International Trick Dog Competition 2024
Can your dog become the International Trick Dog Champion 2024?
Take part in this high-profile annual competition to challenge yourself and your dog!
The overall winner will be crowned the
International Trick Dog Champion
Plus runner-up prizes, additional prizes for individual tasks and loads of fun on the way!
The competition will consist of 7 tasks of increasing difficulty.
You'll have 2-3 weeks to submit your entry for each of the tasks.
The winners for each task in each of the classes will be awarded individual certificates.
Everyone will receive helpful individual feedback from the judges for each of their entries.
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The competition is designed as a progressive training with a stretch.
We will help you to take your dog's training to the next level.
It will also be a great opportunity to celebrate your achievements along the way!
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The competition attracts some of the top trick dog teams worldwide with amazing opportunities to learn, inspire and to make friends.
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You can find out about the previous ITDC winners in the Hall of Fame =>
Task 4: Hands-Free Holiday Magic!
Submit your entry by the end of Sunday the 29th of December 2024
We would like to celebrate the Festive season together with you with this hands-free challenge. We all tend to use hands quite a bit when doing tricks with our dogs. Our hand cues are not only visible to our dogs but also to our audience. If only we could make the hand signals more invisible then the tricks themselves will look more polished and will appear more like magic.
We would like to challenge you to come up with:
Tricks with no hands to the Festive/Winter theme
Video up to 2.5 minutes​
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​Think creatively!
When we say 'Hands-free' it does not mean you can't use the visual cues at all if you need for your dog. Depending on your dog's current level of training consider how you can use hands less for cuing. Perhaps use the opportunity to teach your dog to work to more subtle hand gestures, or respond to your body signal that you can then link naturally to your choreography, or work to voice only cues.
If you need to use your hands to communicate with your dog (such as deaf or blind dogs in particular) see how you can make your hand cues more of an extension of your natural movements or hold something in your hands to cue the dog to blend your cues into your movements with the prop. Deaf dogs are actually great in reading your even subtle cues.
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For more advanced dogs experiment with keeping hands behind your back, standing behind the dog, out of dog's sight or even being in another room. And of course you can always mix and match.
The handler needs to be either visible in the video or be clearly out of the dog's sight for this task.
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Festive theme can be either something Christmas-related. It can also be anything about Winter and Winter activities. You can do tricks indoors or equally you can use the outdoors including any Winter sports and Winter props, snow and ice for some truly unique tricks.
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We are giving 4 weeks for this task. Do not rush it, but use the time well.
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Use this opportunity to try something new with your dog and to stretch them a bit further.
​With this task we are hoping to help your team to polish the tricks, make your hand cues more subtle and invisible and to help your team to bring your trick performance to the next level.
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You can either record each of the tricks separately and then edit them together into one video, or perform them as a sequence one after each other.
Think creatively and most importantly have fun!
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There will be 3 additional prizes this time with 10 competition points and certificate for the winners:
- Creative story- most creative story telling
- Creative trick- most unique or creative trick (it does not have to be technically difficult)
- Remote handler challenge- for the team who came us with the most impressive sequence of tricks with the handler in another room. You can use the modern technology (both visual and audio) to cue the dogs remotely if that helps. The will be 3 awards for this one- Winner (who will receive 10 points) and 2 runners ups (with 5 competition points awarded each).
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To help you to get started- keep an eye on Dog Talent Association Facebook page for some further ideas from our team for this task!
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HOW TO ENTER:
1) To enter the International Trick Dog Competition electronically submit the link to your video (or videos) by the end of the day (your time) on Sunday the 29th of December 2024 together with the entry fee by completing the Submission Form.
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.
You can enter more than one class per week. For class descriptions see below.
You can join the competition at any point.
Winners for each Task will be announced towards the end of the following week.
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Prizes:
Top 5 dogs in EACH of the classes will receive a printable named certificate by e-mail after every task.
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 and the Overall 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 classes 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.​
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!​
Classes:
Class 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.​
Class 2. Intermediate Trick Dog (dogs with titles above Novice Trick Dog level or with more trick experience than those with the Novice titles). This also includes titles and competition experience in related dog sports. The titles obtained during the competition will not affect your class eligibility.​
Class 3. Advanced Trick Dog (dogs with titles above the Intermediate 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 or dogs with many years of trick experience without a formal title. The titles obtained during the competition will not affect your class eligibility.​
Class 4. 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.​
Class 5. Limits-free For dogs who have some 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 to achieve great things and enjoy their life to full The physical limitations may include disabilities, physical restrictions or chronic health conditions. This class also includes rescue dogs.
​​Class 6. Veteran Trick Dogs For Trick dogs who are aged 7 years or over.
​Class 7. Amateur dog trainers For those who train their own dogs, rather than work professionally as a dog trainer. This class is about you as a trainer and your work together with your dog(s) as a team. Please see below additional note on judging criteria.​
Class 8. Trick dogs team (2 or more dogs performing the tricks together with one handler, or more than one dog and more than one handler).​
You can enter your dog upto 3 suitable classes for each of the 7 tasks.
For example, for the same task, if eligible you could enter your video into class 2, class 5 and class 7 for more chances to win and more potential points. We recommend that you stick with the same classes where possible.​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.
​Judging:
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, chain of behaviours to a single cue, out of sight tricks, tricks with dog facing away 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 weighting of scores in the Amateur Dog Trainer class will be different from the other classes.
Much more weighting is given to teamwork, motivation, your communication with the dog(s) as well as choosing the appropriate level of difficulty and the type of the task to suit your dog and your responsiveness to your dog's body language. This class is about you as a trainer and your work together in a team.
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​
Best of luck and enjoy!​
COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
1) My dog is relatively new to tricks, but we would like to progress and learn. Is it worth entering?
Yes absolutely! You will be competing with similar dogs in your class- so everyone will have an equal chance to win. The completion is designed as a progressive training with lots of individual feedback, encouragement and opportunities to learn.
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2) I live in...... can I still enter?
This is truly International Competition. Team from any country of the world is welcome to join. We are always proud to have wide international representation with competitors from USA, Canada, across many countries in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, China etc. You don't need to speak English either to enter if someone could help you to translate the task, or there is always Google Translate, which works pretty well most of the time.
3) 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 detailed judging criteria which will be posted on the competition page when it launches.
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For full rules see Competition Rules and Submission guidance.
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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) and Challenge Titles as a further fun stretch.
