Local club is offering the WH at their annual trial and I have contacted them with the questions but I thought I would throw it out there to the masses to see what people know

1) On the retrieve the rules say a small article or a dumbell. Who chooses the item to retrieve? The handler or club? If the handler brings the item does small article literally mean like a tracking article or can it be something like an eyeglass case?

2)Item guard - same sort of question - who supplies the item to guard?

3) Guarding an enclosure - if a club uses a building, how the heck does the dog watch the approach? From windows?

4) Watchfulness on running wire - Is the running wire essentially a staked tie-out? Rules say no sleeves but do the testers uses whips or something else to agitate the dog or is it basically use of an aggressive stance that agitates the dog?

Thanks for any insight given, I am a visual person so I have trouble getting a clear picture on something without seeing it first.

 Quote: ingrid rosenquist

4) Watchfulness on running wire - Is the running wire essentially a staked tie-out? Rules say no sleeves but do the testers uses whips or something else to agitate the dog or is it basically use of an aggressive stance that agitates the dog?

If you read the DVG's rules, it very specifically states that a stick may not be used to agitate the dog during the Guarding of a Possession. It is absent that specific rule for the Watchfulness portion of the exercise. Therefore it *could* be inferred that a stick is permitted, since it was specifically prohibited in one exercise, but not the other.

The rules also state that "conspicious clothing is permitted."

http://www.dvgamerica.com/04WHRules.pdf

Ingrid,
Here's how a WH has been set up from my previous experience:

The dog needs to be 16 months old and has to have already passed the BH.

I've always supplied my own article for the retrieve, so I believe it is handler supplied.

You supply the item to guard ( but some clubs have a ratty old briefcase that they use for practice, so if it's a club trial, practice and use the club equipment, of course... )

For the Testing the Dog's Watchfulness, a lot of clubs have gone to a three or four piece of chain link fence panels and enclose the dog into the square made ( which is obviously not very large ), this is easy on the dog as it has great visibility.
As far as using a club house, most judges would insure that the decoy makes himself obvious to the dog by staring in the window, etc., to give the dog a chance to react.

For the Stake Out test, I've always seen it set up on an overhead wire. The decoy has *no* equipment and I've never seen anyone use a whip for this, it's just decoy presence ( the decoy acts suspicious ).

Hope that helps!

Thanks Alyssa and Will.

This is a USA WH test so I was looking at the USA regs on the USA rule book. USA also has that conspicuous clothing deal as well. I heard back from the club already and they said that the handler supplies the retrieve item as well as the guarding item, that they are using a chainlink enclosure, and the stake out test will be an overhead wire with no equipment used by the agitators.

This is a club I used to belong to so I am familar with their set up and so I am going to mess around with Frost and see if I can get her ready for it in a month. If not we will just do the BH :-)

Per my club's Training Director (we are a USA Club):

In the WH, you can choose the article. But you do not
want to use something the dog is going to play with or stop to chew up. It is a placed retrieve.
Dumbbells work just fine.

Who supplies the item to guard? You do but it must be large
enough that the dog cannot or would not pickup and carry away. A backpack or briefcase works.

Re: The Watchfulness from an Enclosure: I've seen cars used, but mostly some wire enclosure.
The suspicious person flees into a large enclosure that is covered so that once the suspicious person is inside, the dog can only smell them and must circle, bark and guard until the handler comes to get him.

Re: the Watchfulness on a Running Wire:
It is essentially a running cable about 20' long with a 6ft chain on it that slides with the dog attached to it. The dog must go towards each suspicious acting (agitation, no whip/stick, just posture and behavior) character and then turn back to the second SC when that one attracts the dog. "I had a dog pop a collar during that exercise and yes she did bite the bad guy." - Training Director

So, it sounds like a stout collar is a must.