Page 13 - 2018 WT Almanac

the Kennel Club Regulations booklet (see Tracking is most wonderful thing you can
below) teach your dog to do. Once dogs realise the
point of tracking (as we train it) they just
All stakes are divided into three sections, or love it! The thrill of getting round a track
Groups; that someone else has laid (when you do
• Group 1. Control not know where it goes) and your little dog
• Group 2. Agility shows you the way and recovers articles en-
• Group 3. Nosework route is second to none. This is what trials is
So, in Intro and CD the control section com- really about.
prises; Heel on leash, heel free, recall, send- Yes, it might be complicated to get into Tri-
away, sit stay and down stay. als, it is not easy, but my goodness it is the
The agility comprises; clear jump, long best fun you and your dog will ever have!
jump, scale - wait and recall over scale.
The Nosework section comprises retrieve Titles
your dumb-bell and a 15 yards search You must have gained a qualification (Cer-
square. tificate of Merit) in open UD before you
If your dog is trained to a good novice stand- can enter UD at a championship trial. The
ard and you have taught him/her the jumps, introductory stake and CD open are not
Intro should not present any problems for qualifying stakes and you do not gain a title
you (challenges – but not problems!). If you when you qualify. You will gain a certificate
can work him without extra commands you of merit. You must qualify CD at a cham-
should be alright in CD. pionship trial to enable your dog to display
the title CDex after his Kennel Club name.
Tracking Stakes Qualifying in UD at a championship trials
In UD and above the retrieve is moved to will earn him his UDex.
the control section. There is no heel-on-lead Your dog must qualify CDex and UDex and
or novice recall. Of course, the control ex- have gained a certificate of merit in open
ercises become more challenging, but the WD before he can be entered in the WD
big difference is that now the vast majority stake at a championship trial.
of marks are allocated to the Nosework sec-
tion. With the lion’s share of the marks for Training articles
the track. Find out how to do it!
If you have trained your dog to track, search, Go to the working trials info website http://
and you have good jumps, you may find UD www.workingtrials.info for an overview of
at open trials easier to qualify than CD be- the sport, training articles and Trials adverts
cause there is a lower percentage of marks and so much more. Get a copy of the Work-
in the control section. ing Trials Rules from the Kennel Club, or
download it https://www.thekennelclub.org.
In intro and CD there are 20 marks in the uk/media/31574/working_trial_and_blood-
agility section, 50 marks in the control sec- hound_trial_regulations.pdf
tion, and 30 in the Nosework
In UD there are 20 in agility, 35 in control,
and 145 in the Nosework!
So now you will see that Trials is all about
Nosework and tracking, (but you do need to
gain a good degree of control).
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