As the highest level of competition, utility offers more complex exercises. Again, there are two classes of competition: Utility A and Utility B, depending on the handler's experience.

Signal Exercise

The signal exercise is similar to the novice exercise heel free and recall. However, there's an important difference between the novice and utility versions. At the utility level, the handler and judge use only signals — the exercise must be done without verbal communication. While the dog and handler are heeling at a normal pace, the judge adds an additional order, and it's a complex one. He first signals the handler to “Stand your dog.” The team stops and the dog remains standing. When the judge signals, “Leave your dog,” the handler signals the dog to stay, walks to the opposite end of the ring, turns and faces the dog and, at the judge's indication, signals the dog to down, sit, come, and finish.

Retrieving Exercises

There are two scent-discrimination exercises, one with metal dumbbells and one with leather. In each, a group of five dumbbells is put into the ring. One of the five has the handler's scent on it. The dog is asked to select the dumbbell with the handler's scent and return with it, then sit in front of the handler.

In the directed retrieve, the judge puts out three white-cotton work gloves, spaced apart at one end of the ring. He tells the handler which of the three gloves to have the dog retrieve, and the handler sends the dog, signaling which glove she should select and bring back.

Moving Stand and Examination

The utility level examination is similar to the stand-for-examination exercise in novice competition, except that the exercise starts with the dog and handler heeling. At the judge's direction, the handler signals the dog to stay, then keeps walking. The dog stays at a stand. She shows no shyness or resentment when the judge examines her as he would in a dog show (though the teeth and testicles may not be touched). When told to, the handler calls the dog to the heel position.

Directed Jumping

For directed jumping, two jumps (one a bar jump, the other a high jump) are set up at right angles to the side of the ring, about eighteen feet apart from each other. The handler, who stays put, sends the dog between the jumps to the opposite side of the ring, about twenty feet past the jumps, and asks the dog to sit. The judge designates one of the jumps, and the handler has the dog return to him, jumping over that jump, and ending at heel position. The exercise is then repeated over the other jump.