Advance notice of IHF IPO World Cup 2018

In 2018 the 3rd World Championship IPO of the IHF will be organised by the Slovak Hovawart Club. 

The aim is to promote the Hovawart and its original ability to perform as a working dog.

Mode of assessment

International Regulations of the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI IPO)

Categories & requirements

Teams are qualified for starting in the championship when

• they have fulfilled the national requirements for qualification
• their Hovawart is registered in the IHF
• the dog handler is a member of one of the IHF member clubs.

Teams can start in one of 2 categories, IPO 1 and IPO3.
In the category IPO1 can start teams with mastered the exam of class IPO1, but not IPO2.
In the category IPO3 can start teams with mastered exam of classes IPO2 or IPO3.

Mode of qualification and titles

Each IHF country is responsible for its own mode of qualification.
Any category will be open in the championship if at least 3 teams are registered for this category.

The best team in class IPO1 will be given the title Champion IHF 2018 in the category IPO1.

The title of IHF World Champion will only be given in the category IPO3.
The title of IHF World Champion will be given only by fulfilling the conditions for exam IPO3.
The IHF World Champion team can be registered for the FCI World Championship by its responsible national organisation. 

Selection procedure for the participants

Step 0:
Each IHF member country can name at most 4 teams for the category IPO3.
If more then 2 teams are named for the category IPO3, the club has to specify the order of named teams for the registration. Nr.1 and Nr.2 will be used in the Step 1 of the selection procedure, Nr.3 and Nr.4 in Step 2 of it. 

Step 1: 
At most 2 teams named by the IHF member country in Step 0 for the category IPO3 are nominated in the category IPO3 automatically  (i.e. a maximum of 30 teams together).  If there are less nominations then 24, the start numbers 25-30 will be forfeited.

Step 2:
If there are less than 24 teams in the category IPO3 nominated by the rule in Step 1 then the countries can register more teams in the category IPO 3 until the maximum of 4 teams from the same country is reached.

Step 3:
The remaining starts will be given to IPO 1, preferably from clubs that have no starter in IPO 3. Each country has to provide the order of nominated dogs in the category IPO1. If there are more Teams than starts the Teams are chosen by lot.