Another Working Trials Question

I'm relatively new to working trials. I watched a PD round recently and came away really confused.

I've done a lot of work over the years as a 'body' with search and rescue dogs and the search for the criminals had be really baffled, because looking at the size of the field, I would have cast my dog off and let them hunt, without me doing a lot.

The handlers were (to me) just doing sendaways to the hides, so that the dog 'checked' each one. I can see that looks thorough, but compared to a dog that actually has to find a lost person on a whole hillside, the handler would never presume to send the dog to every rock or hollow that might have a person concealed from view in / behind it.

I know it's a different situation - but it's still using a dog to hunt out a person who is going to reward the dog (because bodies in training whip out toys and have a good game or tug / catch/ whatever your dog likes)

The people training were very helpful and did their best to explain that different judges look for different things...but I still didn't get it! If the dogs were really convinced that the 'criminal' was the most fun person to meet in the world and often found lurking behind hides, then surely they would clock the hides instantly and make a beeline anyway - it wasn't exactly a big area to work - if the dog was less of a natural hunter and more conditioned to clock hides?

I just couldn't work out the line between allowing the dog to hunt naturally and handling. I felt (just me) that quite often, the handlers were intervening and handling almost for the sake of it and if they'd just let the dog cast about a bit, he would have had a strike and gone in anyway.

Okay, I've shown my ignorance, but I just wanted to ask: what exactly is a judge looking for in the 'quartering'?

Please be nice with your replies and not too abrupt ( ) Just remember I spend all autumn and winter on the beating line and my brain shrinks!

My OH works PD ticket with 2 dogs, I'll ask him if he has time to answer your question, he will do it so much better than me.
Do you know if it was an open or a champ you were watching ?

Hi the quartering in PD will depend on whether you are in open or champ as far as the difficulty of the test. As a judge and handler I want the dog to locate and give voice (bark ). Now that's the easy bit because the dog may have spotted or winded the criminal,but quartering is an obedience exercise as much as it is a scent exercise in PD.
So the judge wants areas,perimeters ,vehicles and hides checked to show control.
Now you may be asked to send your dog to an area that you don't know if there is a criminal out or not. The first part being control and when the dog arrives he must use all his senses to check out the area.
To some up the test the judge is not looking for the dog to find the person via the quickest route,but to find the criminal by the route they have selected.
We are gathering points so fortunately the only casualty is not qualifying.
Hope this helps Dave.

Ahh! Thanks for explaining that - it really helped.

It's a subtle difference in the Working Trials definition of quartering and the definition I am used to working with!

I was totally scratching my head because I thought the 'quartering' meant allowing the dog to hunt under its own initiative and find the criminal as swiftly as possible - so I thought the handlers were just being overly controlling and interfering.....and when they tried to tell me that telling the dog so specifically where to go over such a small area was actually what the judge was looking for......I could understand it (and appreciate that that's what they were after) but it just didn't fall within my definition of quartering or hunting, so I couldn't work out whether a judge should commend that sort of involved handling, or penalise it!

Many thanks