This is one of those seemingly small things that I never thought about drawing attention to. But….. After watching people mess this part up….. I realized I needed to.
In a trial….. in ALL events at L1….. The dog will under positive physical control from the spectators at all times. This means that the dog will:
1- Attached to a leash in handler’s control.
2- A: Attached to a back tie. -OR- B: In a fully enclosed, sturdy, fenced in area.
The fully fenced in trial ring is rare. Awesome…. But rare. So…. MOST of you will be trialing on a long line.
For the safety protocol to be met…. You must follow a bit of Handling Safety 101 that shouldn’t need addressing. But…. does.
NEVER REMOVE A SAFETY LINE, WITHOUT ATTACHING THE NEW SAFETY LINE.
It drives me nuts when I see people remove a leash, and THEN reach for the long line. Or…. The reverse. It’s just a break in handling safety. Practice good habits. Is it guaranteed a disaster? No. But….. Redundancy in safety is just smart. Treat all guns as if they’re loaded. And all dogs as if they may go off. Then…. you’ll never run into issues.
Now…… We already said that all events at L1 follow this protocol.
All Drive Sports at L2 follow this as well.
SR2 has a small moment of running without a safety line. After the Tactical Heel Figure 8 there’s a Down In Motion. At that Down you drop your leash at the verbal cue, and walk away. As soon as this is done, the judge will tell you to return to your dog and attach the safety line and remove your leash (in that order). This makes a small (10 sec or so) moment of working without a “net”. It’s a good check for what comes next……
At L3 in ALL events…… There is no safety line. Regardless of trial set up. Even if it’s out door. At L3…. What keeps the dog safe is their teamwork and cooperation. This is like all of the other high level sports. Many of which don’t even allow collars of any kind during a trial! Once you’re at SR3, or WC3….. You should not need a safety line. There’s no clock running. You can take your time getting there. Or…. Stay in the 1’s and 2’s if you want the safety assist. As always do what’s best for your dog.
But….. That’s how it’s all laid out.
Know the requirements at each level.
And ALWAYS….. handle leashes and lines with the right protocol.
Now… go play with your dog!!!