TRIAL TIPS & ETIQUETTE

TRAVEL

Allow plenty of time for dogs to recover (long trips take a lot out of a dog),

exercise, and adequately relieve themselves. If travelling long distances (ex. All day) stop and exercise dogs every 2 – 3 hours.

Arrive at the trial site in time to get set up and with time to relax and get ready.

ARRIVAL

Find the right place to park out of view of the sheep exhaust area and out of view of the trial field if these are things that tend to excite your dog.

•Easy exit if you plan to leave early.

•Park in an area where your dogs won’t be a distraction to activity on the trial field.

•Be considerate of others:

•Park away from where people walk through with their dogs if you have a bitch in season or a mean dog.

•If your dogs tend to be noisy be sure they are where you can get to them easily to quiet them.

•Clean up after your dogs. This includes filling holes that your dogs may dig if left chained up.

Be careful about setting up shade tents or other shelters in an area where they might affect the actions of the sheep on the trial field (they always flap or blow down in the wind).

Exercise and relieve your dogs in an area where they can relax. This may need to be somewhere away from the trial field. Somewhere like a rest area, fairgrounds, open field out of town, etc.

Walk the trial course. Look for blind spots, possible distractions, anything that could affect the movement of the sheep or distract your dog. Look for guide markers. Be careful about choosing a dark or light spot in the grass or vegetation. A dark spot at 7:00 AM might not show up when the sun has moved to 2:00 PM. Consider how a cross drive on a side hill might affect the way the sheep pull. Many beginning handlers tend to pace the course to check distance. This is a complete waste of time. You can’t change the distance but you can help yourself by looking for guide markers that will assist you in your depth perception. Once you have found what you believe to be good markers be sure to check to see if you can actually see them from the handlers post. Your objective in walking the course is to learn all you can to help make judgements to best help your dog handle any situation that may arise.