Find Your Fix- Sport Dog Scent Detection Podcast
Our 2025 NOSEWORK SEASON is off and "running" ! Lets chat about TRIAL DAY and all the tips and tricks to be the BEST TRIAL TEAM we can be AND the BEST handler to our amazing search canine !
Find Your Fix- Sport Dog Scent Detection Podcast
ASK ME ANYTHING : TIPS AND TRICKS FOR K9 SCENT HOSTING
Welcome to another enlightening episode where we pull back the curtain on the intricacies of hosting K9 scent trials. From sharing insights on managing waitlists to navigating the challenges of trial day logistics, this episode is packed with wisdom from experienced hosts in the community. We delve into the often-overlooked aspect of vehicle management, tackling how to protect volunteers' cars while ensuring our furry competitors have a safe space to shine.
The conversation dives deep into the emotional challenge of receiving negative feedback from competitors, offering proactive communication strategies that help ease concerns and maintain community trust. We also shed light on volunteer retention—how can hosts cultivate a heartfelt environment where every helper feels valued?
Join us as we share experiences, tips, and heartfelt discussions that will resonate. This episode is valuable for seasoned hosts and new hosts alike, aiming to foster an enriching K9 scent trial experience. Don’t forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review to keep the conversation going!
Hey everyone, welcome to our K9 Scent Fix hosting podcast. It is February 25th and we're really glad to have you guys. We have missed a little bit of our podcast during January, but we left off in December with some expectations, and so what we want to start with is finding out what all of us in that hosting community really want to know, need to know, just want to share Maybe it's all those tips and tricks. So we came up with the topic of Ask Me Anything for hosting for this podcast. So I have with me Alex Woodruff, Jen Fleming, hey guys, and we have Myra Carter, and Myra is also a Score Room lead, but she's also been very instrumental in helping me with a lot of the Facebook postings. So I wanted to have her input as well, so that you can kind of get the flavor of I'll take the time to do that. I don't want to take the time to do that.
Speaker 1:Jen Fleming also does some hosting secretarial work for other hosts, also does some hosting secretarial work for other hosts. So we're going to ask her about those options as well as we go forward with any of our Ask Me Anything questions. So I'm going to jump right over to have Alex start off the conversation. I think what we're going to do is each of us will offer a hosting question and then we'll all kind of jump in and give our two senses to some tidbits. We would love to have you. If you're live with us today, we'd love to have you put in the chat any questions you may have, and Alex is really good about keeping her eyes on that as well. So and she lets me know, because I kind of have a tendency to well you know, get distracted- and wander away.
Speaker 1:I am a border golly, yeah, yeah, all right, alex, why don't you take us all on a on a tour? Of Ask Me Anything.
Speaker 2:All right, I've got a few questions that I've been able to find and kind of pull up. So first one that kind of popped up and I pulled this actually from the enthusiasts page. It popped up as like number one thing that was most recently asked and it's on wait lists why do some posts and why do some do not? And I think this is applicable for AKC as well as any CSW, because I do think that that piece is quite a bit more up to whoever's in charge of the list whether that they're going to put that out there. So if that question, I'll put it out there to Jill and Jen because they both are hosting. Do you post a waitlist why?
Speaker 1:So, yes, I maintain a waitlist, and I've done it for quite some time. What I do, though, is and it may have a lot to do with the number of trials that I manage kind of all at once. If you are a new host and you're doing just a couple at one time, you may have more time to kind of do it differently, but I send one email that basically says for this trial, you are on the wait list, right? Then I'm imagining that that handler is going to know which levels they entered, right? So then it's on my webpage, but you can see all of them if you go to the webpage. So it doesn't, you're not excluded right from looking at you.
Speaker 1:So and I like to do that because, say, you have somebody who really wants to enter the three, but if you have a long wait list, then they don't want to. You know, get their hopes up, or whatever, or try. So when you go to the Mountain Dogs website, there is a section that is just wait lists, and then it has a button for each of the levels that clicks over to that wait list for that level. So and I know Jen does it a little bit differently, so we'll let Jen pipe in on that.
Speaker 3:Just a little differently. I do send us. If I'm hosting in a three and elite, I'll send a specific. You're in the elite weight, you're on the elite wait list and then um, or you're on the NW3 wait list, um to that group of handlers. But it is also on my website where you can say you anybody can just click on elite waitlist for this trial it's all under the same trial and then NW3 waitlist, so it's all there and available um. For that same reason I mean being able to. I've entered so many trials last minute Um, and if I can see that they've got 50 people on their waitlist, then I'm not even going to waste my time entering or even looking to see if it's still open.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I do similar as you guys, although I frequent. Like this last trial that I hosted, we were only two days and I ended up putting both waitlists on the same, so I think we're all at the same point. There is that we link to a Google sheet and so a spreadsheet, and so I ended up putting both waitlists on that same sheet so that when you click the link you could see both waitlists at the same time. And I just did it for ease, because I only had the two levels at a time and only one trial going, so it made it a little bit easier that way.
Speaker 1:Well, so previously, and I think it was prior to this year, I actually even designated on my wait list whether or not it was a FEO dog, right? Because I segment it between whether it's a qualified entry that's on the wait list versus an FEO, and then also whether or not what we call a double dog. So I would write my double dogs in red, meaning that that person already had one dog in the trial or they had two dogs on the wait list, right? So because the way the wait list works, guys, is if you have already have one dog entered and there's a lot of areas in the country that this might not pertain one dog entered and there's a lot of areas in the country that this might not pertain, so I won't spend a lot of time on it. But then you still may be able to get your other dog in FEO, and those dates of when that can become available are in the premium. So I designated that. But I got more questions about why is there someone ahead of me that's in red and I'm you know.
Speaker 1:So I just went, okay, just just take it off, and right. But you may see, what makes it challenging for the host is that you may see names bumped up or bumped down, right For those double dogs, and then, once your FEO date goes past, it becomes a combined list, right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, as a competitor, just be aware of those sorts of things and if you have any questions, please just ask the host, and we won't take it as a complaint in any way, because those are really policies that we get. When we get our entries, it's a whole email that explains to us how to manage the waitlist and how to manage our FEOs.
Speaker 2:So I just want to play a little devil's advocate, because I think we've said as a competitor why we like to have a waitlist. You can see if you want to enter as a host. It's nice because you can fill empty spots, potentially because people can kind of see that there is no waitlist. But as a host it might not be as fun to manage a waitlist if you have a ton of movement. And so I can understand some hosts that are slow to update a public waitlist when they have six people that are in flux to figure out. Did they accept? Are they going to pay? Is this moving? Six people that are in flux to figure out did they accept? Are they going to pay? Is this moving? And I think that's something to understand as well, that I do know that not everybody posts a wait list and I believe that some of the reason is there is so much management.
Speaker 1:And that's kind of a shout out to the handlers who do get an entry Please pay your fees.
Speaker 2:That will solidify your entry because it's really not fair.
Speaker 1:Or respond to the email, well, it's really not fair if you're sitting there just holding the entry because you always have done it that way and you haven't really decided whether or not you want to spend the money. We do have pretty consistent cancellation policies now that are very fair.
Speaker 1:You're not going to lose a ton of money by paying it and and then you know a little bit of time before trial canceling. Yeah, so and be just be mindful of those cancellation policies, but it's so much. There's so much more fairness to the entire community, whether it's the host, the officials and or the handlers to the competitors to just pay those entry fees as they're asked. So that's kind of my two cents on that.
Speaker 2:Anything else we can think of?
Speaker 1:Let's go to another question.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's go to a different question. So this one kind of popped up, also kind of stimulated by looking at the Facebook page for enthusiasts of NACSW, but I think it's a really valid question for hosts is how do we get vehicles for trials? How are you getting them, how do you secure them, what are the options? And then, how do you deal with a scratched car, because it is the piece that we all hope would never happen, but it can happen. So as a new host, that is definitely pretty scary of thinking, oh crap, I might have a volunteer's vehicle that got scratched. How do I deal with this financially? How do I deal with this insurance or whatever might happen. So any of you guys have thoughts? Comments.
Speaker 1:Well, I have a regular procedure template, whatever it goes, on the volunteer form, right. So on my volunteer form there's a section down below that says do you have a vehicle we can use for the vehicle search, right. And then after that it becomes mostly my host crew and even my judges. It becomes mostly my host crew and even my judges. So, and I do honor when my CEO or my judges say no, I have a new rental car and I really don't want it subject to a risk of being scratched, so I'd rather not volunteer it, and I think, with scratches, the way that that should be handled.
Speaker 1:It is, as an organization, a challenge, and one where, as an organization, we want to have a discussion, potentially with the handler or the judge, right, when my volunteer or judge whoever's car that is takes their vehicle, should that be a problem, I would like to get your contact information so that, should they need to do anything further, right. And it wouldn't really be any different than when I'm having people run in a museum and a dog is going to potentially do some destruction in the museum, right. So it would kind of be the same conversation as a host. It's really challenging because you, it's confrontational and potentially conflict.
Speaker 2:Now is this a host problem, a CO problem, both.
Speaker 1:So I think there's a hierarchy of how that gets handled and typically I think that what we have done as COs is said to our judges. You definitely may and it's a discretion right, but may give a fault and should it become damaging enough, you could even excuse them from the search. Then that information should, especially if it's quite damaging it's all behind closed doors and with conflict is kind of what I'm saying and then make sure that the host feels confident. And we've had a friendly but informative conversation about potential damage to property that the host was responsible for, because ultimately that's kind of what it is.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Is that something you would want to bring up in competitor briefing more often, of be conscious?
Speaker 2:of damages.
Speaker 1:Possible damages, yeah, I think that, um, so we can really be good advocates of it. I think outside of the trial day will help a lot, because on trial day, if you bring it up in the briefing, you often get oh so it's a fault if my dog even pause some. You know what I mean. Then it becomes the degrees of disturbance, yeah, and it's harder as a judge than to sit in that situation preventing your dog from doing damage to the host property. I think that's really a great way to couch it, as opposed to say and remember if any of your dogs put paws up on this vehicle, you could potentially get a fault and could potentially be paying the host damages or have to leave because it just infuses that piece with conflict almost immediately.
Speaker 1:And I think that part of what really makes a great trial is when we're all working for the same experience and not, you know, us versus them, so to speak. And I've been fortunate that I haven't had to call my insurance right, I have Hartford that I haven't had to call them and say, hey, you know my $500 deductible, or maybe it's more, you know, and or maybe it wouldn't even be covered, I don't know. Right, yeah, that that claim is now going to have to go in on mine as a host. You know, if there's significant destruction, you know, then, that that's a major issue, and so you know. And we don't want to take time to go over to training, but it's really not that challenging to train that you know. Level of skill set yeah, what else you got, alex?
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 2:So how do I deal with negative comments when we try and share more information, kind of leaning along the lines of open communication and trying to share a lot more details of start times and things like that but then it's met with negative comments back, whether they are online Maybe you're seeing those in a Facebook group that's for your club or organization and then just kind of dealing with that mental anguish that can come from that, because it's not necessarily always just one directional and I think as hosts we get used to that as emails go out and we don't see that piece back.
Speaker 2:But when it comes into a social setting and maybe it's walking through a parking lot or maybe things are being put into a more social platform, that potentially we can have those negative comments. And so I was just wondering if you guys had any thoughts or had to deal with anything like that. I can share my own experiences with it because it definitely happens in AKC a lot more, because it's not the structured emails out, you show up and this is our expectations. So there's a lot more variability.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so why don't you take? Give us a spin on that first, alex, because one of the things I'm right away going are these just like negative comments, meaning, oh my God, that trial went too long, it was a chaotic, crazy thing. Or is it in response to specifics?
Speaker 2:So examples would be like run orders would get submitted or sent out to competitors and then if the group has a public like a Facebook group in this situation, if the group has a public like a Facebook group in this situation, then the competitors have an avenue to complain about it because they can say something and feel like somebody else could complain with them. So it's things like I can't believe that we're there that long, or I didn't expect that we would be that long, and then somebody else chimes in oh yeah, I had to cancel such and such because I would come with you. Somebody else chimes in oh yeah, I had to cancel such and such because I would come with you. And it's just as a host.
Speaker 2:You don't expect that because as a host, you're putting a lot of time and effort into trying to host something, and so trying to deal with that is a little bit more difficult. And so what I've found to be able to address things like that is come to the simplest, most clearest answer that you can and you have to walk away. And so it might be quoting something from your premium, saying hey, the premium was set out, this is our standard, that we were going to do and there's just more run orders or run runs than we expected. But then you have to walk away from it. And walking away is very difficult but it is the host thing to do because you can't get pulled into that kind of stuff. But it's also as someone who's running an event. If you'd say nothing, it gets worse. So it's just trying to figure out at what point do you step in and then how do you walk away from that situation and allow emotion to stay out of it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I really think that it's communication. So yeah, because sometimes even if people, if you aren't going to say what they want to hear, necessarily, but you're providing information in as neutral or as unemotional if you will I hate to say that, but it should be like in a friendly again go back to the sportsmanship manner, that that can really help. But I do think that you do have to be mindful if there are kind of like some legitimate grievances that are, you know, as a host, if I continually get a grievance that says you know, those mountain dog trials they just take too long, right. Or on the flip side, as a volunteer, oh my God, she's a regular police officer cracking a whip after us, telling us we have to get this done, because she wants her trials to end quickly, right. So there are some things as a host I want to be, I try and I even said to myself and to my dogs today we are working on having thicker but softer skin.
Speaker 2:OK, in 2020, like a layer Right.
Speaker 1:I hate to say this, but like a layer of blubber. Thank you very much. I'm trying to lose my layer of blubber, if you don't mind trying to lose that winter weight, not add it on, but I get the analogy, which is yeah, that you just let it yeah, what do I usually say? It's, it's water off a duck's back. Just don't let them. Yeah, you, you just let that move off your back and you never let them see how fast you're paddling, how fast your feet are paddling underneath the water right, you just keep going.
Speaker 1:But I think that that's really important and you know, when I have the very few times when I've gone out and been a handler at someone else's trial and then felt, oh my God, why is this taking so long? I really think the easiest thing that could happen and sometimes, as hosts, I think we feel that it's more somebody else's job to do this. I shouldn't have to go out and appease the masses of the people who are in the parking lot. But I will tell you that, as a certifying official, we are asked to make multiple passes, come out and walk through that parking lot multiple times, and it's not so much oh, here come the trial police. It's more just to keep open those avenues of communication, and I think hosts should do that too.
Speaker 1:I think the host should go out there. Those people are paying your wage. They're paying your wage. They're paying for the expenses of the trial. If it's a club, they're paying for your next trial. Yep event, yeah, so that's your contingence. Those are the people who either love you or you know kind of go ah, but at least I get to do a trial. So I think it's a great customer service just to go out there and and you know you can always use the phrases Diane Ross uses, one that says I wonder, and it's I wonder, if you would feel differently if we had done it this way. I wonder if you would feel differently if, right, and my one, that I've always used for most of my adult life, is geez, I know how you feel, I have felt exactly the same way. It just, you know, it just drives you crazy. But what I found is X, y, z, yeah Right, yeah, right yeah.
Speaker 1:So it kind of identifies yes, yeah, without saying you know, well, when I was, you know, a little kid, I had to walk to school with no shoes, so you should just get over it yeah, for sure yeah, yeah, I agree, so we do have a comment from one of our listeners who said about um, you know, everybody should just be nice. It is a sport. So I think that's kind of where and I think we all kind of know that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But it's that, and I think in this sport, particularly because we are so humbled by our dogs and have no flying idea, you can pretend you know what they're doing, but really we don't Right, yeah, and how they have no flying idea. You can pretend you know what they're doing, but really we don't right and how they do it.
Speaker 2:I think that puts us on edge sometimes, right, we just don't feel like we know, talking about putting in premiums, something to keep in mind. Our premiums are very, very constricted on what gets put into premiums AKC, necsw there's a template and you fill in your data. So it is a little different, necessarily, than just information. But I agree that the more information a club can provide in a situation or about the venue because I do know in NECSW for the premium, like you use blanket statements saying the ground's uneven and there could be stairs, but it doesn't really describe hey, the bathrooms are going to be in the building and you have to walk five minutes to get to the bathroom, which could happen, or that you have porta-potties and that's all you have available. So I think little things like that that are honestly not in premiums typically. So that kind of information I don't know.
Speaker 3:That's a hard one because, yeah, oh, I'm sorry. I was just going to say I've even along the lines of additional information. There's a trial site that does not have grass for dogs to potty in, and so they have a roped off area of gravel and so they put in their premium. Look, if your dog can't potty on gravel and they're not going to potty, you know there's no grass here, there's no mulch, there's no natural area for your potty area.
Speaker 3:And so you know, put that in your premium so that people can make an informed choice. I personally don't want to go to a trial where porta potties are my only option all day. Sorry guys, but it's just I won't do it. Yeah, so if it's in a premium, then at least I know.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, definitely more information but I don't think that stuff is normally there it depends on the host.
Speaker 1:It depends but we can put it in um our emails easy enough yeah, I know, but that's after you sign up, right?
Speaker 3:yeah, yeah, but right.
Speaker 2:But that's, that's the situation. Right is that you don't know you're into it until in akc you have to pay before you can get that information. So it's, it's an interesting kind of piece of like where do you put it in when? Like realistically, when we were getting out premiums in akc for the first two years of the organization, I couldn't put an extra and into a sentence it would get written up and we had to go back and forth and premiums took a long time to get approved. Now they kind of are just flying. But it's hard when you've been slapped so many times to not put anything excess in them. So, like I get it and I think the template from NECSW kind of leans that way too it feels, if you're a new time host, to not include really extra details because you don't normally see it. But I think, like Jen says, I'd love to know if it's a porta potty.
Speaker 3:I think porta potties belong in the ADA section.
Speaker 1:I was just going to talk about the ADA section Yep.
Speaker 3:That's a good place to put some things.
Speaker 1:But what might happen, jen, is that we may not be able to put it there because of ADA Right. So they've got right. So, is it really a disability that Jen will not use a porta potty?
Speaker 2:No, but we may have somebody.
Speaker 3:I don't know. We may have somebody who can't who physically, is unable to use a porta potty because it's small and they can't get their walker in there to turn around or someone.
Speaker 1:Or you rent a disabled and the ADA-approved one, yeah, so I was going to mention that about filing an ADA request right for NACSW, and I would highly encourage people to do that rather than saying well, you know, I'm just either, I just sprained my. Whatever it is where you think that long walks are going to be challenging, Go ahead and file the ADA period. Because that gives us a heads up, both as a host and as the CO, to know that, and it's not asking for special allowances, for anything really, but it really lets us know that you know that extra requirement?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no matter, we don't have to change the running order around you, but that you know that extra requirement yeah, no matter, we don't have to change the running order around you, but that you know when it comes to your your turn, we may either have you driving to a search or we may have you taking an elevator longer. Yeah, or yeah, yeah. Use an elevator, if we have one.
Speaker 2:So we're going in the exit right Like that kind of stuff if you can figure out hosts to know right.
Speaker 1:Because typically up in that one section where I describe stairs and all that.
Speaker 2:It's like stairs or yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, and what happens is you have to make it so universal, so general.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Because sometimes what you planned on that day and then you get there and you find out the whole first floor. You weren't going to use any stairs, but now nothing's available on the first floor. And now guess what, guys? We're walking up a big flight of stairs and they're open, and I know your dog doesn't like it and you wouldn't have entered the trial. So yeah, but sometimes we don't know that until we literally get there. Sometimes we don't know that we can't use the restrooms for whatever reason, and that happened to us last weekend.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, last weekend we lost a whole room, so we had to flip flow, we had to flip search areas, we had to flip everything. And it was crazy last minute, but you have to make a show work.
Speaker 3:So yeah, that's right yeah.
Speaker 2:That's fine. Yeah, that's fine, all right. So how about another question question this is something I don't have to deal with, but I know I've seen it pop up and when I saw it pop up I went oh yeah, as a competitor, I would love to know about this and I don't know how to deal with that. But I think, as a host, we can be proactive. Is pack in, pack out situations meaning you're bringing out your poop, you're bringing out your garbage, you are not leaving anything on the trial site? And I think more urban areas are probably going to be dealing with this, but really really like rural areas might be dealing with this as well because of trash removal. So have you guys had to deal with this? Have you been to a competition or CO or anything?
Speaker 3:I've not had to. My trial sites have allowed us, to you know, ease the dumpsters on site.
Speaker 1:I haven't had any issues with that at all, I will tell you I'm hugely in favor of it.
Speaker 2:I've never had to do it.
Speaker 1:It's disgusting, but that last day when you are hauling literally two big bags of dog poop, especially if it's rained and people aren't putting their poop bags in the bag.
Speaker 1:It's just like nasty, right. And then if you have people who have put trash in the poop buckets, right, then that's also an issue. So I would love to even just ask my competitors hey, if you can pack in, pack out, please do. But you know, when you're at a lot of fairgrounds and that sort of thing, there's trash bins. There's trash bins and there's other animal poop everywhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So it's kind of like oh so I should bag out my dog poop, but the horse doesn't have to right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so going back to premium stuff, would you put it into that other site? Specific requirements.
Speaker 1:Oh, I like that. See, we just came up with a list of two things, Jen. We want a miscellaneous site stuff for our premium, and we want to put in whether or not we have a porta potty. Maybe we should put long walks to bathrooms, right yeah?
Speaker 2:or search areas you know well search areas.
Speaker 1:That's already going to be in there, right, because I have. It's a large site and that's true, you may have long walks, right? Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then potty area stuff, potty areas.
Speaker 1:I did have one site in and we haven't been back because of this where we literally could not walk. I didn't realize it was because it got all icy. This hill got literally so icy that we couldn't walk up the hill. Nor could we expect to everybody who didn't have four wheel drive to make it up this hill it was like.
Speaker 1:Oh Lord, what do we do now, right? So we had to kind of hoof some people up like through a grass trail, going back and forth, to try to get up to this top part of the search. So anyway, cool.
Speaker 2:All right. Next one and we kind of talked about this before we got going, but I think it's a worthy conversation to make sure we got in the podcast is FEOs. How do you enter a trial if you are competing one or two weeks before the trial that you want to enter and you don't know? You're hopeful that you're going to get that title. So you're one leg left for NW3 or it's an NW1 or NW2. So how do you enter? Because I know when you look at that page it has that button. You know that you're not eligible for the title. So, jill, did you want to like summarize that? I was actually going to defer to Jen first, Okay yeah let's do Jen.
Speaker 1:Actually going to defer to Jen first as okay, yeah, let's do Jen. She's on the rules committee and perfect, you know, has more the contingency that follows those, right, that that follows those uh policies. And then mountain dogs would be like the exception, right the weird stuff when you have hosts who aren't filling, and what's my recommendation as a host versus what is the status of feo once you click that button right?
Speaker 2:what does that button mean?
Speaker 1:yes, what does that button mean? And the other button that's interesting is the ask for help. What does that mean?
Speaker 3:right so, but we can talk about the feo first yeah well, I always tell, even if you, if you think that there's a chance, like if you haven't done your ORT and you're signing up for an NW3, I mean you're not, it's, it doesn't matter. But if it's, if there's a chance that you might get that leg for NW3 and you might be into elite, and I enter it as if you already have the title, always, always, always, always. Because I think what people don't understand is that if you enter it FEO, it puts you automatically. The system puts you lower on the wait list in the second draw than people who are eligible or potentially eligible and entered as no title. The system knows when they run that if you have your title or not, and so when the waitlist come to host, it'll say no title or late entry.
Speaker 3:Late title is another one where you did get your title within that two weeks. But I always tell people to enter as if you have the title Um, and then I will check with you if your name comes up on the list. Now you're still going to be below people who already do have that title for sure, um, but it's. But at least if you, if you may have a chance at getting more of a chance than if you entered FEO, and FEO really should be used when you know you're not going to be competing or planning to run for title for certain.
Speaker 2:So then, if you get to the trial day, you do not have your title, it automatically will move to FEO status correct.
Speaker 3:So you've entered and you never got the title Yep and you came off the wait list or whatever. You never got the title. Then it'll come. It's not automatic. It has to be done manually by the score room lead. But the system knows when you enter and then when the score room lead sends information back that has to match as far as whether they've been entered as FEO in the scoring system versus how they entered and whether or not they have a title In the scoring system. If you're running FEO, then it's just a little box to check.
Speaker 2:Right, and so then, as a competitor, it is priority, as soon as you get that title, to email your host so that that can be put in, so that data is captured before all that stuff gets sent back to NECSW for that final run, right?
Speaker 1:And we will have our score room leads, often because as hosts and we will have our score room leads, often because as hosts we're the first gatherer of that information Right and putting together we through the process. You get your entry, you send out your entry emails, then, as you get closer to trial, your TC, your trial coordinator, will email you and say please send me your lists for these days. And say please send me your lists for these days. And so you send them the spreadsheets that has those entries on it you know for, that are not on your waitlist right, that are actually entered in, and you may have some in there already that are no title or even have selected FEO, depending upon whether you filled your trial with qualified entries. So then that goes to NECSW and I think one of the differences and correct me if I'm wrong here, alex but with NECSW the organization does our running orders Right and with AKC it's the host. Is that correct?
Speaker 2:Yeah, normally the trial secretary, and it depends on it's club-based. So some clubs will do their own based on your just how you got entered and that is the spitted out version and it comes out of the computer. That way Other groups will prioritize to try and figure out like are they running other levels? We'll move them before or after.
Speaker 2:Volunteers get moved earlier because you can volunteer and still compete, so that kind of stuff will get shuffled around. I know some will shift things if you're out of town and it's the last class of the day, so they might shift you earlier to run in that class. It's not something I would ever expect, but it's a nicety that could happen. So yeah, it's normally run by the trial secretary and they put that together.
Speaker 1:So it sounds like I'm both on both sides, no matter the venue. Any questions, email your host. Yeah, Right.
Speaker 1:And that's your first avenue of communication, rather than trials at NACSW or asking the organization right, because the host is going to be the one who's our responsibility is to keep up with that minute by minute, if you will, right? So then, on the side of how should I enter and how many should I enter, well, back in the day before we actually kind of had FEO as an entry system, if you will, you actually had to have that prior qualification and then you had to go by the 14 days blah, blah, blah qualification and then you had to go by the 14 days blah, blah, blah. Then that got lifted and basically what we as an organization kind of a really wonderful option for people to actually engage in doing that other level, whether it's up or down, right, without having either acquired the title or I'm already a three, but I'd really like to do a two. So that's kind of where some of the proliferation, quite frankly, of FEO came from was when we kind of lifted that and said you don't even have to have your ORT to go and do an NW1. You can do that NW1 as FEO.
Speaker 1:So I think that's more where you select it Right, like Jen was saying, I have my feeling is enter as much as you want, because you will have the timeframe once you and once it goes in. If it's a qualified entry, then you have the timeframe to accept or reject. But then even if you're on the wait list and you come up off the wait list as either a no title right or you even were on the FEO list, then you can also decide that, yes, I want to do that level or no, I don't Right. So it's really just that communication piece.
Speaker 1:And then with Mountain Dogs, we have a lot of double dogs and even triple dogs. We've got some handlers who literally will run their entire tribe right in a particular level if there are openings, and I know that that can frustrate some of the competitive crowd. Right, because you feel like it really shouldn't frustrate anybody if it was an open spot, right. If they took it from somebody else, then I kind of get that, but nevertheless, they are a paying customer. They are a paying customer.
Speaker 2:So I've got one more and I think this is a procedural maybe with the same concept is if somebody was on the FEO list or wait list or whatever, and they came up and they said, no, I don't want to. Okay, so now they declined and then they want to again because maybe they were hoping to get into a different trial. They couldn't get into that one, so now they want to get back into your trial. I don't believe you can reenter that trial online, correct? So then you have to now email the host and the host has to put you back on manually onto their waitlist.
Speaker 1:At the bottom. So I personally. Yeah, technically, if we have other people on the waitlist, you lost your spot. Well, they would go below.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But if you run through your waitlist and now you're back on that person yeah, right Now. On that person yeah, yeah, right Now.
Speaker 1:I personally don't ever delete off of my post like Excel sheet I will just put across like highlighted as cross through and put it on the very bottom yes, Because I want the data, just in case.
Speaker 1:Oh, so I don't mark through it with red. I highlight it in red when you've canceled, so that I have one that's the absolute original and I know who canceled. I have not willingly put someone back on after they've told me they canceled, unless it was like extenuating circumstances. So because trial shopping can be very difficult and I really, for me as a host, I really want to fill those spots as best I can, right.
Speaker 2:For sure, so I've had it a few times here.
Speaker 1:I've had it happen, I think, once, and it was really some reasonable circumstances like where they couldn't get the day off of work and then, within 24 hours, told me oh my God, my boss just walked in and gave me the day off, work, right, and I'm like, oh, for heaven's sakes, let's just move you back on and put you now down at the bottom and blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 3:So one of the questions that I saw was how do we keep our volunteers coming back for more? What?
Speaker 1:is it that we do to?
Speaker 3:make them want to come and volunteer for us instead of someone else, or continue to just come volunteer for us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, to give their day off. Yeah, you definitely aim for a good lunch. Yeah, I also want to make my volunteers feel appreciated in some way. So as a host, I'm going to try and make my rounds, say thank you, make sure they've got water, make sure they've got snacks. Maybe I'm bringing snacks with me as I'm doing a pass through everything I know. When I started I tried to bring Kit Kats with me. Do you need a break? Do you need a break? I thought it was funny. Maybe I need to go back to that a little levity.
Speaker 2:But the goal is just keeping people as happy as possible and recognizing if the fit isn't working, because I think sometimes we can put somebody in a position, in a volunteering position, and it's just not happening, and as long as it's not a timer or a critical role that they really can't leave, but you take note of that and then you can make that adjustment for the next search and you can adjust that way, but really knowing what people's strengths are. So if somebody is really hard of hearing, maybe they're not great as a timer because they can't hear alert and finish, finish being the key word. Or maybe they love to talk and get engrossed in comments. Well, they're not necessarily the best person for that last staging. So it's just trying to find personalities and getting them to fit, because I find there's less conflict and when you have less conflict it makes it easier, because I find that there's some personalities that are just going to conflict with other personalities and if you can put them in different areas, different roles, that they don't really have to interact too much, then it makes it a little bit easier.
Speaker 3:What about you, jen, totally agree there. Having an amazing volunteer coordinator is another big thing, someone who helps you with knowing those personalities and putting people in that right role. And then having both a host and a VC who are walking around saying thank you so much for being here, this really means the world to me. As you took a day off work, I'm hosting several Thursday Friday trials coming up, you know. So that's a big deal to me because that's that's a vacation day for them. You know, I really like, when I have volunteers who have done a lot and I know either whether it's for me or in the state in general giving that dog in white position as kind of a thank you. I know that in ACSW likes to look at that position that way as well. Yeah, I don't do gifts necessarily, occasionally, it just depends. But I do know that several hosts in the area give, like they'll do, t shirts for their volunteers and things like that.
Speaker 3:I just don't. I don't typically have the budget for that. My sites are a little more expensive and so I just don't have the budget to give everybody a t-shirt. But I try to do the lunch and make sure everybody feels appreciated.
Speaker 1:So I think one of the things that I like to see as a host is we really divide the partnership of hosting and VC between the host and the VC on day of and I'm preaching to the choir here, guys, when I'm talking to Jen, myra and Alex, because we all kind of follow that same template, so you know there'll be somewhere. To me, the VC job on day of can be so overwhelming it's a lot of work.
Speaker 1:It's a lot of work to herd the cats. Answer to the CEO, get your searches set up, determine what the flow is, explain the flow often to your competitors, to your handlers, and then try to oversee that flow to make sure it's working. And then try to oversee that flow to make sure it's working. So if the host and the VC can work on that hand in hand, you know, and if you're a host and you really don't know anything about it and you've got a very seasoned VC, then just the shadow them and figure out OK, so this is how you do set up, you know the flow and what works best. And then, of course, within that whole trial experience, I think of a volunteer. If we can make that day so valued to them, that is really one of the biggest pieces. So sometimes and it's hard sometimes if you have, oh, you're going to be a gate steward again, yay, good for you, right, or so sometimes what we'll do is we can create and there are very many searches where we really do benefit from an exit person.
Speaker 1:That's the person who is great because a lot of hosts or VCs may look at that and go well, that's just an extra job, just a slough job. I really don't need that.
Speaker 2:But it frees everybody else up.
Speaker 1:Well, the judge and the timer should be able to tell them where to go. Well, what we've learned is that if you have someone calling out to you, come, this way you're going to move quicker and respond to that voice and move in that direction. Another piece is getting up to the start line. If our last gate is further away, we know that if my last gate steward there can actually walk with that team or walk slightly ahead, the dog is going to match pace and I'm going to get that team there quicker. And when you're going in or out of these searches, we are literally hopefully so engaged with our dog it's like the deer in the headlights.
Speaker 1:You just don't really have a concept of where you are, where you need to go and you can have all the dots on the floor in the world, and it's still like where do you want me to go, Do you want?
Speaker 1:me to go out. What door Right it's still. And we have all these signs and all this information. Because I think that's another thing that can very much help volunteers is having good flow, having excellent flow that really does streamline getting competitors in and out. Because if we create chaos on the side of the competitors, that's going to bleed to the volunteers first, competitors that's going to bleed to the volunteers first. They're the first ones who are going to feel that stress when that handler gets to that first gate and they're already. You know, maybe something's going on out in the parking lot and I try to tell my volunteers that too. I don't want you to feel like you're, you know, the whistleblower or the tattletale. But if somebody comes to you in the first gate and says, oh my God, such and such happened, try to send information up the line or whatever to get either the host, the VC or the CO there to kind of say, hey, one of our competitors had this concern right.
Speaker 2:So we have that communication.
Speaker 1:But it's really tough when they are and I hate to say just a gate steward right, Because often then they had visions of I wanted to be in the search, I wanted to watch searches, so that's where all of us really work hard, and especially if you've got the host and the VC working together, each one of us takes one flow.
Speaker 2:We can actually rotate those people up so we can get them to see searches, and I think that's where the exit person can be really helpful because it is something you can switch with a gate position yes, right and because that person like as long as they're kind and loud enough to be heard by the competitor. I think it's a nice base because if you've done the search and you're getting maybe frustrated or whatever it is, and that person interrupts in a very nice tone, it can help dissipate some of that and so then the person's walking back to the parking lot a little bit more pleasant, which is good, but it's also okay. So now we're flipping to our next search. That exit person now can be a gate person.
Speaker 2:Somewhere else They've been able to watch without having really a big heavy job where they're timing or doing something else, and now they can switch and be more content to do a like. It's the crappy job of the gate steward, where you don't get to watch things. You get to interact and I find there's some people that love to interact and they just are happy as a lark being that gate person.
Speaker 1:so yeah, and the other thing I think that we need to do as hosts is really be communicative, or the VC, so that if we change someone's job Right so they started out as the judge's steward, then we decided OK, so it really would be a lot more effective and efficient if I had the gate steward. Before you do the briefing, Right so we pass off the briefing Then pretty soon. It's like okay, really all you need to do is open the door, but don't go in there and watch.
Speaker 1:It's like oh my goodness, I was an important person two minutes ago and now you've just stripped me of all my duties. Thank you very much. So it's really making sure that you've communicated why. And really, you know, I know this may feel like it's not a valued position, but I really need you, you, you being even a placeholder, so that the handlers can see you and they. And when someone says, hey, head in on those dots and Mary will pick you up and hang with you while you're at her station and let you know when to move on, that is huge, right, yeah. And then, of course, on the flip side, when we have very few volunteers, it can be very important to just make sure again, as the host VC, that you're literally willing to pick up a job as opposed to go and watch searches or break room and hang out or whatever that you're really willing to do, that whole flow piece and it may be just, hey, I'm just going to move these people up and down this corridor.
Speaker 1:make sure that I'm not having stagnant flow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hang ups there.
Speaker 2:So just kind of thinking from akc point of view, something that I really like to do as a person helping organize is designate a judge's steward for that whole day with that judge, and so that becomes that judge's person and that can make it so much nicer because the relationship gets developed. It's almost like a like a privilege for whoever that volunteer is. But they're working hard because they're getting people for that judge, but they're also running to get water, but the judges can't be quiet because they see things, so they're going to say things, and so it's just oh, did you see that change of behavior? Oh, did you see how that dog did that? Or, wow, that handler was really good there.
Speaker 2:And so then as that volunteer you end up learning a ton because it's great, it's like a clinic, but being able to set that as that person, especially with larger trials and a lot of judges, that relationship becomes very important when there's a lot of pieces happening Right, and so then you can get all the pieces where they need to go, and maybe we need more cones or containers or whatever it might be, and that can get all the pieces where they need to go, and maybe we need more cones or containers or whatever it might be, and that can get that set.
Speaker 1:So I just have one add on comment to that about our teams that go with our judges, often with mountain dogs we do put the same team all day right.
Speaker 2:Yeah so.
Speaker 1:I'll have the same timer in the same and I know to some folks that feels unfair because if I split it up you'd be giving two or four different people an opportunity to do it. But we found that for continuity, because we don't know when we're going to flip the searches. We have less downtime in between. So what we really try to do is make sure that we kind of don't have it be the same person every trial. And I will give you a hint For Mountain Dogs you're going to get the best jobs if you sign up first.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, if you're inexperienced, then I'm going to have to put you in an inexperienced role. But once you gain that experience, if you sign up early, I'm going to honor that right. I'm going to say you know, let's get this person to write to one of those key positions where they're going to be able to, plus the fact that typically those people are the ones who feel confident about what they're going to do on that day for that trial. So they often are the seasoned person. But if you're a new volunteer and you're just starting out, please don't hesitate to, at least even at your trial where you're a handler and you're not volunteering yet, go up and introduce yourself to the host, get them so that they know who you are.
Speaker 1:And I'd like to volunteer one of these times. What do you suggest? Which one might be? Blah, blah, blah and just carry on a conversation, right, as opposed to hey, jill, I just volunteered for Laramie. Can I be dog and white? Yeah, that's not very helpful to me, right, when I'm at another trial. So you don't be specific about it, just kind of introduce yourself and have that general conversation. And then there are comment lines on your um, on your volunteer form, so you could put that there.
Speaker 1:Um, and then typically we try to, you know, rotate that around dog and white. Dog and white can often be pretty challenging because most of our crew is competing. Yeah, they're either competing or they're key volunteer, and I can't really yeah. So yeah, yeah, okay, cool. So we've covered a lot of stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, cool, this was fine, you guys.
Speaker 1:It was. So that was our ask me anything, and I and you know really when we're talking about ask me anything. Oh my God, we could go on for another two hours and still not cover everything. So we didn't say answer everything, it was ask me anything. Right, we're good, we're good, but hopefully we gave the hosts that are out there some you know information. I just think it's great to offer this as support so that if you hear some tidbits of things that you do, knowing sometimes that there's somebody else out there who's doing the same crazy thing that you are you're?
Speaker 1:really willing to stick with it, or there might even be just one tidbit of oh my God, that exit is is is a genius Right. Oh my God, that exit is a genius right. Yeah yeah, that person they get to watch the searches, typically right because they need to be in the search, and that's a great way to reward them other than just being the judge's steward that often is asked to stay out of the search for reasons of giving a briefing or the timer, which really needs to be somebody pretty precise, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:So but thanks everybody. Really really appreciate everybody tuning in. We'll get this podcast up hopefully as soon as we can and then we'll start back in in March and hopefully we'll pick some topics and get those up on the Facebook and get some feedback from you. I really appreciate everybody showing up for our podcast today. Bye everyone.
