Sniffing Around Scent Work

I was at a trial recently. For once, I was not judging, and I was not on the volunteer roster, so I got to spend a lot of time in the crating area, reading and relaxing before my classes. And friends, it was not pretty. There was A LOT of chatter about the searches.

While I was waiting to run Master Interiors, I had to get in the face of the folks crating next to me. All excited from her success in interiors, my neighbor was talking to her friend.

“Wow, that was not really hard at all! He did so well, we got that first room really quickly, he went left and went right up to the..” at which point I jumped up and said loudly “EXCUSE ME! I haven’t run yet! You can’t talk about the searches!”

“Oh no, we weren’t! We were just talking about the Qs!”

I said something like “please don’t!” and then left the room to take a walk outside.

I am sure these competitors meant no harm, and I am equally sure that they were  unaware of the AKC regulation that prohibits discussion of the searches before a class has completed. Here it is, from Chapter 2, Section 12:

Section 12. Maintaining the Integrity of the Search. Handlers may not divulge any information about the search, the location of the hide, or their performance (aside from a thumbs up or thumbs down) until all teams have run for the particular class. Even innocent discussion can inadvertently cue handlers as to the circumstances of the search in a way that may bias their performance. If anyone is found to be discussing a search before the class has ended, both parties in the discussion (speaker and listener) will be penalized with a “Not Qualified” score (NQ) for the class.

Additionally, at the discretion of the Event Committee, persons discussing a search may be excused from the trial and asked to leave the trial grounds. Handlers are responsible for ensuring that any person at the trial with them is aware of the prohibition against discussing searches. If a person not entered in the trial is found to be discussing a search before the class has ended, the handler who brought the person to the trial may be held responsible in accordance with this section, at the judge’s discretion.

Many people are unaware of how damaging the discussion of the searches can be. WHY? IT WILL COST YOU Qs.

 Human beings are suggestible creatures, and never more so than at a scent work trial. When you say innocent things like “he got that really quickly” it puts ideas into my head, whether I want them there or not. Now I start thinking that the hide was close to the door, or maybe right in the middle of the room, or under a chair. And in all probability, the hide is probably none of those places, but if we get into the search and my dog is paying attention to that chair in the middle of the room, I can’t get away from that comment and I am likely to blurt alert, and fail.

I have NQ’d several times because a friend or fellow competitor shared some detail of the search, one that they thought was completely innocent. A comment about a wall that was worked extensively, or how proud you are that your dog worked through an inaccessible puzzle, or “after he got the first one…” (in a search with an unknown number of hides) will put the wrong information into the head of the person about to run. And, as is often said in court rooms, you can’t un-ring a bell.

A little detail wouldn’t give away the search, and it’s not cheating, right? Wrong.

Look, I get it. We are all excited when we come out of a search, and we have a driving need to talk about it. But we are all adults and we need to  have some self-restraint about this. The class won’t last more than an hour or so, and you can talk about everything in detail then.

I have written extensively about this in a past blog here: https://wordpress.com/post/sniffingaroundscentwork.com/370

But it is worth repeating at regular intervals, and repeating loudly. When I am judging, on Sunday mornings, I often give a fire and brimstone lecture on this topic during the general briefing.

Many of you are old enough to  remember the advertisement with Smokey the Bear admonishing that “only you can prevent forest fires.” Well old Smokey was right. We all have to take personal responsibility for this.

Please note that in the regulations, both the competitor talking about the search and the person listening can be disqualified from searches and possibly asked to leave the trial. This is a problem that can only be solved if we act to prevent it in the moment that it is happening!

Just interrupt the person talking and say “sorry, but I haven’t run yet! We can’t talk about the search yet”

What To Do Instead of Talking About the Search

• Takes some notes about your search so you can review later
• Text a friend/your coach who is NOT competing at the trial
• Go out to your car and scream into a pillow

Ok. Rant over. Back to training.