The sport of obedience has been around since the 1933 when the first obedience trail was held at Mt. Kisco, New York. The following year, North Westchester Kennel Club and Somerset Hills Kennel Club held obedience tests at their all-breed conformation shows.
Obedience trials grew from the efforts of early trainers to popularize their chosen profession and to prove that dog-human partnerships could shine in arenas other than the conformation ring and the field. The American Kennel Club version of the sport is now promoted and practiced by hundreds of obedience clubs, kennel clubs, and specialty clubs throughout the US.
Today’s obedience competitions begin with exercises that attest to the dog’s good manners – walking on a leash at the owner’s side, standing to be touched by a stranger, sitting and lying down with distractions, and coming when called. Advanced classes prove the owner’s ability to train the dog to do a variety of ‘tricks’: fetching a dumbbell, jumping different obstacles, obeying commands in an instant whether given by hand signal or voice, and finding items touched by the owner. The goal is to create a working team, a partnership with both human and canine working in sync.
