The two-day rally trial was awesome, but it wore me out! It's almost two weeks later that I even have a chance to write about it!

This was my young dog Halo's second show. I was a little concerned about it. She'd been in a long heat last month, so was on "house arrest" and then there were a couple of weeks where I was just so busy with clients that I literally didn't have time to work with my own dog! (Excuses, excuses! But after working with dogs for 6-7 hours, I just don't have much more to give.

Sport: K-9 Nosework

Event: Odor Recognition Test

Dog: Halo

Location: Tigard, Oregon

Hosting: Nose Work Detectives & Calvin Presbyterian Church

Result: PASS!!!

The Odor Recognition Test is the preliminary qualification event for the sport of K-9 Nosework. It's presented as a simple container search -- of twelve boxes, one of them contains the odor. (The handler doesn't know which box contains odor.) Each dog searches individually. You have three minutes to call "Alert!"

Halo and I were entered in the test for Sweet Birch, which is the scent used in the first level of competition.

Eight-month-old Halo's first competitive event was this weekend, and I decided I'd start writing little "reviews" of the events we do, both so I can keep them as happy memories, and also so you can get a first-hand of the world of dog sports!

Coming up soon is our report of Halo's first Odor Recognition Test.