I realised today I don't understand how they mark Obedience!

Which is really silly as I've competed in companion shows with Banya :P

I understand that they work on a Total Lost but can anyone explain please more about the scoring and for example, what each exercise is marked out of?

Eg the Retrieve, if it's marked as 1 and 1.5 what exactly does that show?

Also, in the Crufts ring, there was the judge and steward, also one lady who kept following and looking at the judge, was she another steward? Presumably she would be keeping the score - she was certainly very attentive.

Lindsay
x

Like you say, you lose points overall rather than getting 'x out of y points'. I think it is fairly subjective how many points, though by the time you get to the level of Crufts I guess it's more standard. Certainly at companion shows I've lost anything from 1 point to 6 for what seemed to me fairly equal lots of heelwork! I'm no expert though, probably talking rubbish! :-)

ROFLMAO Lindsay ;)

The third person in the ring is the judges scribe & writes the scores as dictated by the judge, this means that the judge doesn't have to look away from the handler & dog for a nano second & therefore shouldn't miss anything

The marks for C as as follows:
Heelwork..............................60
Distance Control..................50
Sendaway.............................40
Retrieve................................30
Sit Stay.................................20
Down Stay............................50
Scent.....................................50

Making a total of 300

The judge at Crufts has been marking in 0.25s. It is a very individual marking system & it is up to the judge how many marks they deduct for faults so what is a serious fault to some judges(like leaning or or bumping in heelwork)may be acceptable to another !)

If say in retrieve he marked a dog 1 this could mean two not quite correct sits, mouthing the article, going wide to heel position or needing an extra command, a body signal that is not allowed(ie telling the dog to retrieve & also giving a visual command)

if  a judge is marking in Quaters then if a dogs lost 1.5 its done 6 minor things wrong ir a vcouple larger things that might merit a "half" or a one.

Basically a judge can mark in any way they like, some mark in tenths ,some in halfs. Recently someone marked scent in ONES!!!!

As long as marks are graduated theres no prob!!!!

Re the scribe, the higher classes have a scribe so the judge dosent have to take his eyes off of the dog to write stuff down so they dont miss anything. Its better unless theres a loudish judge & you can hear everything they say!!!!

Thanks everyone I think that's a bit clearer!

What about marking the Stays though, how is that marked? As surely the dog either stays or it doesn't - or is it more complicated in Obedience?

Seems rather complicated though, maybe it's not at all once you're used to it?

Lindsay
x

All the exercises in Obedience have to be marked using graduated points including the stays, unlike Workng Trials in which the stays are all or nothing any failure, even at the very end means all marks are lost. The actual marking is up to the judge, but most use a sliding scale allowing a % of the marks for the stay for each second the dogs actual do the stay

I see, thanks, that is quite different to WTs isn't it

Lindsay
x

LOL yes it is & having done both I was surprised when I went into WT re the stays ! Mind you my dogs happily have never had stay problems

Stays have some sort of table whereby you lose a certain amount of points depending on how many seconds the dog stayed for, at least that's how the lower levels of competition work! :-)

Judges don't have to stick to a rigid marking system in any test all the reg say is all marks have to be graduated

Most do just a ready reckoner lol it hides the fact that they might not know how many points are available for the stays :D