International Trick Dog Competition online
Can your dog become the International Trick Dog Champion?
Take part in this online competition to challenge yourself and your dog!
​
The overall winner will be crowned the
International Trick Dog Champion
with lots of runner-up prizes and weekly prizes too!
The competition will consist of 7 tasks of increasing difficulty.
You'll have 2 weeks to submit your entry for each of the tasks.
The winners for each of the tasks in each of the classes will be announced on Facebook and will receive individual certificates.
Importantly, we will also get in touch with everyone who entered with some helpful individual feedback from the judges.
​
The competition is designed as a progressive training with a stretch - so you can take your dog's training to the next level as well as an opportunity to celebrate your achievements along the way!
Task 7 (FINAL ONE!): Share your passion
Submit your entry by the end of Sunday the 14th of March 2021
Well done everyone with Task 6- it was tough one, but you all did fantastically well and clearly enjoyed the challenge!
​
The final task of the competition is about sharing with others what you are passionate about.
Choose something that you truly care about- it could be the environment, peace, helping others, a charity or a cause that you support, healthcare, family, friendship, raising awareness etc.
It could also be a hobby that you are passionate about - music, dancing, books, fitness, cooking, culture of your country, history etc.
​
Many people see dog performances as a an entertainment only, totally missing just how powerful and engaging it could be in communicating with your audience. In fact, if you look back at any winning and memorable performances with dogs that you've ever seen, they all had a story or something in them that touched your deeply.
We also saw how effective such performances could be in raising awareness or money for a charity, to unite and to help people to understand why you care about something.
​
So, for the final task of the ITDC put together a performance with your dog(s) showcasing something that you are passionate about.
​
See it as a team performance, where you can also play an active role. You can introduce or talk about the subject, act alongside and together with your dog. This time it is not just about your dog (or dogs), but about you performing together as a team.
​
You can use any tricks, any props, any location. You can dress up if you wish and/or involve other people (remain COVID safe and follow your local guidance).
​
As this is a team performance bonus points will be given for:
- Creativity (we will increase the number of points for this element);
- Flow of the programme and how engaging it is;
- Clarity of your message;
- Team work;
and as always
- For additional complexity of the dog(s) part of the programme such as performing it with distractions (food, toys, people, dogs etc).
​
More experienced handlers can further increase the complexity and gain extra points by increasing the trick duration, perform to voice or hand commands only, adding the distance, working facing away from you and combining several tricks together and by including more advanced tricks etc.
​
The guide length is ideally around 5 minutes, but you can make it slightly longer than that if needed, or shorter.
​
Due to the complexity and the nature of this task we will award an additional 10 points for top 3 performances jointly selected by the judges and 3 neutral members of the general public who will be assisting us in this task.
Also, unlike the previous tasks, after the completion of the judging we will publish all of the entries on DTA Facebook page, not just the winning ones. We will also will ask if you could send us your video file (will provide the instructions by e-mail later) so we can publish it on DTA YouTube with full credits to you of course and the link to any of your social media pages you'd like to share. We are expecting exceptional entries from you all and we would like to showcase your achievement as an inspiration to others.
​
Electronically submit the video of your performance.
Submit your video by midnight on Sunday, the 14th of March 2021 together with the entry fee by completing the Submission Form.
For full rules see Competition Rules and Submission guidance.
The earlier you are able to submit your entry the easier will be for the judges to mark all of the submissions and announce the results of Task 6 on Wednesday the 17th of March.
​
Throughout the competition, we are working with you on creating a professional-looking trick dog performances that are engaging, fun to watch and can be used for public display. As you progress through the tasks also consider working towards DTA Trick Dog Titles (to develop the technical side of tricks and your dog's talent) and Talent Show Dog Titles (to further your team's skills to perform the tricks for an audience- virtual or real life).
Prizes:
Top 5 dogs in EACH of the classes after every task will receive a printable named certificate by e-mail.
All entries will also receive brief individual feedback from the judges.
​
The International Trick Dog Champion and overall winners in each class will receive a named certificate.
The Champion will additionally receive a rosette by post. Rosette to the Champion will be sent at no extra cost to any country in the world.
Winner in each class will receive a rosette at no extra cost posted to any country in the world.
Top 5 finalists in each of the categories will also be able to receive rosettes for a small financial contribution just to cover the rosette costs and postage.
All other class finalists will receive printable named certificates.
​
Classes:
1. Novice Trick Dog (dogs new to trick dog training or have trick dog titles at or below Novice level before the start of the competition. The titles can be from any Trick Dog titling provider. The titles obtained during the competition will not affect your class eligibility)
2. Advanced Trick Dog (dogs with titles above Novice Trick Dog level before the start of the competition, but below the Champion Trick Dog Title. The titles can be from any Trick Dog titling provider. The titles obtained during the competition will not affect your class eligibility)
3. Champions league (dogs with Champion Trick Dog title or equivalent before the start of the competition. The title can be from any Trick dog titling provider. The titles obtained during the competition will not affect your class eligibility)
4. Rescue dog
5. Disabled dog
6. Dog team (2 or more dogs performing the tricks together)
​
You can enter your dog into more than one class.
For example, for the same task, you can enter your video into class 2, class 3 and class 4 for more chances to win and more potential points.
​
How does it work?
Each week you’ll choose from a large selection of tricks to perform with your dog.
Video your dog performing the tricks and submit online.
Enter your dog into one or more classes each week.
You’ll be awarded points for each of your top 5 places in each of the class you enter:
1st place in class- 10 points
2nd place - 7 points
3rd place - 5 points
4th place- 3 points
5th place- 2 points
If your dog is placed in more than one class all of the points will be counted. The Dog Team class points will be split between the dogs.
For example, if your dog was awarded 1st and 2nd places in two different classes, you’ll get 10 points for the 1st place and 7 further points for the 2nd place, making 17 points in total for that week. You'll not receive points for entries that were not placed, but you can increase your chances of placing by entering into more than one relevant class and by continuously improving with your dog as the competition progresses.
The dog with the most points at the end of the 7th task will become the International Trick Dog Champion.
Additionally, dogs who receive most of the points in each of the classes will be awarded 1st, 2nd or 3rd places in the class.
​
How to enter:
Entry costs USA $5, £4 or 4 Euro per week per class. You can enter more than one class per week.
Payment is online using PayPal or card via this website by completing the Submission form.
Please also have a look at the Submission Guidance and the competition rules.
The tasks will be published on this page
You need to submit your entry within the specified dates by completing the Submission form together with your video.
You can join the competition at any point.
Winners for each Task will be announced on Wednesday.
​
Judging:
The judging of all entries will be performed independently by 3 judges and the 5 entries in each class with the highest combined score each week will be awarded the prize.
The judges will be using the following criteria for scoring your submissions:
- Performance of the trick
This has 2 elements to it:
- Quality and clarity of trick execution
- Independence of trick execution (do you need to lure the dog or does it perform the tricks independently)
- Flow of the sequence and transitions between the tricks
- Responsiveness to commands
This has 3 elements to it:
- Do you need to give more than one cue or dog performs the trick after one cue?
- How long is the delay between the command and the dog's response?
-How subtle your commands are
- Teamwork and motivation (how well the dog and the handler understand each other and enjoy working together)
- Additional complexity (this can be distractions, distance work, trick complexity, location, the additional complexity in transitions etc)
- Use of props (this includes dog's engagement, commitment and enthusiasm to working with the props and the variety of props)
- Creativity
- Safety (how aware is the handler of own, the dog's and other's safety)
​
The dog teams will be additionally scored for synchronicity (where appropriate), working together and individually and their focus on the handler.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask anytime DogTalentAssociation@gmail.com
Consider working towards Trick Dog titles and Talent Show Dog titles in parallel with your entries to the weekly competitions.
​
Best of luck and enjoy!
​
