AKC Scent Work Review
By Vicky Darnell, AKC Scent Trial Secretary
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Five Stars
I own a dog training business and am an approved secretary for AKC and UKC scent trials.
I first contacted Bruce Dill about a year ago when his company released a system for AKC Scent Work. I was mainly doing UKC Nosework trials and wanted something like the product he created for AKC.
The first thing I noticed about Bruce and his team was their desire to make their products work how their customers wanted. They listened to my ideas about managing a trial and made them happen. We held our first test trial in May 2023. There were issues, but we expected there would be.
Bruce worked with us over the next two months, and we agreed on necessary changes to improve the system. This included moving away from paper judging forms and starting to use spreadsheets. Bruce and his programmer figured out how to integrate all the judging rules into spreadsheets, drastically improving the judging process and helping to eliminate mistakes. We held our second trial in August 2023. The changes dramatically improved the success of the trial.
In September 2023, Bruce’s team figured out how to handle Move Ups and Day of Event entries directly in the judges' spreadsheets. Because we were using tablet computers ($175 each), we could copy the spreadsheets from the tablet immediately. My wonderful assistant could upload the spreadsheets, which took a few seconds. The system automatically made the changes from move-ups. We could print ribbon labels much more quickly, which made my exhibitors really happy. We had several times where labels were printed within six minutes after closing. We held our third trial in late October with the system. We had over 500 entries for the two-day trial. Everything went smoothly. Our entrants were happy; judges liked the tablets. The process of closing the trial and mailing results to UKC went well.
Bruce’s team did more things in November and December to make their system even better. This included allowing us to email each entrant their results so they could be reviewed and any necessary changes before our mailing deadline. His team also created a way for entrants to request a “Results Review” online, which really helps my entrants. Electronic signatures are used for judges and more. We held our fourth trial on January 6th. We had over 500 entries for the two-day trial. We usually start at about 9:00 AM. We were completely done by 2:30. Entrants had all their ribbons, the judging went smoothly, and all was good.
In closing, we will continue to use this wonderful system. Bruce and his team have done everything they said they would. Their system is the way of the future.
Vicky Darnell