Dogs NZ Dog Training

The Obedience Stays Working Group has been set up with the following people:

Rosemary Cleator (Chair)
Lynda Loader
Carol Moffit
Bill Moffat
Stephen Harris
Helen McLellan
Sallie Remon

Obedience Stay Exercises - Submissions to be in by 31 January

Feedback is requested from as many people as possible regarding the Obedience Stay exercises. Submissions are requested on anything relevant to Obedience Stays.
Please submit to OBEDIENCESTAYS@DOGSNZ.ORG.NZ 
This email will be received by all members of the Obedience Stay Working Group.
Please submit feedback regardless of whether you have made comment on e-group discussions in the past or not.

The results of the October 2024 voting round are as follows:
 

General Item 1: Allowing affiliated breed clubs to become registered dog training societies FAIL (62.20 %)

General Item 2: Not using video recordings or photos to challenge judges’ decisions PASS (89.63 %)

Obedience Item 1: Allowing dogs to wear coats during stays PASS (76.92 %)

Rally-O Item 1: To reinforce that knocking a jump bar off does not incur a penalty PASS (88.89 %)

Rally-O Item 2: Increasing the number of dogs a Rally-O judge may judge in one day (judge vote only) FAIL (53.85 %)

The following document has been developed to summarise what needs to be done when there are dog aggresison incidents at shows.

Guidelines on dog aggression incidents at shows

The Dog Training Committee is introducing some new obedience classes as a trial. If successful, these will be added to the Dog Training Regulations and are intended to be additional classes clubs can choose to run at their Obedience or Rally-O shows if they wish.  The new classes are:

Elementary:

This a single, standardised Elementary class to replace the current region-specific Elementary classes.  Handlers may not have won more than two elementary classes on 65 points or more (out of 70).  Handler may carry a toy.  This must not be visible to the dog during the exercises, but the handler may use the toy to play with the dog between exercises.  The exercises will be:
* Heel on lead with no more than five turns
* Recall with finish
* 30-second sit stay
* 30-second down stay
The stays will have a maximum of five dogs in the ring at a time, separated by at least 3 metres.

Intro New Handler:

This class is for handlers and dogs that have won no more than two Intro classes on 45 points or more (out of 50) and have not achieved a qualifying win in any higher obedience test.  Non-comps may also enter.  Handler may carry a toy that is visible to the dog at all times and can play after each exercise.

Exercises include:
* Heel on lead (with no more than three turns) and dogs can start as soon as they pass the judge’s starting mark without having to halt.
* Recall off lead (no finish)
* Sit stay in the middle of the ring at the conclusion of the recall (i.e. with no other dogs in the ring)

There will be a reward station set up in the corner of the ring where food rewards can be left and the handler may go to the reward station after heelwork, recall and stay.

Intro New Dog:

This class is exactly the same as for Intro New Handler but is for experienced handlers with new dogs. The dog must not have previously won any obedience test or achieved two first place certificates in Intro classes on 45 or above (out of 50).  Handlers must be a DNZ member.

Clubs may also run a Novelty Class where inexperienced handlers can compete with experienced dogs with same exercises as Intro Class.

Open Class:

This is for handlers that have competed in at least one Beginners championship test or above.  The following exercises can be run in any order (judge's discretion) Handlers may carry a toy, not visible to the dog, and may reward between exercises.

Open exercises (note that there is no heelwork):
* Recall through distractions (minimum of 8 distractions which can be cones, buckets, boxes, or toys or food in a closed container)
* Send-away with no recall (handler to walk to dog and release dog from drop position)
* Directed retrieve where dog needs to retrieve one of two white cotton gloves placed in a line parallel to one side of the ring.  The Judge will advise which glove is to be retrieved (Left or Right).  On the steward's cue, the handler will send their dog to retrieve that glove.
* Retrieve over a hurdle using a dumbbell.  Dog must go over the jump to retrieve the dumbbell and must return with it over the jump.  The height of the jump is at the judge's discretion but will be relatively low.
*Change of position.  Handler will leave the dog in a sit or a stand position, walk away no more than 6 paces and turn to face their dog.  On cue, the handler will direct the dog to stand and then sit (if starting from a sit) or to sit and then stand (if starting from a stand).

The full description of the new classes can be seen here

Judging sheets for the new classes can be found here:

Obedience Placegetter Award Certificates that can be used for the new classes can be found in Official Forms under O on the Dogs NZ Website: Official Forms.  Clubs can order them from the office or download the file and print their own.

The voting register can be viewed through the Dogs NZ website by following this link: Obedience Voting Register

If you are not logged on to the NZKC site it will direct you to the log-in page and then take you back to the register once you are logged in.

You can check whether you are on the registers you think you should be on (Obedience, Working Trials and Rally-O) and also check your details.  If any of the Voting Register details are wrong (or you are missing from a register) there is an option to email your region rep to get your details updated.  There is also an option to request a change of your Dogs NZ member details (address, email, phone etc.) and this will send an email to the Dogs NZ office with the requested changes.

The Obedience Top 20 competition whcih was was suspended after 2019 is now back!

This allows people to see how they are doing each year relative to others around the country.  There will unfortunately no longer be a $1,000 prize for first place but we hope to have some sponsor's product for the winner each year. 

The rankings for the current year and previous years can be seen here: Obedience Top 20

Lists of Obedience Champions and Grand Obedience Champions up to April 2024 can be found below sorted by breed, dog's name and owner's name:
Obedience Champions to April 2024 by Breed

Obedience Champions to April 2024 by Dog's Name

Obedience Champions to April 2024 by Owner's Name

Obedience Champions to April 2024 by year

Grand Obedience Champions to April 2024 by Breed

Grand Obedience Champions to April 2024 by Dog's Name

Grand Obedience Champions to April 2024 by Owner's Name

Grand Obedience Champions to April 2024 by year

Thanks to Maxine Young and Irene Kilford for preparing these lists

 The lists can also be found on this site under Information/Champions.

You can also access a current list (back to 1996 only) that includes Rally-O and Working Trials champions (plus some Field Trial Champions that shouldn't be there) off the Dogs New Zealand website at this link:
https://dogsnz.org.nz/obedience/champion-listing

As a result of the April 2018 voting round the Obedience awards for achievement in each of the obedience classes has been introduced from 30 June 2018.  This requires interested competitors to keep their own record of their achievements (scores of 95% or over) for each test and get these verified and signed by the show manager.  The region representatives have been issued with record cards to distribute to competitors who want them.  These are also available on request from the Dogs New Zealand office or you can print out your own using the file here.

The Dogs New Zealand club handbook contains useful informaotin for clubs and can be found on the NZKC website here: https://www.dogsnz.org.nz/pdfs/club-handbook.pdf

A survey on competition obedience was held in late 2022.  We had over 220 responses.

The results of the multi-choice questions are posted below.  The document excludes most of the comments to reduce the size of the document (the full document is 57 pages) but there were some very useful comments.

There were some common themes across the comments including:

• Encouragement for new handlers
• New/novelty classes
• More ribbon trials
• Obedience back at the National Dog Show
• Positive, non-judgemental support between all competitors
• Better support for clubs by Dogs NZ
• Better promotion of Obedience - Dog World, public promotion (including demonstrations at schools etc.)

The Dog Training Committee is investigating ways of meeting some of the suggestions to improve and grow obedience and we hope to implement some of those ideas soon.

Nov 2022 Competitive Obedience Survey Results