About the World Championship
The World Championship in Rally Obedience takes place every year and includes a team competition as well as an individual competition. Each country poses with a team of five handlers and their dogs competing on different courses designed by the judges.
Firstly, the teams compete in 2 rounds. Points from these 2 rounds are summed up and the team with most points are proclamed winners of the to national World Championship.
Secondly, results from the first rounds are calculated and qualified contestants enters the final according to their individual scores.
By the end of the final competition, the results from all rounds are summed up and an individual Rally Obedience World Champion is proclaimed.
The championship are held under the international Rules and Regulations of FCI (Federation Gynologique Internationale) If you are not familiar with Rally Obedience and FCI Rally Obedience in particular, please check out FCI’s official website for futher information.
Judgement
The contest is judged by four judges lead by a chief judge who has the overall responsibility for assuring that all regulations are met. Besides the chief judge, each of the judges is assisted by a secretary. The four judging teams are placed on the longside around the course
After the round all four judgements are summed up and constitutes the final score. In the event of a tie, there will be an elimination round. If that round results in another tie, the winner will be the one having made the fastest round.
Handlers and Dogs
Each country enters with a team of 5 handlers and their respective dogs. Each handler has a catalogue number to identify them by.
The catalogue number follows the handler throughout the championship but the order in which the handler is to enter the course varies with each round according to the start list. Start lists will be published according to programme as will the courses.
The Course
As preparation to the championship each of the four judges will design a course with 18-20 signs not counting Start and Finish signs. During the competition a random drawing between the courses will determine which course to use in the next round. The actual course is published before each every round together with the start list. The example course is designed by Solveig Zetterstrøm and was used in the 2025 World Championship in Austria.
For futher information about the FCI Rally Obedience rules, regulations, and signs, please visit fci homepage.
Signs
Each sign on the course represents an exercise for handler and dog to perform. The signs are clustered into four degrees of difficulty – from 1 to 4 points – 4 being the most difficult ones.
A course must contain at least 7 of the 4 point signs and 5 of the 3 point signs. A specifik sign/exercise must only be used twice in a course.
In the video below you can see a demonstration on how each exercise is executed.