Last weekend we went to the first AKC Scent Work trials (finding a specific, hidden odor), held as part of the Eukaneuba Performance Games. Griffin and I aren’t great at nosework, but we had a good weekend in May and as this event was only an hour away – we had to go!
Thursday was one of the most exciting days – the scent work trial was unexpectedly paused for a ribbon cutting/naming ceremony for the facility. The rest of the events were outside – so it was mostly just the scent work people hanging around (puzzled). Local and somewhat state level government people gave small speeches – the local mayor brought his dog! They asked for some of our dogs to be on stage for publicity photos and that’s something Griffin is great at. The photographer in the grey shirt was really, really close to Griffin – one of those photos ended up on the AKC facebook page that day!
There was even an ice sculpture as part of that celebration.
Performance Games!
Lots of different activities were represented. We did a few quick walks around the outdoor grounds to see what was going on. The set up was crazy! They had special banners made for the event that went along the temporary fencing. There were huge tents and GIANT inflatable dogs and just a lot going on.
Scent Work
The AKC Scent Work team is awesome. I loved the secretary and head team. They were so great at helping the exhibitors, directing the judges, meeting with AKC people who were around (the AKC agility director timed a class or two!), and great with the general public. The event was very well run and I have lots of great feelings about the event just because of how great the team was.
AKC’s scent program is brand new – there are likely going to be some changes based off of the initial event and it will be fun to see what happens. We participated in all five classes each day. The classes were HUGE as everyone had to be in Novice.
One thing different about scent work compared to other programs is the A/B division. There were people in the A class that were definitely allowed/permitted to be there based off of the rules – but that are judges/officials for other organizations. Many of the B class exhibitors are quite experienced – Griffin and I are not!
Buried was the most interesting class – apparently no other competition program has this. Shoebox type containers were used with what seemed to be thick mulch. One of the early test dogs had trouble with dust coming up so they watered the boxes each day. A big challenge was dogs knocking over/spilling which 1) meant a pause for clean up 2) “contaminating” the area and 3) figuring out how to clean up. Two days this was done inside and one outdoors.
AKC has a very spectator-friendly program and it was great to be able to take general public people around to see the various activities (after I took my turn!). The hosts were great about reversing orders on different days so that everyone did have an opportunity to watch.
Our Weekend
We ended up with 13 passing runs, and many others were very close so I felt very good about that. Thursday was very special – we got 5/5 passing runs there. Over the weekend we finished the requirements for 2 titles and are close in the other activities.
We weren’t ready for buried or handler discrimination – which I was surprised about. But Griffin obviously understands the container, interior and exterior classes very well.