Canadian Kennel Club - Obedience Judge Requirements

In order for a person to apply for a permit to judge at an Obedience Trial they must have:

1. CKC membership in good standing for a minimum of five consecutive years.


2. Been active as an obedience trial exhibitor in the five years immediately prior to the application, in the classes applied for.


3. For the last five years the applicant must have been active as an obedience instructor or assistant in the classes applied for and have personally trained and taken a dog to an obedience degree(s) equivalent to the classes applied for. (NOTE: An applicant will not be permitted to establish eligibility to judge a higher obedience class than that for whichhe or she personally trained and taken a dog to an obedience degree)
   
4. The applicant must have served as a ring steward at six (6) licensed obedience trials during the period of three years, for the classes applied for, immediately prior to the application and must attach official forms from the clubs attesting to this fact (total minimum of 36 Novice; 18 Open; and 12 Utility dogs at six Trials).


5. The applicant must have judged at three sanctioned obedience matches during the three years immediately prior to the application for the classes applied for and must attach official forms from the clubs attesting to this fact (total minimum of 18 Novice; 9 Open; and 6 Utility dogs).


6. The applicant must have served as Obedience Trial Chairperson for a minimum of two Trials.

Once the person is satisfied that they have fullfilled the qualifications listed above they may apply to The Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) for an application form to be completed and returned to the CKC. This application consists of several pages asking a number of questions about the person's experience as a steward, exhibitor, and sanction match judger, as well as their experience and interest as a trainer or handler, to be submitted along with applicable fee as designated by the Board from time to time.

Once the application is returned to the CKC a file is opened in the name of the applicant and the information on the application form is checked against the CKC records. If all the information is found to be in order, the application is forwarded to the Obedience Council for their consideration. Should the Obedience Council, after perusing the application find it to be in order, they may then authorize that the applicant sit before a committee to write the written examination for the Class/Classes for which they have applied.

An applicant must write an Initial Examination which must be passed before he or she is allowed to proceed further in either the Novice, Open or Utility classes.

An applicant who writes an examination for Novice, Open and Utility, and fails the Initial Examination will not be allowed to proceed. Also, an applicant who has passed the Initial Examination but fails the Novice exam will not be allowed to prceed until a period of ONE YEAR has passed since the writing of the application. Should the applicant pass the Initial and Novice Examination and fail the Open, he/she will be allowed to proceed for the Novice class only and must re-apply for Open and Utility classes after ONE YEAR. Further, should an applicant pass the Initial and Novice and Open class and fail the Utility, he/she would be allowed to proceed for the Novice and Open classes but must re-apply after a ONE YEAR period for their Utility examination.

When the examinations have been completed by the applicant they are returned to the CKC by the committee and are then forwarded to the Obedience Council for marking.

If the applicant has obtained a passing mark in the written examinations, the Obedience Council will authorize that the applicant sit before a committee to take the oral examinations. These examinations are given in the Novice, Open and/or Utility classes, depending whether or not the person has applied for these classes and whether or not he has passed the written examinations.

Once the oral examinations have been completed these are also forwarded to the Obedience Council. The Council will again consider these applications and if they find the applicant has passed them, the applicant will be approved to apprentice at three trials for each of the classes for which he has applied. These trials must be apprenticed under three (3) different judges and the applicant must have judged, as an apprentice, a total minimum of 18 Novice dogs, 9 Open dogs and 6 Utility dogs, at a total of three trials. A judges book similar to that used by a licensed obedience judge will be forwarded to the apprentice judge along with a form to be filled out by the licensed judge, giving their opinion of the work done by the apprentice at that particular trial. The judge's report is then forwarded to the CKC and is considered by the Obedience Council along with the books and scores by both the apprentice and licensed judge at the trial.

The Obedience Council, in considering the licensed judge's remarks about an apprentice as well as the marks, may then decide that the applicant may judge at one trial with observers. At this trial the applicant must judge a minimum of 8 Novice, 7 Open and 5 Utility dogs. Should the trial at which they have agreed to judge nat have these minimum number of dogs they must continue to accept assignments until they have judged the minimum required number of dogs.

When the observers' reports are received on a particular applicant judge, they, along with any other material are forwarded to the Obedience Council who will then decide whether or not the judge's name will be placed on our list of persons eligible to judge at approved obedience trials.

At any time in the procedure the applicant may be told that he/she must either repeat the exercise or assignment or he/she may be asked to apply again after one year if the Obedience Council feels that he/she does not have the required experience and/or knowledge to be a licensed judge.

Should anyone feel that they have the necessary qualifications and experience to obtain a judging license and wish to do so, they may contact the Show & Trials Division of the CKC for an application to establish eligibility and proceed as outlined above.