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!
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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.
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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!
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The competition attracts some of the top teams worldwide with amazing opportunities to learn, inspire and make friends.
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You can find out about the previous ITDC winners in the Hall of Fame =>
Task 7(final!): Share your love
Submit your entry by the end of Tuesday the 8th of February 2022
It's Valentine day soon, but also January is often the time when people would particularly appreciate extra love and attention from family, friends and others around them, as Christmas is over but the Spring has not arrived yet.
As the final task we would like to ask you to share your love.
Your challenge is to do as many tricks as you can in 2 minutes (max), ideally performed as a sequence, with love as the theme
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This could be a Valentine themed entry,
it could also be your reflection on your partnership with your dog, and your journey together,
it could be about what makes you happy
It could be more abstract - eg love of something you enjoy doing with or without your dog - eg your hobby, your passion or something you would love to be able to do.
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As this is the final task, we traditionally would like to ask you after the submission date to send us the video so we can post it on the DTA YouTube page to inspire others. You can enjoy the final task
entries from the previous years there too. As previously, there will be an additional prize from the judges for technical merit.
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Additionally, we have another special treat for you!
We have partnered with exceptionally talented digital artist Will Hatch.
You can read more about Will and see more examples of his work here.
Will would like to invite you to enter additional Dog Portrait by Will Hatch Class by submitting a photo of your dog.
Will will choose the class winner from all of the photo entries and the winner will receive
free portrait of your dog drawn by Will Hatch
The final work will be delivered to you as a very high resolution digital file which you can print to practically any size to display as a painting on a wall, as well as use for other print on gifts such as mugs, t-shirts, cushion covers, coasters, social media etc. It would make an exceptional special present.
The Winner will be asked to send Will more photos as well as the description of your dog's personality to enable Will to really capture your dog in his artwork for you.
The Winner and 2 runner ups will additionally receive 5 competition points each and named certificates.
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You can enter Dog Portrait by Will Hatch Class only without taking part in the main ITDC competition. As this class is for charity you can enter more then once.
Each entry is £4 ($5) or an equivalent in your currency.
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ALL MONEY raised via the Dog Portrait by Will Hatch class will be donated again to the
International Search and Rescue Dog Organisation www.iro-dogs.org
With your help we already raised £156 (around $212) for the International Search and Rescue Dogs Organisation. We would like to raise more with this final task of the competition.
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IRO is the worldwide umbrella organisation representing and supporting 126 national search and rescue dog organisations from 43 counties on all continents. They organise training, testing, courses and sharing the best international practice to help every single team to realise their potential and to become the best they can in finding and saving people who are lost, following a natural disaster (such as earthquake, hurricane, avalanche etc), collapsed buildings or as the result of a war conflict.
HOW TO ENTER:
1) To enter the International Trick Dog Competition electronically submit the video (or videos) of your performance. Submit your video by midnight
Tuesday the 8th of February 2022 together with the entry fee by completing the Submission Form.
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2) To enter Dog Portrait by Will Hatch Class send the photos of your dog with your name and contact details to DogTalentAssociation@gmail.com and pay the entry fee either via PayPay to DogTalentAssociation@gmail.com of via Secure online payment
You'll be able to pay via PayPal, Apple Pay or securely by a credit card.
Each class entry is £4 or $5 or an equivalent in your currency.
We will share all of the entered photos on the DTA Facebook page in Dog Portrait by Will Hatch folder
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Some helpful tips and suggestions from the judges:
1) I did not take part in the previous rounds of the competition, can I join just for this task? Yes absolutely! You can join any time.
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3) Can I enter Dog Portrait by Will Hatch only without taking art in other classes of the International Trick Dog Competition?
Yes absolutely! You can take part in that class only.. You do not need to take part in other classes of the competition. You can enter this class more than once as all money will go to support charity.
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4) How can I get more points from the judges for my ITDC entry?
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, adding distractions and combining several tricks together, performing all tricks as a sequence, behaviour chain and by including more advanced tricks etc.
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You can also see the judging criteria below at the bottom of this page.
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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.
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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 of the ITDC after every task will receive a printable named certificate by e-mail.
All entries will also receive brief individual feedback from the judges.
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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.
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This is very prestigious and highly regarded International competiton.
It's not just about competing, awards, international recognition and progressing with your dog's training- though of course you'll have plenty of that.
You'll also meet lots of like-minded people around the world, some amazing inspirational teams and will make lots of life-long friends!
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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. This class is primarily aimed at newcomers, young dog with little experience and puppies. 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. This also includes titles and competition experience in related dog sports. 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 or from other related dog sports. This also includes all of the dogs who perform professionally to the public or involved in high level studio work. The titles obtained during the competition will not affect your class eligibility)
4. Limits-free For dogs who have physical limitations or a difficult start in life, but who do not want to limit themselves to what they can achieve. Dogs that beat all the odds and despite their limitations achieve great things and enjoy their life to full The physical limitations may include disabilities, physical restrictions or chronic health conditions. This group also includes rescue dogs.
5. Amateur dog trainers For those who train their own dogs, rather than work professionally as a dog trainer.
6. Dog team (2 or more dogs performing the tricks together)
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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.
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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.
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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 the following week.
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Judging:
The judging will be performed independently by 2 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)
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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 competition.
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Best of luck and enjoy!
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