult the judge by trying to get away with something you know you shouldn't be doing (and ignorance is no excuse).  If they can give you an honest evaluation, then you owe it to the judge and the sport of obedience to give them an honest performance.