History of Obedience and Evolution of Obedience Exercises

Here is a link to an old obedience video (1929):

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=10104

Here is a link to an old practice session of a dog training club, taking place at a bar (1954):

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=47644

Both of the above take place in Britain, where obedience competition pre-dates American obedience competitions. Some things are strikingly familiar: the auto halt sits, the heeling in a circle, the hand position while heeling, the front and finishes, alas not the beer drinking at the end of class.
Watching these videos started me thinking about the history of obedience and how obedience exercises have changed over the years. I couldn't find much on the history of British dog obedience and even less on the evolution of obedience exercises in Britain so here instead is a short history of AKC obedience and the evolution of AKC obedience exercises:

Mrs. Helen Whitehouse Walker is credited as the founder of American obedience. To prove the intelligence of her Standard Poodles, Mrs. Walker created a series of obedience exercises modeled on the ones she had seen while traveling in England. In December 1935 she submitted a pamphlet of procedures to the AKC, and three months later the Board of Directors approved it. In April 1936, AKC published the first official "Regulations and Standard for Obedience Test Field Trials". The first obedience test was held in October 1933 in Mount Kisco, New York.

The concept behind obedience training was to develop a very close working relationship between human beings and dogs, while demonstrating the usefulness and enthusiasm of dogs.

* In the 1930s when obedience competition in America first began the exercises were as follows:

Novice exercises were:
* Heeling On Leash
* Heeling Off Leash
* Recall
* One Minute Sit
* Three Minute Down
All of there were performed as is done today but with different point values totaling 100 points.

Open exercises were:
* Heeling On Leash
* Heeling Off Leash
* Recall (done as in Novice)
* Retrieve On Flat
* Speak on Command
* Long Jump (often called Broad Jump)
* Long Sit
* Long Down
totaling 250 points.

Utility exercise were:
* 440 yard tracking test which was usually held on a different day
* Scent Discrimination (on three articles of wood, metal, and leather)
* Seek Back exercise (see description below)
* Retrieve over a 42-inch obstacle carrying a two pound dumbbell (the dog was allowed to climb the jump going and coming and it was legal to wrap the bit of the dumbbell with cord or leather. This was requested by a group of Sporting Dog enthusiasts who claimed that carrying a wooden bit would cause a dog to become hard-mouthed).
* Group stand for exam.
Total Utility score was 400 points with tracking worth over half of these points.

Seek Back Exercise:
This Utility exercise was largely heeling and started with the handler carrying a leather glove standing with his dog sitting in heel position at a spot designated by the judge. The judge would ask "Are you ready?" and order forward. The handler and dog would then execute a Novice heeling pattern as ordered by the judge ending with a halt. At some point in the heeling the judge would order "drop it" and the handler would drop the glove. At the end of the heel pattern the judge would order, "Send Your Dog" and the handler would would be send the dog to retrieve the glove. As the dog was sent the handler could point in the direction of the trail. The dog would retrieve the glove, sit in front, and on further command finish.

Early changes to the obedience exercises including:
* Adding the Stand for Examination to the Novice Exercises. The Novice Stand for Exam was originally done on leash.

*Many people objected to teaching a dog to bark and the "Speak on Command" exercise was dropped from Open in the 1940s. (You can see the "Speak on Command" exercise being preformed at the end of the second video above)

* Tracking was dropped as a Utility requirement and was made a separate event with its own title in 1946.

* After World War II the Hurdle and Bar Exercise was added to the Utility Class.

The Hurdle and Bar Exercise:
This exercise was executed quite similar to how the broad jump is today. Only it took the full length of the ring, and instead of a broad jump two jumps (hurdle and bar) were used. On the long center line of the ring one jump (either hurdle jump or bar jump) was placed about one-third of the distance and the other jump at the two-third position. The handler with dog sitting at heel was positioned any place between one jump and the ring barrier. The judge would order, "Leave your dog" and the handler would walk to a point at the side and midway between the two jumps facing the opposite side of the ring. The judge would order, "Send your dog" and the handler would give a jump command and the dog would jump the first jump. After the dog landed the handler would give a command to take the second jump. When the dog was in midair over the second jump, the handler would do a pivot and the dog would come front. The dog then finished on command.

* In 1949 the Hurdle and Bar exercise was changed to the Directed Jumping Exercise.

* In 1966 the Seek Back exercise was eliminated. The Directed Retrieve exercise was developed to take its place.

* In 1966 the wooden articles were eliminated from the Scent Discrimination exercise.

* Retrieve over high jump was moved from Utility to Open.

* Heeling on Leash was eliminated from Open and figure 8 exercises were added. On leash in Novice and Off leash in Open.

* The Novice Stand for Examination was changed from On Leash to Off Leash. Novice people were having a great deal of trouble handling the leash and many of them were getting tangled when leaving the dog causing the dog to inadvertently move. Many judges would re-judge these errors. On the other hand some professional handler would use a huge leash that was one to two inches wide and ten or twelve feet long and when they left the dog the leash would be on the ground, this had the effect of ground-tying the dog.

* In 1966 the bar on the bar jump was changed from a round to a square bar. The flat surface of the square bar made it much more stable.

* The Recall in Open was replaced with a Drop on Recall.

* The Signal Exercises were added to Utility.

* In 1973 the order the the Utility exercises were changed so that they no longer began with Scent Discrimination and began with Signal Exercise instead. Making this change was a matter of some debate and discussion because many people believed that if the handler moved about the ring their scent would contaminate the area making scent work impossible.

* High in Trial and High Combined Awards were instituted.

* The Directed Retrieve Exercise was changed by requiring it to begin with the handler and dog facing away from the gloves, and than to turn in place to face the gloves before sending the dog as is done today.

* In 1977 the OTCH was added. The first dog to earn the OTCH title was Tonka a Golden Retriever owned and handled by Russell Klipple of Pennsylviania. The following day Pauline Czarnecki and her Golden Retriever, Cicsco finished the second OTCH awarded.

* In 1988 the jump height was lowered from 1 and 1/2 dogs shoulder height to 1 and 1/4 dogs shoulder height.

* In 1988 the Group Stand for Exam was eliminated from Utility. The exercises stared by positioning up to fifteen dogs sitting at heel along the center-line of the ring and the judge would order "Stand Your Dogs" then "Leave your Dogs". The handlers would stand their dogs and give the stay command, go to the opposite side of the ring and face their dog. The judge would approach the dog from the front and examine it as in conformation and after examining all dogs would order handlers "Back to Your Dogs". The time the dog had to stand was a minimum of three minutes but slow judges often required over ten minutes. This exercise was replaced by the Moving Stand and Examination.

* The UDX was added.

* In 1992 the Halt in Fast and Halt in Slow were eliminated such that today all halts are done in Normal Pace.

* The jump heights were lowered again.

* In 2002, Hobi, a Shetland Sheepdog, earned 1,235 OTCH points to be the top OTCH-pointed dog in the country. As of this writing, 2009, Hobi still holds the record from the most lifetime OTCH points earned with 15,229.

* I find it interesting that in the minutes from the 2003 obedience advisory committee it was noted that they had received several letters requesting letting non-pure breeds compete in AKC obedience. That 2003 committee did not discuss that topic, but as of this writing, 2009, AKC has announced that next year, 2010, mix bred dogs will be allowed to start competing, albeit, on a limited bases and in separate classes, in AKC obedience.

* Today there are 2,000 AKC obedience trials held each year with 100,000 dogs competing.

Most of the information above is taken from a series of articles that Bob Self , Sr. wrote for Front&Finish from Jan 2006 to Aug 2006. Some of the information comes from the AKC website.

I also looked, briefly, at the history of Schutzhund: The first Schutzhund competitions were held in Germany in the early 1900s. Schutzhund exercises were drastically changed in 2004 in response to political pressure in Germany. The first Schutzhund competition in America was held in 1970 in California. On and off there has been talk about adding Schutzhund to AKC but to date that has not happened.

Below is another old video, this time of a Schutzhund trial taking place in Germany in 1936