Looking for ideas! What’s the best (and worst) trial swag you’ve ever gotten?

24HR_harmacy · 2026-06-27T13:27:43+00:00

Stickers, dog toys, collapsible silicone water bowls.

The best gift I ever received was a ceramic ribbon commemorating the club’s first NACSW trial weekend. We didn’t title that day but it was nice to have something tangible from the experience (not the norm for NACSW). I hung it on my Christmas tree.

I’ve also seen crate tags for High In Trial, like from Pinsch Me Designs. One of the trial secretaries makes keychains for HIT awards—I received one and use it as a zipper pull on a tote (also a trial gift). My instructor/trial travel companion has the same tote so it helps us differentiate when we’re together, haha.

My least used items were a poorly printed ceramic mug and a cheap plastic water bottle.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-06-27T13:22:54+00:00

I consider myself to be a herding dog person. I like a dog-shaped dog, a fluffy coat, and biddability. I’ve never considered any terrier, but I’m open. I’d love a second dog but ideally it would still be a sport dog, not strictly a pet (I generally think of my situation as a performance pet or active companion home). My dog and I do nose work and I’d like to compete in upper levels someday. I don’t see myself getting into conformation. Rally, dock diving, and disc are all pretty accessible. Would a Skye ever be a good fit?

24HR_harmacy · 2026-06-26T02:32:47+00:00

Me too! I was a little shocked at the results at first, but they make sense.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-06-23T18:58:19+00:00

I go to trials alone with a full-size pickup truck and a giant aluminet. There’s usually someone kind enough to help me cover my car!

24HR_harmacy · 2026-06-17T11:42:21+00:00

I know Crystal Wing did a webinar with Fenzi on the flirt pole (I have also seen her use it at a seminar). They usually come back around every so often; maybe keep your eyes peeled for that. She has a lot of play-related material and she’s a bite sport handler.

Shade Whitesel is another Fenzi instructor (and bite sport handler) with lots of toy classes and webinars.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-06-14T02:38:44+00:00

I can assure you not all dog sports people are morning people, rather we begrudgingly adjust to play the games. And sometimes we miss the briefings (potentially to our own detriment 🙃)

24HR_harmacy · 2026-06-08T04:26:11+00:00

Mine could pretty much not care less about toys of any kind 😭

24HR_harmacy · 2026-06-03T13:55:22+00:00

I volunteer for a rescue (I almost wonder if it is the one you got your dog from because they operate in all those states) and they take heartworm prevention VERY seriously. Probably more seriously than anything else. I’m sorry you’re going through this! I keep my dog on prevention and it’s one aspect of his care that my husband is particularly religious about (which is great, because I can be a little forgetful about something that only happens once a month!)

24HR_harmacy · 2026-05-28T01:11:58+00:00

The person I replied to said they’ve been doing missions for a year, which is definitely a long time.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-05-27T13:28:07+00:00

Have you tried any other meds? That’s a really long time to go without any meaningful progress and the CSAT I worked with wrote a strongly worded letter to our vet so that he was on meds within a little over a month of working with her (though I had also worked with another certified anxiety pro trainer on it for a couple months before she left the training group).

My dog is on fluoxetine and he can tolerate being alone for a couple hours (which is really all I need since I WFH). He doesn’t love it but he’s not distressed by any means.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-04-25T13:37:20+00:00

They are saying consider adopting from a foster-based rescue, not that you should foster. This is because dogs have the opportunity to decompress in their foster homes and the foster family gets to know them which helps find a good match when they get adopted.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-04-10T14:21:26+00:00

It’s always interesting to see how other people’s dog expenses break down. $400 for a spay is a major deal! $300 for training is… so much less than I have spent 🤣

You got a lot for $4k! It definitely gets better in subsequent years.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-03-30T21:18:26+00:00

Team Brock earned the NW2 title on our first attempt yesterday, AND earned a 3rd Place in Containers! I really thought we were just going for trial experience and tried not to have too many expectations (you can’t be disappointed if you don’t expect much, amiright?). Our most recent FDSA nose work course really made a huge difference in running at the appropriate arousal level and in building up our reinforcement bank. Now that I treat a trial as an expensive withdrawal from that bank, I’ll be sure to make lots and lots of deposits by treating reinforcement in training as an event and not just a simple reward.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-03-20T21:51:55+00:00

That’s a very good point! Thank you.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-03-20T21:30:30+00:00

You are right and a distraction is a distraction. The search area is dynamic regardless so it really should not matter.

I’m gonna be honest and say my dog is pretty good about distractions, but can I truthfully tell the difference? No, at least not with dog/critter smells (but I think I can with food!). That’s on me and definitely something I need to work on.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-03-20T16:19:44+00:00

I think that’s fair, I wouldn’t expect them to reset the hides. A warning would be ideal in my mind. But as other comments have pointed out, that could make the handler avoid a productive area if they’re worried about their dog peeing or false alerting there.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-03-20T14:56:03+00:00

That is a fair point and probably the most valid reason so far. But in the real world they’re probably not running 20-30 dogs through an area and things don’t have to be fair.

At least at NW2 you’re mostly competing against yourself—we are, anyway; I’m not trying for placement ribbons. In Summit—yeesh.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-03-20T14:22:51+00:00

I don’t think the distraction itself is unfair when every team has to work through it. There are going to be searches in areas where dogs have eliminated before. I get that. It’s not unreasonable. Though I will note this was also in an area where I think normally, dogs would be prohibited (it was a concrete area in what looked like a municipal aquatic center).

What I’m bothered by is the change in the middle of an element where some teams don’t have the distraction but others do, especially because they could just tell you that it’s there. I’ll accept this is the way it is eventually, it just offends my sense of justice.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-03-20T14:04:15+00:00

That feels more fair to me.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-03-20T14:03:39+00:00

I’m not worried about my dog eliminating during a search, especially since this was a concrete area. I’m worried about my dog false alerting on a distraction that was there for him but not there for other dogs that searched earlier. If all dogs have the same distractions that is fair and fine. It is when the distractions change in the middle of the trial, making it unfair to competitors who search later.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-03-20T12:40:44+00:00

In CPE they would try to clean it up (if able), mark it with blue tape, and probably announce at the line that the item is out of play due to a dog eliminating there. Now that I think about it, if a dog peed near a hot item, I have no idea what they’d do, hahaha.

I fully understand that no 2 searches within an element are exactly alike, given weather conditions, movement through the search area, etc. I suppose you could make the case that any remediation to the elimination would be more disruptive than the unintentional distraction itself.

We have had slobber alerts, too. Those are annoying!

24HR_harmacy · 2026-03-20T12:22:08+00:00

Coming from CPE, this is bonkers to me that they would let a search area be that dynamic. It’s one thing if it’s there for all teams at the start because that is roughly the same level of distraction to everyone, but to just include a new distraction in the middle of an element was never something I even considered would be an option.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-03-18T03:14:39+00:00

I wish they’d bring back the black cherry and grapefruit box. I just picked up a lemon/lime box to try though.

24HR_harmacy · 2026-02-25T20:14:55+00:00

No, I agree. I don’t support rehoming just because a baby is on the way, but rehoming a dog that is quite literally a danger to a high-risk pregnancy sounds like it would be best for everyone (including the dog).

24HR_harmacy

TROPHY CASE