Last week I competed in the first ever AKC Scent Work Master National in Wilmington, Ohio. The event was held at the same location as the very first AKC Scent Work Trial back in 2017. Dogs needed to have an overall Masters title in Scent Work to enter. Amazingly, dogs came from forty different states to compete, and there was a total of one hundred eighty eight dogs. The first two days were preliminary searches to determine the one hundred dogs who would participate in the final on the third day.
Each dog received a number for the three days and an armband for the human for each day. My number was dog 183. It was kind of sad to think if we didn’t make the final day, we would never use the armband for day three. The letters under my name on the first two days show the order my searches would be in that day. All searches the first two days were two minutes long each Interior had a range of zero to three hides, Exterior and Buried had a range of one to four hides and Containers had a range of one to three hides.
Day One Searches
Day one we had four searches, Containers, Buried, Interior, and Exterior. The weather was perfect all week, not too hot and no rain. Mom and I thought we were doing pretty well. Right before my interior search, Mom lost our phone. She was going crazy trying to find it. Right when she was going to give up, she found it. We had to go to my interior search but since she was still a hot mess from the phone thing, her head wasn’t all with her and we ended up missing one hide in the first room. At the end of the day, we were #36 out of 188 teams. It was a bit disappointing having missed one of the eleven hides but we didn’t have any other mistakes. We earned three Q ribbons for the three searches where we were perfect.
Day Two Searches
On day two we had three searches, Buried, Interior, and Exterior. I was on a mission to make it to the final. To give our team some extra confidence for the day, I took off on my first search of the day, Exterior, like a wild woman. After bolting off the start like to the far side of the search area, I raced back and picked off four hides in one minute, six seconds. We used more time for Interior and Buried but we felt good about how we had worked. At the end of day two, we moved up to sixth place out of one hundred eighty eight dogs for the first two days, and had three Q’s including a second place out of one hundred eighty eight dogs for my Exterior search.
Day Three – The Final – Top 100 Dogs
Late night after day two, we got the list of the top 100 dogs who would be in the final on day three. Mom and I were so very excited as it was our goal to make it to the final and we did it! Mom got to wear the day three armband! Upon arrival that morning we also received my finalist ribbon. I’m even smiling for my photo because Mom and I were so happy!
On final day we had two searches – one was Interior combined with Containers, the other Exterior combined with Buried. Each search would be two and a half minutes with one to four hides. Being the only GBGV in the competition, I also received my breed winner medallion. Mom and I compete because we have so much fun doing it, but we are also proud to represent my wonderful breed which means this medallion means a lot to us.
After two days of competing, Team Orange had six Q Ribbons, one finalist ribbon, and the breed winner medallion.
Now for the final two searches. Out of the one hundred finalists, only the top twenty five would earn a ribbon and placement. That would be a dream and our goal, but also something we never in a million years expect to do. The dogs at this competition are the best of the best and competition is tough. One mistake and it is all over. We went to our hotel after we finished searching. They said the results would be out later in the afternoon. We got the message and checked the list. Oh my dog! Out of the total 188 dogs entered we made the top 100 and then took 15th place of all the dogs in the competition! Look at that huge ribbon on the left, just unbelievable!
Team Orange is good but we didn’t think we were good enough to earn one of these gorgeous ribbons but we did and we had so much fun doing it! Videos and photos of searches was not allowed but we did order all the professional photos and we will share some of those when we get them in a week or two. It is amazing to do so well with such a big pool of the best Scent Work dogs around. Are we happy, I think we are more than happy and so very proud of our team, our work, and to represent my breed.
Best two things that amaze us completely are placing 2nd out of 188 dogs in my exterior search, who would ever think I am that fast with four hides and actually making the top 25 teams and taking 15th place. It truly is a huge accomplishment for Team Orange.
My GBGV Life is happy, so we’re joining Comedy Plus for Happy Tuesday!
English (US) · 