# The new AKC Obedience Novice changes



## lily cd re

I am starting to have my novice class do the new exercises (in part depending on who is there, one semi-regular person needs just one leg and will do it the old way)

I have often had Lily part of group stays where we put the dogs in a circle with their backs to each other so she has no problem with it, but the few times I have had Javelin out to practice it he has been somewhat nervous about dogs behind him, but I think he will settle it down soon enough.

For the individual stay and get your leash we have no problems, but yes you do have to remember to listen to the judge and keep the hoopla to a minimum on your way out lest you risk being disinvited for the groups.

The thing that has most of the people I know flipped out (myself included) are the position discriminations in open and what impact they might have on utility signals.


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## Skylar

lily cd re said:


> The thing that has most of the people I know flipped out (myself included) are the position discriminations in open and what impact they might have on utility signals.


I'm sure it won't take long before you have Javelin settled down with a dog behind him. I think part of it is you will be close - only 6 feet away.

I haven't paid attention to those changes in open that impact utility - what are those?


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## Click-N-Treat

Thank you for the detailed instructions on the Get Your Leash. I didn't understand it when I read it, but now I can picture what to do. It sounds easy. Also, I need to practice heeling out of the ring. Noelle is finally able to enter the ring calmly and heel, instead of sniffing the floor like a nutcase. We're giving beginning novice a whirl in April, but a CD is next, so thank you for this.

And Lily, please do tell more about the changes in Open.


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## Skylar

Click-N-Treat said:


> Thank you for the detailed instructions on the Get Your Leash. I didn't understand it when I read it, but now I can picture what to do. It sounds easy. Also, I need to practice heeling out of the ring. Noelle is finally able to enter the ring calmly and heel, instead of sniffing the floor like a nutcase. We're giving beginning novice a whirl in April, but a CD is next, so thank you for this.


I was like you, I read it but didn't see how it would work. I guess it's one of those mundane activities that you do multiples times in a day - get a leash on your dog and go for a walk that it was hard to picture it done as a formal exercise in obedience. The hardest part, if you have a good stay, is you, the handler has to wait till the judge tells you what to do for every little step.

You don't have to heel out of the ring, I believe all you need is loose leash - but I plan to heel - might as well, it's the safest option. 

I know you and Noelle are going to do great. Does your club have set times when they do Obedience Run Throughs? One of my clubs does this once a month where they set up rings and mimic what it's like to trial. It's different that when you simulate it in class because there are lots of dogs and people that you have never seen before, distractions etc. more similar to the real trial.


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## lily cd re

Skylar you are correct that you don't need to heel out of the ring, but I agree that it is the better way to go to keep really under great control.

Click, Skylar is right that if you can you should do some match runs at the location of your trial if possible, but anywhere is good. A couple of my favorite trial locations are on my places to go list because you can match there right before the trials.

As to open, it will be very different than it currently is. There will be no group stays at all. The stay exercise will be a step up from the novice retrieve your leash exercise where you will leave your dog on a stay in the ring at the end of your routine and retrieve your leash which will be outside of the ring and then you return to your dog on orders of the judge as in novice. The heel and figure 8 off leash, drop on recall, retrieve on the flat, broad jump and retrieve over the high jump all remain. Aside from the leash retrieve the other new thing will be a position discrimination exercise. Since today is the first day of classes I don't have time to explain it all now, but I will later. The basic thing is to leave the dog in one position and then from 15 feet and then 30 feet away have the dog change position from the position it was left in. There are different combinations of stand, sit and drop/down. The concern for green dogs is that the alternate combinations other than stand/drop/sit (which is the order of utility signals) could confuse the dog.


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## Click-N-Treat

You can go wrong having your dog heel out of the ring. It's a guaranteed way to keep silly Noelle focused, because this dog likes to pull like a freight train randomly. Loose leash walking is a work in progress. Our club opens their doors every Monday at 2 for run throughs, so we have lots of opportunities to practice. 

I guess with the different pattern of sit/down/stand you'll have to play a game of calling out random commands. It does not sound easy to train. Am I in over my head? Maybe. Well, I'll find out, won't I.


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## lily cd re

Here is the Open A routine with points allocation. For A the order of the exercises will always be exactly as listed.

Heel Free & Figure Eight 40 points
Command Discrimination (Stand, Down, Sit) 30 points
Drop on Recall 30 points
Retrieve on the Flat 20 points
Retrieve over the High Jump 30 points
Broad Jump 20 points
Stay Get your Leash (Sit, Down) 30 points

There will be no group stays at all for open any more. The command discrimination and the Stay Get Your Leash are new.

For the command discrimination the judge will give verbal orders to start the exercise and then will be giving signals. The judge's position will be behind the dog. Once you have indicated to the dog that you are ready they will say leave your dog. You will go to a marked position 15 feet from your dog and turn to face them. The judge will then give the signal for the first position change (in A, stand to down). The judge will then give an additional order to leave and you will walk an additional 15 feet and again turn to face your dog. On the judge's signal you will give your order for the second position change (in A, down to sit). The judge will then order "return to your dog" and the dog must remain in the sit until you return around behind them to heel. You will wait for the "exercise finished" before releasing your dog to go to the next exercise. You can give stay orders when you leave to go to each new location, but not for your return to the dog.

In Open B there are 6 different sequences which not only feature different sequences for the heeling, retrieves, drop on recall, command discrimination and broad jump, but which also have different position change sequences including: down/sit/stand, stand/sit/down and down/stand/sit.

For the stay and Get Your Leash in Open all of the sequences have this as the final exercise of the seven. There will be two stays in this exercise. The dog will be set up at heel in a place designated by the judge. Once you indicate that you are ready you will be ordered to either sit or down your dog before the order to leave your dog. You will walk to a designated location (at least 30 feet from your dog) turn and face your dog until ordered to return. You will walk around behind your dog to return to heel. For the second part after you indicate your readiness you will order your dog to sit or down (whichever wasn't done in the first part) and then you will be ordered to leave and get your leash which will be at a designated location outside the ring entrance. Once you pick up your leash you will return to the ring and wait at the entrance (again at least 30 feet from your dog) facing your dog and the judge behind him until ordered to return around your dog to heel. The judge will then call exercise finished and instruct you to attach the leash to your dog's collar and to exit the ring with the dog under control. Although nothing specifically says you must heel out of the ring, it does say the dog must not jump, pull or tug on the leash. I suspect we will heel out to make sure there is no premature celebrating done by Javelin. You cannot touch the dog or its collar during these exercises, but then again unless you are in novice A you aren't actually supposed to be touching or leading the dog by the collar to get them to stick with you anyway.

The AKC has been posting videos for the new exercises. I will post a link to a couple of them here. Once you look at it you should be able to subscribe to the complete series of these videos.


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## Skylar

Oh boy, that “stay and get your leash” is so easy, especially if you have a solid stay. It looks like while you leave the ring to get your leash, you don’t go far and are within sight of your dog. This is a million times easier than the old stays. 

Click, you are not in over your head..... this just needs patience and consistent training both of which you have. It’s a challenge.


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## lily cd re

Skylar I agree about the stay and get your leash for open. It is much easier than the old groups and takes away all of the worries that handlers had about leaving their dogs out of sight in open. Lily was never near a dog that had me concerned for her safety in open,, but there was one she was next to in novice that clearly made her feel the need to send calming signals to (she turned her back on him, a rottie). If it had been open I would have asked to be moved away from him and if the request wasn't granted I would have pulled her.


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## snow0160

This is a very good thread. I am soaking in the info. I am dropping in on Rally class today with Lucky. I was hoping this could provide good practice for his service dog exam this weekend. Lucky does best in familiar environments. I was hoping this serves as good practice in a place with high distractions. This would be my first Rally class, I've never done competitive obedience but have always been fascinated by it. People in service dog community said that Rally is great for service dog training.


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## Skylar

Catherine there is something special seeing all those dogs lined up in their stays while their owners leave the ring, then leave the building. It’s very impressive. But I’m glad we never have to do this. 

Snow, I hope you enjoy the rally class. I definitely see where’s it can be a great help. And unlike competition obedience where you can’t talk to your dog, rally allows it.


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## snow0160

Lucky was a bit intimidated by the class. He has not been to this training facility since he was 7 months old. He needs it to build his confidence. I do wish he is confident no matter where he goes. 

UPdate: After the class we practiced a bit more at Target, and he did amazingly well. Lucky does well in places he has recently trained before ie target, home depot, petco. It doesn't even have to be the same store; it could be another target and the treats it the same. He just froze in the ring. I bet he will be much better after a few sessions. 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## Skylar

I think Lucky and Babykins are similar in this and what I’ve found is taking her to lots and lots of places has helped make her more comfortable about going into a new situation. For us it’s not just the new location but also in classes all the new dogs and people. I’m see now that this is working because at thanksgiving we went to a rally trial where we competed successfully off leash.


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## lily cd re

Skylar I was at a very large Thanksgiving weekend dog show with Lily an number of year ago and entered in rally and open obedience. There were 4 obedience and one rally ring in the front end of the building and a four ring agility trial in the back. We went in for the groups. Lily has always been a rock star in groups. But I was so proud of her when after we left at the end of the class a woman stopped me as I was heading to the crate and she told me that while she didn't really understand what the exercise was about she wanted me to know that if the purpose was for the dog to do nothing and be very still she thought lily had done the best. She told me she had been like a statue. There is something pretty impressive about those stays and part of me will miss it, but part of me will also be very relieved never to have to wonder what is happening while I'm gone.

snow, give it a couple of weeks and Lucky will come around in class. You will find it fun!


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## Skylar

Isn’t it wonderful when people give you feedback like that? That woman didn’t understand much about the exercise, but she did recognize Lily was behaving beautifully.


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## lily cd re

Skylar, yes I was so proud of her. We had NQ'd on something in the individual exercises (probably drop on recall or broad jump) but the judge had said that she was a nice working dog when we finished and gave me a couple of pointers. I could barely have been happier if she had qualified.


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## Vita

Catherine, thank you for uploading those videos! It's the first time I saw one and finally have a real sense of what this level of obedience training look like. I still wonder about the agility competitions, and thought they be outdoors in all kinds of hot or cold or raining weather, and I had a hard time picturing myself running around in this thing called 'agility' since I'm not particularly agile myself. 

I'm glad I haven't made too much effort in training Bella beyond sit and to walk very nicely on a leash, and the leave it command, because I might give her the wrong words and hand signals that I'd make up myself than the ones used in these tests. For example, when I say sit, I say it in a soft voice and point to the floor. She always does this when I have a treat in my other hand but not always when there's no treat. (Sigh... feel like a failure there.)

And the stay command? She's still having a tough time with that, although I see tiny improvements. I blame myself for that b/c I spend nearly all of our time playing and cuddling my little lap dog rather than training. She like to glue to me, which is nice but _not_ for obedience training. 

I frankly haven't had much confidence in training her for the kind of things you've talked about, but seeing the videos makes me think that maybe I could learn to do and train Bella properly at the next round of Spring Obedience classes, and it even looks like fun. 

I can also see why you are so thrilled when Lily does well on these competitions and tests; I'd get an adrenaline rush from that too. Again, thanks for those videos because now I know about the YouTube AKC Obedience & Rally channel to watch.


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## Skylar

Vita said:


> Catherine, thank you for uploading those videos! It's the first time I saw one and finally have a real sense of what this level of obedience training look like. I still wonder about the agility competitions, and thought they be outdoors in all kinds of hot or cold or raining weather, and I had a hard time picturing myself running around in this thing called 'agility' since I'm not particularly agile myself.
> 
> I'm glad I haven't made too much effort in training Bella beyond sit and to walk very nicely on a leash, and the leave it command, because I might give her the wrong words and hand signals that I'd make up myself than the ones used in these tests. For example, when I say sit, I say it in a soft voice and point to the floor. She always does this when I have a treat in my other hand but not always when there's no treat. (Sigh... feel like a failure there.)
> 
> And the stay command? She's still having a tough time with that, although I see tiny improvements. I blame myself for that b/c I spend nearly all of our time playing and cuddling my little lap dog rather than training. She like to glue to me, which is nice but _not_ for obedience training.
> 
> I frankly haven't had much confidence in training her for the kind of things you've talked about, but seeing the videos makes me think that maybe I could learn to do and train Bella properly at the next round of Spring Obedience classes, and it even looks like fun.
> 
> I can also see why you are so thrilled when Lily does well on these competitions and tests; I'd get an adrenaline rush from that too. Again, thanks for those videos because now I know about the YouTube AKC Obedience & Rally channel to watch.


Vita, where I live all the agility trials are indoors. There are lots of people like me who are not only not agile, but arthritic and older. I saw a T-shirt recently that said - Agility dog - looking for new handler with good knees.

When I started, I had no experience training a dog - not a clue - so I took a class because that adds structure to training. If left on my own I doubt my dog would know more than just to sit when getting a leash on. I started with a basic obedience class for older dogs who never had any training - starting with sit and lay down etc. My dog was trained only for conformation - so no sit or down etc. I liked that each week I was given certain tasks to train and went home and spent some time each day training.

Vita did you take a basic obedience class with Bella? I do hope you take the spring class. As for the stay command - it takes a long time where you work on adding a longer time as well as distance - you just nibble away at it and one day you realize that - wow, my dog has a nice stay.


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## Vita

Skylar, I signed her up for obedience classes before I even brought her home in late October. I went to the first two classes in November; I got sick and couldn't make the third class, and for the 4th, was still sick which was good b/c she had her 2nd (this time mild) hypoglycemic episode that morning. The trainer was very nice and refunded my money. I thus didn't stay long enough to see all the stuff these kinds of classes do as seen in Catherine's videos.

I think she thought Bella was too small for the class anyway - Bella only weighed 2-1/2 lbs and I was humorously warned by trainer she might end up as snack food during play time with the other puppies who were much bigger breeds and a bit older. She encouraged me to return in the Spring which I will do.


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## lily cd re

Vita, both Lily and Javelin are cuddle bugs at home. I try to have certain days and times for training and others for being totally off duty, so you might want to take an approach like that. Also you don't need to spend an hour on training. Five minutes here and there will do wonders. I do plenty of what I call kitchen work which doesn't last long at all. Stays come in increments. The important thing is to not let Bella end them on her own. In other words if you think she will stay for 15 seconds then you end the stay at ten seconds. Gradually you will add duration, distance and distractions to her stays. Practice in different places too.

Skylar I have often thought that if I could get someone else to handle Lily would have gotten much further in agility. My medical thing last December definitely threw a wrench in the works for her agility. We had had a number of 2R open runs (can only have one) so she was very close to pulling it together. In the meantime the young woman who I used to train with has certified as a judge so she is traveling a lot. Most of our outdoor trials have moved indoors to a place that Lily doesn't like very well, so we would have to travel to go to venues where she likes to run. Maybe in the spring...


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## Vita

Catherine, thanks for this suggestion. I reached out to someone from WPC whose email address is listed on the PCA website, and another person at PCA; both have Maryland area codes so they hopefully will know a good show groomer and will get back to me.


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