At the novice level of competition, your dog must display the skills of any excellent companion: heeling both on and off leash, coming when called, staying calmly, and standing for examination. Of course, he's expected to do it with a lot more precision than you might require at home.

In the obedience ring, you and your poodle are expected to be a smoothly functioning team, performing each exercise as flawlessly as possible. You can give him verbal cues, and cues in the form of hand signals but you can't talk to or otherwise communicate with your dog. (Clickers, for instance, are not allowed.)

There are two classes in novice obedience: Novice A and Novice B. While the dog that competes in either novice class is by definition a beginner, the handler in Novice A must also be a true beginner. Handlers who have titled a dog in obedience in the past must compete in Novice B. This is the class in which professional handlers and trainers compete as well. Both classes have the same exercises, described below.

Heel on Lead and Figure Eight

In the heel-on-lead exercise, your dog walks at your left side, in heel position (his head level with your left knee). Your dog walks on a loose lead — if you tighten or jerk on the leash, you're penalized. While you're heeling, the judge will ask you to change speeds, turn left or right, do an about-turn, and halt. Your poodle should stay in heel position while you do these things. He should automatically sit when you halt.

To do the figure eights, you and your dog walk in a figure-eight pattern between and around two show stewards, who are standing eight feet apart from each other.

Stand for Examination

Next, your poodle is expected to stand still while the judge puts his hands on her. The exercise is done off leash. You remove the leash and hand it to the judge, put your dog in a stand, ask her to stay, then walk six feet away and turn and face your dog. The judge approaches your poodle from the front and touches her head, body, and hindquarters.

The key here is that your dog is not supposed to show any resentment about being touched by a stranger. (Poodles tend to have an advantage in this exercise, since they're groomed so often they're used to being touched all over.) The judge asks you to return to your poodle, who is supposed to continue standing still until the judge says “Exercise finished.”

Heel Free and Recall

The heel-free exercise is performed like the on-leash heeling exercise, except, of course, there's no leash. The recall exercise demonstrates your poodle's ability to stay in place while you walk away from her, as well as her willingness to come to you when you call. On the judge's signal, you ask your poodle to stay, then walk to the other end of the ring, and call her to come. She should come quickly. (The AKC regulations state, “The dog must come directly, at a brisk trot or gallop.”) When she gets to you, she should sit directly in front of you, facing you. When the judge instructs you to, you then ask your poodle to finish, which means she goes into a heel position and sits.

Novice Group Exercises

During group exercises, all dogs in the competing class perform together. They're asked to go into either a sit or a down and to hold the position for a designated time. The handlers space themselves and their dogs along one side of the ring, put their dogs in position, instruct them to stay, then walk to the opposite end of the ring and face their dogs. After one minute for the sit and three minutes for the stay, on the judge's instruction, the handlers return to their dogs, walk around behind them, and stop when the dog is at heel position. The dogs must stay still until the exercise is finished. If a dog gets up or starts to interfere with another dog, the judge will ask the handler to remove the dog.