I’m in Central Square (NY) with the pups for 2 days of Performance Scent Dog trials run by Eva Rascka of Central Bark.  What a blast we had today!

They were each entered in 6 classes today (various levels of containers, speed, and interiors).

Both dogs successfully passed each class, and each had several placements to boot.  I’ll have to figure out who placed in what class – I was so beat by day’s end, I can’t remember who got what.

Kiyo finished up her last 2 novice level titles (speed and buildings) and Toka skipped through 3 of the same level (speed, buildings, and containers).

In addition to 6 flawless runs, Kiyo & I also had a run in another novice speed class.  Speed classes at the novice level consist of 3 groupings or ‘islands’ of 3-4 containers.  Each group has one container that contains odor, and the dog must successfully find the 3 ‘hot’ containers wihtin 45 seconds.  In general, the handlers have more problems with this class than the dogs!

Kiyo had moved up to the advanced level for one run.  In this, she had to select 2 hot containers out of 3 groupings of 5 containers in each.  Not a problem for Little Missy.

Nor was the advanced container search, in which the containers were 18 tiny boxes that were attached to the wall at various levels.  It took her a few seconds to realize what she was expected to do.  Once she did, she performed flawlessly.

The other advanced container search was what looked like a laundry line of gardening gloves. Since we’d practiced the same thing with socks on Wednesday evening, she did fine with this, too.

Kiyo also ran an interior search as a ‘dog in white.’  This means the judge runs a dog that is not competing in that class as a generic dog, to make sure the hides (odor) can be found.   Little Missy did a total of 8 searches without a hitch.  What a trooper!

Toka did quite well for a youngster.  He just turned 2 in April, and is still a youth. Akitas are a slow maturing breed.   Holding it together for a 9 hour day of trialing (actually 11 hours – we were there early to help set up) is darned remarkable for any dog.  He’s got a fantastic future ahead of him.

One of my friends inquired as to why I ran the dogs in novice classes — isn’t Kiyo NW3-Elite?  And didn’t Toka pass his NW2?  Yes to both.  My rationale is multi-fold.  Dogs don’t always have to work incredibly hard.  Working some easier hides keeps them motivated.  Plus trialing experience at any level seems worthwhile to me.  In addition, every title they earn counts towards their higher level Akita versatility titles.  So yes, I’m trolling for titles!

We have another day of trialing tomorrow.  Paws crossed that the dogs do as well as they did today.ling and volunteering, there wasn’t enougI’ll see if I can get photos then, too. As I was judging, triah time to take pictures.

A shout out to my friend Eva who is the proprietor of Central Bark Canine Events.  Boy, does she run a well-organized trial! Talk about Trial Meister Extraordinaire!  If you want to take a drive for barn hunt or PSD trials, it’s worth it to come to any of hers.

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