AKC Novice Test Pattern Diagrams and Commands Used by the Judge & Handler Prepared by Mark Plonsky, Ph.D. Copyright © 1996. Last update 1998.

The Novice test consists of 6 exercises as follows:

Exercise	Points
1. Heel on leash & Figure 8	40
2. Stand for examination	30
3. Heel free	40
4. Recall	30
5. Long sit	30
6. Long down	30
Maximum Score	200

1. Heel on leash & Figure 8

A. Heel on leash

Figure 1. A Typical Novice Heeling Pattern.
Note that this pattern correlates with the commands given in the table below.

Judge's Commands	Handler's Commands	Dog's Behavior
Are you ready?	Ready	Attentive
Forward	Heel (or Name, Heel)	Heeling
Halt		Sits straight
Forward	Heel (or Name, Heel)	Heeling
Left turn		"
Slow		"
Normal		"
About turn		"
Right turn		"
Fast		"
Normal		"
About turn		"
Halt		Sits straight
Exercise finished	OK	Free (reasonably)

B. Figure 8

Figure 2. Schematic of the Figure 8 Exercise.
Note that this pattern correlates with the commands given in the table below.

Judge's Commands	Handler's Commands	Dog's Behavior
Are you ready?	Ready	Attentive
Forward	Heel (or Name, Heel)	Heeling
Halt		Sits straight
Forward	Heel (or Name, Heel)	Heeling
Halt		Sits straight
Exercise finished	OK	Free (reasonably)

2. Stand for examination

Judge's Commands	Handler's Commands	Dog's Behavior
Asks for leash	Remove the leash & give to steward	Calm & agreeable
Stand your dog and leave when ready.	Stand (or Name, Stand) Pose the dog From heel - Stay (& hand signal), then walk 3 paces in front of the dog	Feet planted & still
Performs inspection	None	Calm
Return to your dog	None, just returns to heel position
Exercise finished	OK	Free (reasonably)

3. Heel free

This is performed identically to the heel on leash exercise except that no leash is used.

4. Recall

Judge's Commands	Handler's Commands	Dog's Behavior
Are you ready?	Ready	Attentive
Leave your dog	Stay (& hand signal), then walk to opposite side of ring	Remains sitting
Call your dog	Come (or hand signal)	Sits straight in front
Finish	Heel (or hand signal)	Assumes heel position
Exercise finished	OK	Free (reasonably)

5. Long sit

Judge's Commands	Handler's Commands	Dog's Behavior
	Armband weighted with leash placed behind dog
Are you ready?	Ready	Attentive
Sit your dogs	Sit	Sits
Leave your dogs	Stay (& hand signal) Walk to opposite side of ring	Remains sitting for 1 minute
Return to your dogs	Return to heel position	Remains calm
Exercise finished	OK	Free (reasonably)

6. Long down

This is performed identically to the long sit exercise except that the dog is to assume the down position and the duration is for 3 minutes.