DRYLAND TITLING

The purpose of dog titles in urban trails is to give teams of dog(s) and human a goal to strive for and achieve. The team that achieves the various titles will be safer and happier on the trail. They will also have a handsome document to hang on the wall. To earn a scooter title you must complete the mileage requirement, pass the field test and take a short written test. Teams are one human and one or two dogs. Vehicles can be any non-motorized vehicle. Dogs are being tested, not the human. You can take the test as a single dog or a brace.

Mileage is cumulative. For example to achieve the 100 miles for Open, count the 50 for Novice and add another 50 to achieve 100 miles for Open.

When you complete the required number of miles, you receive a rocker which says “50, 100, 200 or 500 miles depending on which is appropriate. When you have done all 4 mileage requirements you will have a total of 4 separate rockers. When you complete the Novice test, you will receive a scooter patch and a rocker that says novice. Should you complete novice, open, excellent, champion and each of the 4 sets of miles, you will have one urban trails patch, four downward facing rockers and four upwards facing rockers. These are intended for sewing onto a jacket or whatever clothing you prefer.

Explanations

Mileage
Keep a mileage log with the following information: date, weather/temperature, name of trail, vehicle, daily miles, cumulative miles. You can add additional information to make the log more interesting and useful to you. Some additional categories are comments/notes, start/stop times, which dogs ran, speeds, number of rest stops, etc.

You can win mileage rockers with just the mileage log. To get the patch that anchors the rocker, you will need to pass the Novice Title Test.

Equipment check for all levels
Judges will inspect your equipment because your scooter, sulky, or cart must be safe: brakes in good order; tires inflated properly; handlebars tight. Harness must fit and be reasonably clean. Tugline must not be too worn.

NOVICE

Mileage
50 miles total. There is no time limit to achieve this. Mileage log is on the honor system. You can take the test without having completed the 50 miles.

Put on harness
We are looking for a willing dog and a confident handler who puts on the harness with ease.

Put on booties
We do not expect your dog to wear booties at the test. We expect that you rarely if ever bootie your dog. However, there are times when you need to bootie your dog. The gravel might be sharp. He may have injured a paw. For this test we just need to see that you can bootie your dog and that he will tolerate them.

Start/stop
During the test the judge will ask you to start your dog pulling. Your dog should continue along the trail until the judge tells you to stop. You can use whatever command words you choose.

Right/left
The test will be set up with a trail that has turns. The judge will tell you which turn to take. You can use gee and haw or right and left or whatever command words you choose.

OPEN

Start: lineout for 30 seconds
Your dog will be expected to be hitched to the tugline and then move to lineout position and stay there for 30 seconds. It does not matter whether he stands, sits or lies down.

Stop
Dog must stop when asked to stop. You can use brakes to keep the line tight as he stops.

Right/left
The test will be set up with a trail that has turns. The judge or a course map will tell you which turn to take. You can use gee and haw or right and left or whatever command words you choose.

On By a Distraction
The distraction will most likely be a person with a dog on leash. It could be something less familiar, however.

Wait and line Out
Somewhere on the test course, you will be directed to wait for 30 seconds while your dog remains lined out in front of you. This mimics the real life situation of stopping to look at a map or to tie a shoe or ...

Slow down for intersection
This mimics the urban situation where you are coming to a roadway. You slow down to be able to check for oncoming cars.

Leave it
So often on a trail there are horse droppings or dead critters. “Leave it” is a useful command.

EXCELLENT

Mileage
100 miles from the Open title plus 100 new miles for Excellent for a total of 200 miles. No time limit to achieve this. Mileage log is on the honor system. Send in your log when you apply to take the test.

Sociability Circle
An excellent scooter dog is reliably friendly or indifferent to other dogs. The sociability circle has owner and handler walk with dog on leash in a large circle passing other owners and their dogs. To pass the circle test, the team must walk on by without the dog going over to say hello or show who is boss. The team must walk around the circle weaving among the standing owners and dogs without fuss or extreme effort on the part of the owner.

Controlled Start/Stop
Owner harnesses dog and attaches him to tugline. Dog waits calmly for command to start. Dog starts on command. Dog stops when asked to do so.

Three Minute Wait
Dog is tied to something that won’t move. Dog is next to scooter. Owner tells dog to wait and walks out of sight. Dog waits calmly until owner returns after 3 minutes.

One Minute Line-Out
Dog is harnessed and attached to schooter. Dog is told to “line out”. Dog remains in line-out position, waiting for command to go for one minute.

Cross Water
It may not be possible to test this at the test site. Some fun runs could be designated as tests for this. The dog must pull the scooter without hesitation across water such as a puddle on a road or trail.

Change Pace on Command
You will be asked to demonstrate your ability to have the dog speed up and slow down on command. How this is done depends on the testing grounds and the judge’s design of the test. For some dogs, the speed change is from walk to trot and back to walk. For others it is from trot to lope and back to trot.

Go Downhill under Control
You will be asked as a team to go down a hill at a safe controlled speed.

CHAMPION

Mileage
200 miles from the Excellent title plus 300 new miles for Champion for a total of 500 miles. No time limit to achieve this. Mileage log is on the honor system. Send in your log when you apply to take the test.

Two Races Completed
A champion scooter dog needs to race. He does not need to win. Send proof of having crossed the finish line/completed two scooter races. Each race must occur on separate weekends.

Controlled Start/Stop
Owner harnesses dog and attaches him to tugline. Dog waits calmly for command to start. Dog starts on command 3 minutes after being attached to scooter. Dog stops when asked to do so.

Three Minute Line Out on Trail
Somewhere on test course, Judge asks team to stop and wait. Dog remains in line out position for 3 minutes. Sitting or lying down is OK. (Becky and Sue, I added this. Is it OK?)

Regional Criteria
Each judge can pick a test that relates to their area. One judge might ask that dogs lie down and wait quietly while horses ride by. Another might ask that dogs sit at street corner while waiting for traffic light to change. Another might ask that the dogs pull the scooter to the car on command “go to the car”.

Steeple Chase
Judge and test givers will design a course that the team must navigate. It can include going through “tunnels”, weaving around parked cars, passing a pen full of chickens, going between bollards, opening and shutting a gate, crossing a bridge and so forth.

Cross Field with no Trail
The dog must pull the scooter straight across an open field such as a soccer field.

Gee/haw over
Team will be instructed to switch sides of trail when instructed by judge.

Wait for 5 Minutes
An urban scooterer will often tie the dog and scooter outside a store while doing errands. For the test, the owner goes out of sight for 5 minutes. The dog must wait without anxiety.

On Scooter Recall
The human while riding the scooter tells the dog to stop and then calls him to his side. This is instead of lining out. The real life situation might be a batch of loose dogs and people approaching and the best solution is to hold the dog’s collar while waiting for them to pass.

WRITTEN TEST

Simple First Aid
Overheating
Sore feet

An essay on first aid, over heating and foot care will be created for the scooter dog test. It will be available on the DogScooter.com web site and K9scootersNW.com. The written test will consist of 3 questions that address these topics. The questions will be randomly selected for each level of testing.