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!

Julia's Second Nose Work Trial

Over the weekend I received more videos from the National Association of Canine Scent Work vaults. This was Julia’s second trial at 2 years old. The trial took place on January 29, 2012, in Los Alamitos, California. Her total time was 9:08.75, zero faults for a score of 100 which earned Julia her NW2 title.

We didn’t set any speed records but it’s great seeing these old videos. NW2 at that time consisted of 2 interior searches (which only one video was found) and one search of Container, Exterior & Vehicles. There were 1 or 2 hides per search area and the number of hides was known. A long time ago.

Julia's First Nose Work Trial

These are old videos that I just obtained from the National Association of Canine Scent Work of Julia’s first-ever trial. The trial was held on August 21, 2011, in San Pedro, California. Julia was not even 2 years old yet.

For our first trial, we did pretty well. We got hung up on the exterior but we eventually got it. Her total time was 5:37.31, zero faults for a score of 100 which earned Julia her first title.

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).