Note: The information
contained in these pages should not be considered authoritative. It is
meant to provide a basic feel for the sport, and hopefully contains
enough information to get you started training.
A detailed rule booklet is available.
Working trials test a dog in four areas, or 'groups': control (in a natural and relaxed manner), agility (how well the dog can travel across the hills and dales with you) and nosework (can the dog find a person, find your lost keys, etc), and (in an optional upper stake) patrol (find and control a bad guy).
There are 5 levels, or 'stakes', in Working Trials. The first is the Working Companion Dog (WCD), which tests the basic skills of the dog in each of the above areas. Above that are the Working Utility Dog (WUD) and Working Dog (WD) stakes each of which requires additional skills in a wider range of activities and greater control of the dog, followed by the two Championship stakes, Working Track Dog (WTD) and Working Patrol Dog (WPD), each requiring even greater skills, versatility and control in more specific areas. The first three stakes, Companion, Utility and Working, are the basic sequence, and must be completed in order. The upper two stakes, Track and Patrol, are the championship stakes, and a dog must win two shows in either or both stakes to qualify as a Working Dog Champion.
You can see the practical roots of this sport in the design of the trials - while they consistently test the same skills, each trial is typically unique in design, and much of the actual structure is left up to the judge. Therefore you might see heel work leading through a sequence of jumps or through a crowd of spectators and you might see down stays in the vicinity of other activities. The result is a test of a dog's capabilities, not under tightly controlled conditions, but in varied environments such as might be seen in the 'real world'. In addition, this variety helps keep the training and trials exciting and interesting, for the dog, the handler and the spectators.
The information contained in these pages should not be considered authoritative. It is meant to provide a basic feel for the sport, and hopefully contains enough information to get you started training. A detailed rule booklet is available.
The following links provide a more detailed description of Working Trials rules & regulations
The titling sequence in Working Trials is defined by a sequence of stakes, with exercises divided into a number of logical groups.
Our rules are patterned strongly on the British sport of the same name, but there are some differences.
These Handling Guidelines provide suggestions for training and competing in Working Trials exercises (this material is taken from Appendix 1 of the Rules & Regulations booklet).
