Onpoint Vizslas - Obedience

Because Onpoint Vizslas are bred for versatility, obedience may be the sport of choice for you and your Vizsla. Vizslas are extremely intelligent and keen which makes them ideal competitors in the sport of obedience. Training your Vizsla for obedience is made easier because of their strong drive and desire to please. By taking control of these qualities in a Vizsla, you can use them to your benefit to achieve an excellent obedience dog. To truly excel at obedience both you and your dog must be enjoying each other and with the attitude your Vizsla has, this is easily achievable. Obedience can mean two things. First, it is generally teaching your dog good manners. Secondly, is the sport of competitive obedience. Because Onpoint Vizslas are CKC registered they are eligible to compete in CKC licensed obedience trials. There are three levels of obedience titles that can be obtained. The first level is Novice where you are awarded a CD title. The next level is Open where the CDX title is awarded and the final level is Utility where the UD title is awarded. Upon completion of these three levels your dog is considered an OTCH which is Obedience Trial Champion.

A. Graham and CH Onpoint's Tempestuous Viper FD CD

This is the first level of competitive obedience. The title awarded is Companion Dog (CD). You must successfully pass a series of exercises with a score of at least 170 points out of a possible 200 and at least 50% on each exercise. The exercises include; heel on leash, figure 8, stand for examination, heel off leash, recall, sit stay, and down stay.

In order to successfully complete the next level of Obedience and obtain your CDX title you must compete in Open. The exercises for Open consist of heel free, figure 8, drop on recall, retrieve over flat, retrieve over high jump, the broad jump, sit/stay and down/stay out of sight. The stay exercises are performed as a group and the handlers are taken out of the ring to a location where your dog cannot see you thereby increasing the level of difficulty of this exercise. The length of time for the stays is also increased in Open - the dog must do a 3 minute sit/stay and a 5 minute down/stay. As in Novice, you must obtain a score of at least 170 points and 50% in each exercise. All of the exercises in Open are done off-leash and you must achieve 3 legs in order to obtain your CDX title.

The third and final level of obedience competition is Utility. Once completed, you receive the title of UD and become an OTCH - which is an Obedience Trial Champion. This final level involves the following exercises; seek back, scent discrimination (articles), signals, directed jumping over a high and bar jump, and the long stand. In the seek back exercise the dog and handler do a heeling pattern where at one point during the pattern the handler will drop a glove upon completing the heeling, the dog is then sent back to pick up the glove and return it to the handler. In the scent discrimination exercise the handler has a number of articles (dumbbells) made of wood, metal, and leather. These articles are all numbered and the Judge will pick a number and the corresponding article in wood, metal, and leather is removed. The handler will then scent the particular article which the Judge will place interspersed with the other articles on the floor and the dog is sent to retrieve the correctly scented article and return it to the handler. This exercise is done three times with each of the different articles. The next exercise involves a heeling pattern where the handler is only allowed to use signals with the dog. At a particular point in the pattern the Judge will ask the handler to stand their dog, leave, down the dog, sit the dog, and then call the dog to you. This must be completed strictly with signals to the dog and no verbal commands. The next exercise is directed jumping. Both a high jump and bar jump are placed in the ring. The handler will send the dog out and then will command the dog to jump whichever jump the Judge indicates and then the dog must come to the handler and finish on command. This exercise is done over both of the jumps. The final exercise for Utility is the long stand. This exercise is done off leash as a group and the dog must hold the stand to be examined and maintain the stand while all the other dogs are examined. The dog and handler will be awarded the UD title and will have become an OTCH when they have successfully completed the Utility exercises three separate times and achieved at least 170 points and 50% in each exercise.

John Reid
72 Hutchison Rd. N, Mallorytown, Ontario, Canada, K0E 1R0
phone/fax: 613-659-4888