ObediencePlaza Forum

From the 1st October 2026 the Royal Kennel Club is commencing a 12 month regulation suspension to the Competitive Obedience regulations which will mean that judges and stewards of a class (other than Championship C class) will be allowed to enter one class with one dog (other than Championship C class) on the same day that they are officiating. This 12 month regulation suspension is in response to a survey by the Obedience Liaison Council (OLC) designed to address the lack of judges and stewards and to identify what may incentivise them to judge/steward. The OLC is looking at a number of other measures to increase the number of judges.

Guidance

Judges and stewards will enter the show as normal through the normal way. At the closing of entries the show processor will collate a list of judges and stewards who are also entered in a class. At the beginning of the day they will inform the Chief Steward that they are also competing. They will place a note on their scoreboard table informing the competitors in the class they are officiating at of the time they will be away from the ring. This must be a maximum of thirty minutes and if both judge and steward are competing this must be at the same time. They will also inform the ring they are going to compete in of what time they wish to present themselves for judging so that they aware of and accommodate the time they will come. Judges and stewards who are competing will be excluded from any running order. The regulation suspension applies to all licenced Competitive Obedience shows. Feedback will be gathered by the OLC from the Obedience Community to assess the success of the regulation suspension at the end of the trial to determine next steps.