The third and most challenging level in AKC obedience is Utility. The exercises in Utility obedience require the dog to work away from the handler most of the time. The dog must be not only bright enough to learn the tasks, but confident enough to work on it's own, in an unfamiliar environment, surrounded by strangers. I have heard Utility described as being like "taking the SATs in a football stadium, during a game".
The exercises in Utility are:
The signal exercise. This exercise is totally by hand signal, no voice commands are used. There is a heeling pattern, at the last halt, the dog is signalled to stand (rather than the usual sit). The handler leaves the dog and walks 30 feet away, from where the handler signals the dog to lie down, back up into a sit, come to front, and then to heel position. All this is done at the judge's direction, no anticipating from dog or handler!
The scent discrimination. Handler provides a set of 5 identical metal articles, and 5 identical leather articles.One of each is set aside, and the
other eight are placed a few inches apart,
20 feet from the dog and handler. The
handler imparts her scent to one of the
set aside articles, and that article is set
out with the others, behind the backs of the dog and handler. Dog is sent to find the article touched by it's handler. This is repeated with the other set aside article, so that the dog finds and retrieves a metal and a leather article.
The directed retrieve. Handler provides 3 identical white gloves. Dog and handler stand midway down
the ring and the gloves are placed behind
them, along the back of the ring. One glove in each corner, and one in the center. The judge tells the handler which glove to retrieve, handler and dog pivot in heel position to face that glove, and handler gives direction with one hand and a verbal command to retrieve. Dog retrieves that glove, not all 3 of them, as Elmo would like!
The moving stand. Handler and dog heel for about 10 feet, when directed by judge, the handler gives a command and/or signal to "stand", without pausing, and continues to walk about 12 feet. The dog must stop in place and remain in a stand stay while the judge performs an examination, as for the breed ring (except for teeth and testicles) The dog then returns, on command, to heel position.
And, the directed jumping. There are
two jumps set up, about midway
down the ring, on either side so that they are about 20 feet apart. Dog and handler set up at one end of the ring, on command from the handler, the dog runs straight down the ring, between the two jumps, to a point about 20 feet beyond the jumps. The handler gives the command to "sit", and the dog does so, about 20 feet behind the jumps and centered between them. The judge directs which jump the dog should take, and the handler gives that command and/or signal; the dog moves diagonally to take the indicated jump while returning to the handler. This is repeated for the second jump.
All you have to do is get through those exercises, earning at least half the possible points on each exercise, and 170 of the 200 possible points, 3 times under 3 different judges, and you have a UD. Simple! Well, not really....
Our first handicap in Utility was that while I was competing in Open, someone, appalled that I'd trained Elmo for Open by myself, told me that I "couldn't possibly" get him ready for Utility on my own.
Never tell me something like that! I hadn't even intended to do so, but I was feeling obstinate now. Besides, a class wasn't convenient for me at the time. So, I trained on my own, figuring out the exercises as I went.
Amazingly, I managed to get him ready, and we started competing, in May of 2004. He did much better than I expected in our first Utility trial, qualifying in 4 of the 6 exercises. I entered him for both days at our next trial, in late June. Competing at the Mount Bachelor Kennel Club trial in Redmond, OR, on Sunday, he earned his first UD leg in his third Utility trial! I was thrilled! His score was a highly respectable 188 (his best AKC obedience score yet!), for 2nd place out of the 3 qualifiers. I was sure we'd have the UD soon.
He then proceeded to not qualify for a full year. He managed to not qualify on every individual exercise, though the signals were a particular favorite. He found some very creative ways to not qualify, rolling on the scent articles was probably my least favorite. However, every time we were in the ring, Elmo was a favorite with the stewards and onlookers, due to his extreme enthusiasm for the activity. There was a lot of bouncing up and down between exercises, happy grinning, and tail wagging.
Finally, at the same show a year later, Elmo decided he could be just as happy qualifying as not, and came through again, earning his 2nd leg with a 186, 3rd place of the 3 qualifiers. We were running agility that day, and Elmo and I had to go off for our JWW run, so I asked a friend to pick our ribbons up for us. Apparently, everyone was disappointed with her for not being Elmo.
We had a few more close-but-not-quite tries over the next few months, then the last weekend of October, 2005, I had him entered in a trial close to home. On Saturday, we had one more close-but-not-quite. I made a handling error that sent him to the wrong jump.
On Sunday, October 30th of 2005, we went in for our last Utility try of the year. Elmo was in a very silly mood, and was doing everything in a slapdash fashion. As is his usual way, he tried to help pick up the extra gloves after the directed retrieve (this involves rushing to snatch them up before the ring steward can get them). On one half of the directed jumping, before Elmo came to a halt in front of me, the judge started walking behind him to check how straight his sit was (not). Elmo took this as an invitation, and zoomed back to visit. The judge froze, and Elmo remembered my existence. He then saw the ring steward outside the gate with his leash, while I was trying to set up for the 2nd half of the directed jumping, and ran out to see if she had cookies. (he knows her, and he knows the leash means he is done.) He was in a happy, giddy state of "let's visit everyone!"
After the final "exercise finished!", I asked the judge if we'd qualified, and he had to add up the points to see. I knew it wasn't going to be a pretty score.
But 175 was plenty for that last leg, and Elmo was now an official Utility Dog! And a very happy one, to boot!
