WHAT IS WORKING TRIALS?
If you enjoy the outdoors, enjoy being out in the fields early in the morning and want to work with your dog, then Working Trials is an option for you! WORKING TRIALS is a discipline that is usually held out on a farm or in the veld. It is to show dog’s usefulness to man and works with the traits that have been bred into dogs over the years. Most dogs really enjoy this "work", especially the nose work and tracking sections. There are 3 sections to Working Trials: OBEDIENCE, AGILITY and NOSE WORK. (There are examples of the various disciplines shown under the Video section.) The OBEDIENCE section is not judged quite as strictly as formal obedience discipline with it being held on rougher terrain and is structured to test the dog in more natural situations such as being able to work in public ie.to heel past another dog and handler, shake hands with a stranger, and pass through a gate without the dog hindering the handler. The dog is expected to heel both on-lead and off-lead; retrieve a dumbbell, do a recall, do a ten minute out-of-sight stay, as well as a send-away from 20m in CD to 50m with a re-direct in TD3. The AGILITY section is just three jumps – the long jump, a high jump and an A-Frame. Smaller dogs are now also catered for, with lower heights. The NOSE WORK section consists of the Search (CD and TD) and tracking (only from TD1 upwards). In the SEARCH, the dog has to find small hidden objects in a marked-off area, within a certain time limit. This is equivalent to a police dog finding evidence at a crime scene. With the TRACKING, the dog has to smell the track/spoor that has been left when someone has walked through the veld, dropping an article or two on the way. The more senior the test is, the longer the track is, and made with more corners and articles, as well as the track having to be left for a longer time period before the dog is put on the track. Could the dog find a "lost person or an escaped criminal?" Tracking is fairly time consuming as it takes a long time to master and requires early starts in the mornings. Tracking is affected by many factors – heat, moisture, wind and terrain. Moisture assists the dog - so most training is done early morning when there is dew on the ground. It is very rewarding and satisfying when your dog can do an 800m track! A score of 80% gets you a Qualification, while 90% and higher means Excellent. With three qualifications in the senior stakes (TD3), your dog can be made a tracking champion. This does require handlers finding ground to train on, on their own- such as school sports fields or public areas and using them before they become covered with other people’s smells and tracks. Training once a week is initially not sufficient – and homework is a must!! To start working trials you should have completed a basic obedience course and your dog should be comfortable with basic heel work. Many of our handlers and dogs also compete in Tracking Trials, which concentrates on tracking without the heel work, agility and search sections. TRAINING Tracking sessions are held early on Sunday mornings. We often do this in Richwood next to the Big Barrel Restaurant, with different fields being used when we can find them. On Tuesdays we train at Cape Handlers (Theo Marais Park) at 17h00/17h15 in winter and 18h00 in summer. Books and videos on tracking are available in the club library. The tracking videos by Joanne Plumb are very good as well as the book by Glen Johnson makes for very informative reading. All the Rules and regulations are available on the KUSA website http://www.kusa.co.za/kusa-information/kusa-constitution-a-schedules/1071-12-schedule-5b01-regulations-for-working-trials – docs – Constitution and schedules 5B1 Working Trials(Classic). Interested? Please contact Richard Davis at 083 321 5163, [email protected] - or via the Contacts form on this site. Come and see what it's about and come and have some fun with us! |
LATEST RESULTS
KENNEL ASSOCIATION OPEN SHOW
10 July 2016, Wynberg Military Base WELL DONE to our four competitors, especially to the two CD first-timers! We saw some really great heel-work and excellent retrieves and recalls - just watch those straight fronts. The send-away to a tree proved to be a bit of a challenge... Well done to Marina (Jemma) and Theo (Rex) for nailing the search. The judges did not need to test the dogs for steadiness during the down-stay - a few guinea fowl came sauntering past... fantastic job for all the dogs for not breaking the stays despite these temptations. In the end there was a tie for first place, with JJ nailing the tie-breaker to take top spot. Unfortunately there were no qualifications in CD. Podium results: 1. Anne (JJ) 2. Marina (Jemma) 3. Theo (Rex) Many thanks to judge Vincent Fry for officiating on the day. Congratulations to Jane Twell and Karin Pohl who are now ready to start judging CD. Working Trials Training:
Training that we cover includes:
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