Judges' Section - Obedience
Judges at Kennel Club licensed Obedience Shows are expected to maintain and abide by the highest standards in accordance with Kennel Club Rules and Regulations and appropriate Codes of Best Practice as published from time to time. The Guide for Obedience Judges and Stewards is also available to download in PDF format free of charge (below) or you may wish to purchase the printed booklet from our Online Shop. It is also important to keep a record of your judging appointments, one day you may be invited to award Obedience Certificates, an official Judges Record Book can be purchased from our Online Shop.
Guide for Obedience Judges and Stewards
A person must not judge Open Class C at more than 6 Shows in any year calculated from 1st January to 31st December.
Judges of Obedience Certificates will only be approved to judge an Obedience Certificate for Dogs and/or an Obedience Certificate for Bitches once in each year calculated from 1st January to 31st December.
There is no minimum interval between appointments to judge classes, other than Obedience Certificate Class “C”, at Championship Obedience Shows
How to become an obedience judge
Before you can embark on your obedience judging career, at Open or Championship shows, you must be fully conversant with the Obedience (G) Regulations which is available to download in PDF format free of charge (below) or you may wish to purchase the printed booklet from our Online Shop, and meet the following minimum criteria:
- you must satisfy the Show Committee that you have two years experience judging at a lower level (such as Limited shows or companion dog shows)
- have won out of Beginners at a Licensed Championship or Open Obedience Show as a handler.
- have acted as a Caller or Marker Steward on six occasions at Licensed Shows.
- you must also have attended a Kennel Club Obedience Regulations and Judging Procedure Seminar and passed the Regulations and Judging Procedure examination (see details below).
Note: A judge’s first three appointments for shows must be restricted to Novice or Class A.
The Kennel Club Obedience Regulations and Judging Procedure Seminar and examination.
This examination is nothing to fear, it is a multiple choice exam paper and the answers to all the questions will be covered in the preceding seminar.
List of approved Obedience Accredited Trainers
Societies, individuals or groups can organise a seminar by contacting any of the accredited trainers personally.
Obedience Seminars
Anyone who holding an obedience–related seminar this year is invited to email the details to the Kennel Club’s Canine Activities Team at canineactivitiesteam@thekennelclub.org.uk so that the seminar can be listed on our new Events Calendar. Simply click on the Seminars icon on the right to search our Events Calendar for Obedience Seminars in your area or by date.
How to become a Championship Obedience judge.
The Kennel Club is responsible for the approval of Championship Obedience Judges, all nominations must be received by the Kennel Club at least 9 months before the appointment using the official nomination form. All first time appointments must be applied for at least 12 months before the show date using the Obedience Judge’s questionnaire.
Championship Obedience Judge's nomination form
Obedience Judge's Questionnaire
Once you have been judging for a number of years you may be asked to judge Championship Class C and award Obedience Certificates. If this is the first time you have awarded Obedience Certificates it is important to make sure you meet the following criteria:
- judges must have at least eight years judging experience which must include 30 Championship and/or Open Show Appointments; of which at least 15 must be Open Class C and two each of Beginners, Novice, Class A and Class B.
- At the time of judging a first Championship appointment the Judge must have attended a Kennel Club Obedience Regulations and Judging Procedure Seminar and passed the Regulations and Judging Procedure examination. (see note above).
