For those of your participating in NACSW and those of you practicing with the book NACSW is making some major rule changes. You can find the rule book at http://www.nacsw.net/trial-information/trial-rule-book
The summary of the changes is:
- Effective October 1, 2017: NW2 may now have up to 3 hides in a single search.
- Effective October 1, 2017: At Elite Division Trials there will only be 30 second warnings for searches 3 minutes or longer.
- Container searches at Elite may contain novel (non-food/non-toy distractors)
- Effective October 1, 2017 teams must earn a minimum score of 43 points at an Elite Division Trial for the points to be included in a competitor’s accumulation of points towards their Elite Title.
- Effective October 1, 2017 there are changes to the types of containers that will be used at NW2/NW3/Elite trials.
- NW1 – No change (boxes only, 1 hide).
- NW2 – Distractors present, known number of hides (1, 2 or 3), boxes, add additional container types – needs to be new and non-fabric (plastic bins, metal tins, paint cans, etc).
- NW3 – Distractors may be present, unknown number of hides (1, 2, or 3), same container options as NW2.
- Elite – Add used and fabric containers like backpacks and luggage.
I actually think the changes for NW2 will help many handlers and dogs work their way up since the difference between the levels will not be as great.