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Last Saturday was our first NW3 competition, having earned the NW2 title in early December. I haven't been able to get into a training class so have been practicing ad hoc with friends and alone. The rules changed in January 2020, it seems to make titling easier, but I never trialed under the old rules. I think that the main change is that you can false alert and still continue to search. A second false alert results in elimination from that element search. (I volunteered at an Elite trial last year where this was allowed.) FYI, at the NW3 level the handler isn't informed how many hides, and there can be a search area with no hides. You must call each hide that your dog finds and then Finish when they have cleared the search area. You don't find out how you've done until the judge's de-brief at the end of the day.
There were 6 searches, meaning two search areas for two of the elements, interiors and exteriors, and one area each for vehicles and containers. There was one blank area, one of the interiors, with no hides.
Overall I was happy with my dogs performance. A couple of positives: (1) He started strong, faded, and then came back later in the day. It's difficult for me to retain my energy level all day and so I was glad to be able to pump him up again even after a few stumbles. This was a long day, 9 am walk-through and ending at 5 pm, with both handlers and dogs staying in their vehicles between searches. (2) Another dog peed in an exterior search area and my intact male didn't mark on top of it. There was snow on the ground so it was easy to see, and when I thought he was thinking too hard I corrected him, and he left it alone. The judge gave me a compliment on the score card for the correction. Overall, the exterior search areas were much more complex than NW2.
We ended up with 2 clean elements, 1 element where we ran out of time but found the hides (I didn't hear the 30 second warning or I would have called Finished), and 3 NQs. It was easy for me to be relaxed because NW3 is so difficult that I wasn't expecting to qualify. It was fun, an enjoyable day out with my boy, and I'm looking forward to next time. It's difficult to get into a trial (I'm wait-listed for 4 other NW3 trials) so we could be at this level for a long time, but I'm committed to making it fun. Attached is a photo of one of the interior search areas where we found the hides within the time limit.
There were 6 searches, meaning two search areas for two of the elements, interiors and exteriors, and one area each for vehicles and containers. There was one blank area, one of the interiors, with no hides.
Overall I was happy with my dogs performance. A couple of positives: (1) He started strong, faded, and then came back later in the day. It's difficult for me to retain my energy level all day and so I was glad to be able to pump him up again even after a few stumbles. This was a long day, 9 am walk-through and ending at 5 pm, with both handlers and dogs staying in their vehicles between searches. (2) Another dog peed in an exterior search area and my intact male didn't mark on top of it. There was snow on the ground so it was easy to see, and when I thought he was thinking too hard I corrected him, and he left it alone. The judge gave me a compliment on the score card for the correction. Overall, the exterior search areas were much more complex than NW2.
We ended up with 2 clean elements, 1 element where we ran out of time but found the hides (I didn't hear the 30 second warning or I would have called Finished), and 3 NQs. It was easy for me to be relaxed because NW3 is so difficult that I wasn't expecting to qualify. It was fun, an enjoyable day out with my boy, and I'm looking forward to next time. It's difficult to get into a trial (I'm wait-listed for 4 other NW3 trials) so we could be at this level for a long time, but I'm committed to making it fun. Attached is a photo of one of the interior search areas where we found the hides within the time limit.
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