The next titling class after Novice is Open. It is harder than Novice but builds on the skills that you have polished for Novice. To show in Open, you must have successfully earned a Novice title or the CD.

The exercises in Open A are the following:

There are six different variations of Open B. In this case, Open A is for the handler of any dog who has never put an Obedience Trial Championship (OTCH, the ultimate obedience title) on a dog. Open B is for those people who have put an OTCH on a dog and for those people who are showing for Utility Dog Excellent legs and OTCH points, or for those people who want to continue to show in Open, but are sixty days past earning their Open title in the A classes.

You will see that there is no on-leash work and that jumps and retrieving are part of the exercises. Your boxer must therefore be able to heel off leash and to take jumps correctly and safely. You may need obedience class instruction in order to teach him how to do these exercises, or maybe not, depending upon how determined you are.

In order to earn the open title or CDX (Companion Dog Excellent), you must qualify in each of the separate exercises, earning more than half the points available to each exercise three times under three different judges, again with a 200 point maximum and a 170 minimum with no less than 50 percent of the points in each exercises.