Julia Earns Her NACSW NW3 Elite Title

Julia earned her National Association of Canine Scent Work NW3 Elite title on January 9, 2022. She found all 9 hides and overall it was a great day. Unfortunately, on the first container search, after clearing all containers, I turned around and went through the containers again. My gut told me it was blank but I just had to run it again and got a false. Trust your dog. Yet another lesson learned. Either way, she was able to earn her NW3 Elite with 1 error and a qualifying score of 90.00 on the day.

Thank you to Absolutely Spot On Dog Training for hosting, CO Peter Ensch, judges, volunteers, and other competitors for a super fun day!

NACSW NW3 - Macclenny, Florida

Julia and I took part in the National Association of Canine Scent Work's NW3 trial yesterday at the Baker County Fairgrounds in Macclenny, Florida. The trial was hosted by the K9 Obedience Club of Jacksonville. Chilly start to the day (39°) but turned into a beauty of a day (70°). Fantastic place for a trial. Very well organized. Thanks to the host, CO, judges, and all volunteers.

Julia completed her NW3-Vehicles and NW3-Interior titles. Although she didn't get an outright NW3 title, under the new 2020 rules she did get a qualifying score of 88.89.

She located 7 of the 8 hides. The elements for this trial were 2 container searches, 2 vehicle searches (1 was even a blank or 0 hides), 1 exterior search, and 1 interior search.

Once again, my girl always amazes me. Even at 10 years old she's still full of beans, yet can focus when she needs too. It's super fun to have this kind of special time with her. Rock on Miss Julia!

• All video elements below

NACSW NW3 Macclenny, Florida Julia's Vehicle Search 1 - 0 hides / 0 alerts (Blank)

NACSW NW3 Macclenny, Florida Julia's Vehicle search 2 - 2 hides / 2 alerts

NACSW NW3 Macclenny, Florida Julia's Interior Search - 2 hides / 2 alerts

NACSW NW3 Macclenny, Florida Julia's Container Search 1 - 1 hide / 1 alert

NACSW NW3 Macclenny, Florida Julia's Container Search 2 - 1 hide / 1 alerts

NACSW NW3 Macclenny, Florida Julia's Exterior Search - 2 hides / 1 alert / 1 miss

NACSW NW3 - Elkton, Florida

Julia tried for another NACSW NW3 Title in Elkton, Florida on November 9th. Unfortunately, no NW3 Title this time around. She did get her NW3 Element Title for containers though. That was pretty cool.

She found 10 of 10 hides (pronounced in exterior) on the day and did an excellent job. Me on the other hand, not so much. During the vehicle search, I froze after a head turn and crowded her a bit which caused a false alert. With that bonehead move, it eliminated us from contention. One more blank vehicle and we would have had it. There’s no woulda, coulda, shoulda though. This truly is a team sport. She gave it her all and I couldn't have asked for more.

We had a blast and it was great to spend a special long weekend with my dog, see old friends, and meet new ones. Huge shout-out to the hosting club, judges, volunteers and other competitors.

Below are videos of each search of this trial. After watching the videos, I know that I should have trusted Julia more. She caught everything on the first pass but yet I was compelled to go back and double-check. I feel videos of searches whether in practice or in competition are important. I learn so much as hard as some are to watch in hindsight. (BTW, exterior video is cropped tight on the right and doesn’t show Julia alert on the hide after the start but she got it).

Julia Earns Her NACSW NW3

Julia earned her first National Association of Canine Scent Work NW3 Title. Super proud of my girl. She worked so hard.

The trial was held at the North Fork Girl Scout Camp in Middleburg, Florida on Sunday, December 9, 2018, and hosted by the K-9 Obedience Club of Jacksonville.

There was a 100% chance of rain that day so I knew it was going to be a challenging trial. It rained the entire hour drive over from the hotel to the trial site and continued raining (pretty heavy at times) all morning until about noon. It was a muddy, mushy mess.

At check-in, the officials had made the decision that there would be no walk-through of any search element sites. They tried describing each element as best they could. There was also the decision made that each dog/handler team would drive to each search site by car. I've never heard of either such thing but knew the officials were doing the best they could given the situation and that everyone was in the same boat, literally.

The day consisted of containers and interiors in the morning, then exteriors and vehicles in the afternoon. Thanks to the K-9 Obedience Club of Jacksonville for hosting the event. You all did a terrific job.

• NW3 Trial:

• Location = Middleburg, Florida

• Score = 100

• Time = 10:24.12

• Faults = 0  

• 9th place overall

National Association of Canine Scent Work NW3 - Middleburg, Florida - Container Search

National Association of Canine Scent Work NW3 - Middleburg, Florida - Interior Room 1 Search

National Association of Canine Scent Work NW3 - Middleburg, Florida - Interior Room 2 Search

National Association of Canine Scent Work NW3 - Middleburg, Florida - Interior Room 3 Search

National Association of Canine Scent Work NW3 - Middleburg, Florida - Exterior Search

National Association of Canine Scent Work NW3 - Middleburg, Florida - Vehicle Search (View 1)

National Association of Canine Scent Work NW3 - Middleburg, Florida - Vehicle Search (View 2)