FCI Rally Obedience · International Class
Every sign in the FCI International Class — how the regulation says it must be performed, and what the Judging Guidelines add, narrow or overturn on top of it. The guidelines are a separate document that judges apply in addition to the regulation, so on a handful of points the newer text quietly wins.
The body text of each entry is the regulation's own description (§5). Everything under it is layered on from elsewhere, colour-coded by where it comes from.
These are not repeated in the individual descriptions, but they are judged on every one of them. The Judging Guidelines' general section is folded in here.
Regulation §5 description first, then everything layered on top of it. Search and filter just below.
The reverse view: each guideline clause and every sign it lands on. Built from the same data as the entries above, so the two always agree.
| Guideline clause | Signs | Where it applies |
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The regulation is dated 1 February 2025; the Judging Guidelines carry amendments approved in Roma, February 2026, effective 1 March 2026. Where they collide, the later guideline is what the judge applies — but the regulation text has not been updated to match, so both readings are still in circulation.
Regulation §3.5: the recall cone is placed ~5 m after the sign and 1 m off the walking line, "on the opposite side where the dog is handled."
Judging Guidelines §9 and Course Building: "The recall cone can be placed on either side of the walking line" — repeated as "(on either side)".
Apply the guideline — either side. Affects 319, 408, 409, 410, and any recall built with a cone rather than signs 321–323 / 421 / 422.
§5, sign 410: "at least one paw must be within one meter of the cone." §4.7: "the dog must be within 1 m from the cone while standing. If all four paws are outside the 2 m diameter, the exercise has been performed incorrectly."
These are the same circle described twice — a 1 m radius, i.e. 2 m across — but the failure threshold only exists in §4.7. One paw inside is enough; the exercise is only lost when all four are outside.
Not a conflict, but §5 alone will mislead you.
§6.4: visible leash is a −10 marked (*), and starred items are explicitly exempt from the per-exercise maximum, i.e. they stack "every time it occurs".
Judging Guidelines, general: "The −10(*) point deduction for a visible leash is taken only once in a course."
Apply the guideline — a single −10 per run.
Judging Guidelines §15: "In moving exercises (318, 419), the dog must be in the final position when the handler reaches the dog's opposite shoulder."
317 (moving stand, walk around) is built identically — moving position, handler continues without pausing, walks around — but is not named. Nor is 419 the only moving walk-around at 4 points. Whether the judge applies the same shoulder test to 317 is currently unwritten.
Gap. Ask at the course orientation if it matters to you.
Judging Guidelines §2: in 401–404, if the dog does not move front and hind legs simultaneously, the −5 is applied once only — "This does not apply to exercise 416."
416 also contains two side steps (one left, one right), so there the −5 can be taken on each of them. Same fault, twice the cost, on the strength of one sentence.
Deliberate exception — read it as written.
Judging Guidelines §2: "deductions for askew should be judged separately by step, not judged together as one fault for the two steps, e.g. 2× −3 points, not −10p." And: askew under 45° while the dog uses its hind legs is not deducted at all, though delay deductions still apply.
Splits the fault rather than escalating it — usually in the team's favour.
§6.4: −10 for refusing or going past the jump — "this includes refusal to jump when a jump has been knocked down." §4.9: fallen bars are not replaced during a run.
Judging Guidelines §12: if a reused jump has lost its bar, all following uses count as complete when the dog goes through it — "No jump is expected on a jump without a bar."
They reconcile by moment: refusal in the exercise where the bar came down is still −10; a later exercise reusing the now-barless jump is satisfied by going through.
Reconcilable, but only if you read both.
Judging Guidelines, general: if the dog picks something up (−10) and will not release it on command, the handler may take it away, and a further −10 "will be added in the next version of the regulations. Until then, a deduction in the overall impression can be used."
So the guideline documents a penalty that is not yet in force and tells judges to route it through overall impression instead.
Interim handling — expect it to change.
The entire concept — a very short stop that is not a fault — exists only in the Judging Guidelines. Read §4.2 and §6.4 alone and every pause looks deductible. The 2-second threshold for a "clear stop" is likewise guideline-only.
The single most consequential thing the regulation does not tell you.
§6.4: −3 for a handler significantly slowing down or speeding up to help the dog. Judging Guidelines §6: that deduction cannot be applied in 417 and 418 while the dog rounds the cone, nor in jumps and recalls, where changing pace is accepted as long as it is not a clear stop. §4.7 and §4.8 already permit it in those exercises without saying it is exempt from the deduction.
Apply the guideline — no −3 in 417/418, jumps or recalls.
The full table, kept here so an entry above can point at it rather than repeat it. (*) means no maximum — it stacks.
| Value | Category | Incident, every time it occurs |
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