Go the DIY Route and Practice Like You’re Going to Compete
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How to Make an AKC Scent Work (K9 Nose Work) Score Sheet - DIY:
In actual AKC Scent Work competitions, it is not uncommon for judges to create their own score sheets when Clubs hosts their own events. In this post I want to discuss how to make a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) K9 Scent Work score sheet for training Nose Work using the best free software: Google Sheets, the spreadsheet program included as part of a free, web-based software office suite offered by Google within its Google Drive service.
The critical element is that these score sheets readily document all the relevant procedural information to record the competition. The baseline for this Dingle Days demonstration is a typical 2-minute Novice K9 Scent Work container search.
Required fields include: (1) the result, (2) the hide quantity, (3) the number of finds, (4) the faults (by type), and the (5) search time (max & actual). As long as all these elements are present, one will be able to practice like you will eventually compete in Novice AKC Scent Work competitions.
One should maintain these performance records as a way to track the progress of the handler and the dog during each search. By digitizing this process, you will ensure you have the proper documentation on-hand to tally finds and faults (handler errors, safety concerns, or mild disruptions to the search area) in practice.
One should maintain these performance records as a way to track the progress of the handler and the dog
In the event your dog does not complete a search in the allotted time for the event, the practice performance score sheets will enable you to recognize any potential problem areas trending over time.
For instance, Club judges can disqualify a dog/hander team from competition for five reasons:
If the handler calls an incorrect “alert” or “finish”
If the dog exceeds the allotted time limit
If the handler is unable to point to the location of the hide if/when asked by the judge “where?”
If the handler harshly handles the dog or uses excessive corrections
If the dog causes undue disruptions to the search area beyond a mild disruption
On the other hand, a dog/handler team can be excused from an AKC Scent Work competition for many broad reasons:
If the dog is out of handler control
If the dog stops searching and is being disruptive to the search area
If the dog eliminates in the search area
If the dog is too stressed for competition
If the handler receives outside help
If the handler wants out of the competition
If the judge deems any other suiting reason for an excusal.
Whether a dog/handler team be qualified, disqualified, or excused from competition, the handler should keep an appropriate training record to track the training progress over time.
Personally, I find it extremely useful to practice for game day with the right mindset in order for the competition to be muscle memory by the time you arrive to the Club. I hope you found this post useful in a similar way.
Download the Dingle Days K9 Scent Work Score Sheet for free.
Check out my last nose work Dingle Days YouTube training video here.
Hi, I’m Geryah! I am a dog lover and enthusiast whose life is enriched every day by the company of my furry friend. I started training dogs in 2017, when I decided to make my passion a reality. I film, edit, and post training and pet photography videos with my GSD, Disney on my YouTube Channel: Dingle Days. My mission is to train dogs and teach people to enable pets to best share in our lives.
Geryah interviews Dianna Santos of cyberscentwork.com on how to get started with cyber scent work with any dog.