Superman Doesn’t Pee with his Cape on

At a recent K9 Nose Work trial, I witnessed competitors allowing their dog to urinate on a building within 12 feet of the warm-up boxes as well as allowing their dog to urinate at a staging area.
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I wondered if those handlers thought about the consequences of that simple action.  Did their dog urinating influence the dog teams that followed?

​4 reasons why you should not allow your dog to urinate in non-designated areas at nose work trial:

1.  Many trial locations do not allow dogs on the property.  Trial hosts reassure the managers of the site location that competitors’ dogs will only urinate in specific areas.  When a competitor allows their dog to pee on a building or a pole, etc., it is inconsiderate and shows a lack of care regarding the effort the trial host puts into securing a “real world” search area for competition.
2. Allowing a dog to urinate with their searching gear on sends mixed signals to the dog.  If Fido is allowed to relieve himself with his working gear on, why can’t he relieve himself in a search area?  When a dog is in his searching gear, his only job is to search.
3. A team that has to wait in the same location that a dog has just urinated in, may struggle to stay focused during their search.  For most dogs, fresh urine is very hard to ignore.  That unintended squirt may impact the next team.
4. Do not allow your dog to urinate after exiting a search or in transition areas.  That location may be used as a search area the following day.  That fresh pee could set up every competitor for a real struggle.

Please competitors, be kind to the trial host and your fellow competitors make sure your dog relieves themselves in the designated potty area.  Remember, Superman does not pee with his cape on!

Tracey Costa, CPDT-KA, CNWI

Dog trainer, K9 Nose Work fan, Nose Work trial host