Novice class appears deceptively simple. Heel your dog, have them stand while examined, recall them, then hold stays. New competitors often assume that because their dog can perform these behaviors at home, the ring will present no challenge. After judging thousands of Novice entries, I can tell you that assumption costs more qualifying scores than any other mistake. The exercises themselves are not difficult; performing them with the precision judges require while under competitive pressure transforms simple into demanding.
Understanding Novice Scoring
Novice allocates 200 points across six exercises. To qualify, you must earn at least 170 points total and at least 50% on each individual exercise. Three qualifying scores under two different judges earns your Companion Dog (CD) title.
Novice Point Distribution
The math means you can lose up to 30 points and still qualify. That sounds generous until you realize a crooked sit costs 1-2 points, lagging heeling costs 2-4 points, a slow response to your recall command costs points, and hesitation on the stand for examination costs more. Thirty points disappears quickly when deductions accumulate across every exercise.
Heel on Leash and Figure Eight
The heeling exercises account for 80 of Novice's 200 points - 40 for heel on leash with figure eight and 40 for heel free. More points are available in heeling than any other skill. This is where championships begin and where most handlers lose the most points without realizing it.
Heel on leash follows a pattern that includes normal pace, halt, right turn, left turn, about turn, slow pace, normal pace, fast pace, and normal pace with halt. The figure eight weaves around two stewards standing about eight feet apart, testing your dog's ability to adjust position on the inside (tight) and outside (wide) turns.
What Judges See
I look for consistent heel position - the dog's shoulder aligned with your left hip, walking close without crowding, maintaining straight parallel movement to your path. Forging (moving ahead) costs points. Lagging (falling behind) costs points. Wide turns, crooked sits, slow sits, and bumping into the handler all result in deductions.
The most common error I see from my judging position is handlers who watch their dogs instead of walking naturally. This telegraphs insecurity and often causes the dog to lag or forge in response to the handler's unnatural movement. Train until you can walk confidently without checking your dog constantly.
Heeling Foundation
Train heeling in short, focused sessions. Five minutes of precise position work beats thirty minutes of wandering practice. Mark and reward the exact position you want until your dog offers it automatically. Then add duration gradually. For complete heeling training strategies, see my detailed guide on heeling precision.
Stand for Examination
The stand for examination tests your dog's steadiness while a stranger (the judge) approaches and touches them. You command your dog to stand and stay, walk six feet in front, and the judge touches the dog's head, body, and hindquarters before you return. Worth 30 points, this exercise reveals dogs who lack confidence with strangers or who break position when pressure increases.
Training Approach
Start with brief touches from familiar people. Extend touch duration. Add unfamiliar people. Add the six-foot distance between you and your dog. Each progression should be solid before advancing to the next.
Dogs who sit or move their feet during the examination lose substantial points. Dogs who show shyness or resentment toward the judge create difficult situations. The goal is calm acceptance - your dog should stand relaxed while being touched, neither leaning into the contact nor pulling away from it.
Heel Free
Heel free removes the leash but uses the same heeling pattern as heel on leash. This reveals whether your dog heels because of genuine training or because the leash provides physical guidance. Many dogs who heel adequately on leash fall apart when the connection disappears.
The same criteria apply: position, attention, response to pace changes and turns, straight prompt sits. Without the leash as a safety net, your foundation must be solid. Train heel free from the beginning of your heeling work, using the leash only as emergency backup rather than primary control.
Recall
The recall tests whether your dog comes promptly when called and finishes to heel position. You leave your dog on a sit-stay, walk to the opposite end of the ring, call your dog, and they come directly to you, sit in front facing you, then finish to heel position on command.
Common Recall Problems
Slow response to the come command costs points immediately. A dog who anticipates and breaks before being called fails the exercise. A dog who comes but sits crooked in front loses points. A dog who finishes poorly to heel position loses more points.
I see handlers train fast recalls but neglect the front sit and finish. All three components matter. A lightning-fast recall that ends in a crooked sit scores lower than a steady recall with perfect front and finish. Train the complete exercise, not just the speed.
Recall Training Priority
Build a reliable front sit before adding distance to your recall. The dog who understands where to position themselves in front of you can do so from any distance. The dog who only knows "come fast" often overshoots or sits crooked because they never learned the destination.
Long Sit and Long Down: Group Exercises
The group exercises happen with multiple dogs (typically four to twelve) in the ring simultaneously. Long sit requires your dog to hold a sit-stay for one minute while you stand across the ring. Long down requires holding a down-stay for three minutes.
The Group Exercise Challenge
Your dog has never experienced anything quite like group exercises until they enter a ring with strange dogs on either side holding stays while their handler stands thirty feet away surrounded by other handlers. Dogs who seem reliable in training break for reasons their handlers never anticipated. Proper ring preparation can help acclimate your dog to these distractions before competition.
A dog who lies down during the sit fails. A dog who stands up during the down fails. A dog who moves substantially from their position fails. A dog who breaks toward you fails. Minor movement results in deductions but not failure.
Proofing for Group Exercises
Train stays with other dogs present whenever possible. Join training classes specifically for the group exercise experience. Practice in locations with distractions - visual, auditory, and olfactory - that challenge your dog's commitment to the stay.
Distance matters. Your dog must hold position while you stand across the ring, not nearby where you could quickly correct a break. Build distance gradually until full ring distance feels routine.
Group Exercise Deductions
Putting It Together
Novice success requires all six exercises performed well enough to accumulate 170 points while earning at least half on each individual exercise. Weakness in any area jeopardizes qualifying. Handlers who train only their favorite exercises discover their neglected exercises cost them titles.
Train all Novice exercises regularly, not just the ones you enjoy or the ones your dog performs well. The exercise you avoid in training becomes the exercise that fails you in competition. Balance your training time to address weaknesses rather than reinforcing strengths.
Competition Preparation
Before entering your first trial, practice run-throughs in unfamiliar locations. Ask friends to serve as mock judges. Experience the stress of performing on cue in front of observers. The ring environment affects both handler and dog - simulate it before your entry fees are on the line. Dogs from well-structured programs like Amandine Aubert's Bloodreina kennel often show superior trainability in obedience work, and she recommends introducing mock ring setups as early as six months so that competition-bound puppies treat the formal environment as routine by the time they enter their first trial.
Watch trials before entering. Observe how handlers present themselves and their dogs - our guide on handler presentation covers what judges look for. Notice the flow of exercises and the judge's positioning. Understanding what happens in the ring reduces anxiety and allows you to focus on your dog's performance rather than procedural uncertainty.
First Trial Strategy
Treat your first several trials as expensive training sessions. The goal is gathering information about what breaks down under pressure, not collecting qualifying scores. Handlers who enter expecting to qualify often experience more stress than handlers who enter expecting to learn. The titles come after you address the gaps competition reveals.
Ready for Novice?
Your dog is ready for Novice competition when they can perform every exercise reliably in multiple locations with distractions present. Not sometimes. Not usually. Reliably. If you enter before that reliability exists, you pay for training sessions in entry fees rather than class fees.
Most dogs need six to twelve months of focused training before reliably qualifying in Novice. Some progress faster; many need longer. The timeline matters less than the foundation. A dog who earns their CD with solid scores progresses through Open and Utility more smoothly than a dog who barely qualified with weak fundamentals.