TRIAL ELEMENTS for the Summit League:
Summit League Trials will not be broken out by element. Trials may contain any combination of interior, exterior, vehicle, and/or container searches. For example, a trial may have an exterior search area that also includes vehicles, or it might consist of all interior searches.
Summit League Trials will be a two day event. The number of searches will typically be 3-5 searches per day for each trial for a total of 6-10 searches over the complete trial. This number may vary however to allow for more locations to be obtained for trials. Difficulty will be adjusted by the Certifying Official through selection of areas, hide placement, etc. Search areas will tend to be varied in environment for each trial. At each trial, there will be a maximum time limit set for each search. The location of all hides will remain in the same spot for all competitors. Searches may be run across multiple days (i.e., half the teams run the search on day one of the trial and the other half run the search on day two). Additional search parameters that may involve strategy decisions by the handler may be included.
Summit League Title Requirements:
A title will be earned by placing in the top 20% of teams overall at a Summit League Trial. A team may achieve the SMT Title multiple times. They may opt to add the number of times the title has been achieved after the SMT designation, i.e., SMTx2, SMTx3, etc.<
Summit League Requirements & Parameters:
• Each search area may contain odor #1 (Birch) and/or odor #2 (Anise) and/or odor #3 (Clove) or a combination odor of any of the three odors or multiples of the same odor.
• Teams must have earned their ELT3 or ELT-CH title to be eligible to compete in a Summit League Trial. Teams that have received their ELT-CH titles will receive places in the trial before teams that have received their ELT3 title as per the trial premium. Please refer to the trial premium for other entry limitations.
• Each search area will be clearly defined, and a time limit will be given for the area. Timers will make their best effort to give a 30 second warning when designated by the Certifying Official.
• Searches may have unknown or known number of hides for the area. This will be information given to the handler prior to starting the search. For unknown number, you may be given a range – for example: 0 to 5 hides. If no range is given and it is an unknown number, then there may be any number of hides (or zero hides) in the area.
• The team will accrue 5 points for each hide found. The total possible points will vary from trial to trial. Points will be deducted for each False Alert call and also for each timed out (failure to call ‘Finish’ prior to time elapsing). There will also be a 1 point deduction for each fault.
• A Blank Area at Summit trials will be worth 10 points. Scoring will be as follows:
▪ Finish correctly called = 10 points.
▪ Finish called after calling 1 false alert = 7.5 points.
▪ Finish called after calling 2 false alerts = 5 points.
▪ Three false alerts = 0 points.
▪ Timing out (i.e., failure to call ‘Finish’ prior to time expiring) will result in a 2.5 point penalty.
• The score for an individual search may be negative. However, the minimum overall score for the trial will be zero and will not be negative.
• Time will stop when the handler says ‘Finish’. This is the case even if there are a known number of hides in the search area. If the handler does not say ‘Finish’ prior to the time limit for the search, the team will be given the full time limit for the search area and be given a deduction of 2.5 points (half of a hide).
• If the handler calls a False Alert during the search, the team will be allowed to continue searching however there will be a point deduction of 2.5 points (1⁄2 hide) for each False Alert. There will be a limit of 3 False Alert calls in each search area. If the handler calls a 3rd False Alert in a single search, the search will end at that time and full time will be assessed.
• For each fault that is assessed, there will be a 1 point deduction from the score for that search.
• NW1, NW2, and NW3 hide parameters do not apply. Anywhere in the search area is fair game for hide locations. Hides will not be in the search boundary markers (i.e., boundary cones, flags or tape) and hides won’t be outside of search boundaries.
• Alerts – Handler must call “Alert” when the dog has communicated that he has found a hide. The dog is not required to exhibit any specific alert behavior for the alert to be valid. The judge however will be looking for a change of behavior in the dog.
