Meliora Drents

Iris had a fantastic two days of AKC Scentwork trials hosted by the Obedience Club of San Diego County. She did 8 runs in total, and got a qualifying score in 7 of them. 7 of the 8 were Advanced level searches – bigger areas, more hides, and more distractions than Novice, and she handled it like a pro! She got 2x 2nd places, and 2x 3rd places, from large fields (30+ dogs). She also earned enough qualifying scores to achieve her Scentwork Exterior Novice (SEN) title, Scentwork Overall Novice (SWN) title, and Scentwork Interior Advanced (SIA) title.

Saturday 2/11/23

Saturday started with a Novice Exterior run. When we rolled up to the start line, I was surprised (but not nervous) to see not a single object in the search area. It was simply a small yardspace between three walls, with a few bushes. Iris had no problem quickly locating the hide, which was behind a pipe on one of the walls, which earned her the first 2nd place time of the weekend, out of 24 dogs. Getting this qualifying score also finished off her Scentwork Exterior Novice and Overall Novice titles!

I spent the rest of the time between Novice and Advanced volunteer stewarding, and Iris rested peacefully in the car (which was, of course, kept cool and temperature monitored). Our vehicle setup will have to be another post!

Our Advanced runs kicked off with our strongest element, Interiors. I chose to run Iris off leash and it was textbook. She searched efficiently, sourced effectively, and indicated beautifully with her flashy down-alert on both hides. The judge, steward, and a friend who came in to film us all marveled at how beautifully Iris worked. This ended up being her second 2nd place time of the weekend, out of 32 dogs!

Following Interior we ran Advanced Container. The trial was held at a school, and Container was at the back of the school – positioned such that we had a challenging strong wind condition. Iris handled it like a pro, carefully sourcing to the correct containers and not making the mistake that many other dogs did of alerting on the downwind container(s). Her time wasn’t as fast here, but in this case, solving the problem correctly was the challenge.

Finally we ran Advanced Buried – which unlike the sand used in Novice, uses buckets of water. This is the only element I’ve ever seen Iris struggle with. My theory was that due to how the water evaporates and carries odor differently than in ambient air, she was perhaps struggling with pooling odor, causing the “false” alerts in training and at our last trial. However, something must have clicked – because she had no issues at this time, and was so quick & confident in her finds that she got a 3rd place time out of 32 dogs.

Sunday 2/12/23

First of all, I have to say how awesome it was to not get up at the crack of dawn to get to the trial first thing for Novice runs!! Since Iris finished her SWN the previous day, all of her runs were in Advanced on Sunday, so we got to roll up to the trial at a leisurely 9am and were still plenty early to spend time acclimating and even socializing with other exhibitors.

Her first run was Advanced Exterior – which ended up having a qualifying score rate of only 13% (5 out of 38 dogs)! The area was large and difficult to cover effectively as it was split into effectively a “U” shape by a fence going up 3/4 of the middle of the area. Iris quickly found the first hide, but I did not do a good enough job managing our time against the large search area. So we NQ’d by running out of time.

I always let Iris lead searches – my goal is to maintain her ability to independently search and not rely on directions from me. But we spent a lot of time on the upper side of the area, even though Iris wasn’t really “working” that area. She sniffed, but didn’t look like she was searching – she wasn’t purposeful. And the reason why, I later learned? There was nothing there!! The second hide ended up being on the other, lower side of the area. We eventually made it down there, and that’s where I saw Iris’s behavior switch back into “work” mode. It was too little too late for this trial, but it was a HUGE learning moment for me. As we move towards higher levels, we will need to be able to “clear” areas, and know when there’s nothing there or nothing else there. I’ll need to trust that when she loses interest, it’s not because she’s distracted or doesn’t know what she’s doing – it’s because there’s nothing there for her to find.

The next three runs were similar to the day before. Interior was textbook, and earned her final Q for the Scentwork Interior Advanced title. I was especially happy with our ability to recover from the unsuccessful Exterior run – while I had to consciously focus on actually breathing, I was able to prevent my disappointment and spike in nerves from negatively affecting my handling, and Iris was right back to work as if nothing happened (because from her perspective, nothing did!).

Advanced Container had the 15 containers in a single straight line perpendicular to the wind direction. I started her on the upwind side, and her first find was the very last container, so I ran her back the opposite direction on the downwind side and she nailed the second hot container on the second pass. That was another run where I felt my handling did us well – though perhaps I could have started her on the downwind side.

Lastly, Advanced Buried was as easy for Iris as the day before, and she earned another 3rd place time out of 36 dogs.

Closing

Iris was a gem outside the actual trialing as well, and was a wonderful ambassador for the Drentsche Patrijshond breed! She was patient and unbothered when she had to wait in the car, friendly and happy to meet new people, and overall a joy to hang out with. While we were waiting for Sunday’s results to be posted, I popped the hatchback open and we sat in the trunk together, watching people and dogs go by and basking in the contentment of a weekend playing our favorite game. She even stayed put in the trunk when I walked away to chat with someone or see the results.

I’m so, so proud of my girl. She’s really coming into her own – not just as a Scentwork dog, but as a companion who’s presence brings me and everyone around her so much joy.

The close of this trial has us over half way to our goal of trialing in Masters by the end of the year, with 19/36 qualifying scores complete. It’s only going to get more challenging, but I have never had fewer nerves when trialing than when trialing in Scentwork with Iris. We LOVE this game!!