2017 Nov Dec

Traditionally, the host club provides breakfast and lunch
hospitality and plenty of water and snacks for the test workers
on Plotting Day. Ideally, a separate volunteer takes on the job of
Hospitality Chair and arranges to provide the food, but sometimes
the Plotting Day hospitality job falls to the Test Secretary.
The Test Secretary remains at the staging area throughout
the day. S/he greets the tracklayers as they arrive, provides them
with sets of articles, radios, and other tools they might need – like
clipboards, paper, or pencils. During the day s/he communicates
with the Chief Tracklayer in the field to request drivers and direct
them to drop off and pick up tracklayers at appropriate locations,
or to send tracklayers directly into the field to join the judges, one
track after the next.
Maintaining good communication is the key to efficient work
on Plotting Day, and communication challenges vary widely from
test site to test site. At a TD test site where the staging area is just
50 yards down the road from the tracking fields and the test tracks
can be plotted in sequence along the road bordering these fields,
communication is relatively easy. But there are sites where the
staging area is far from the tracking fields, where the fields are hilly
and wooded, or where the access along networks of meandering
roads is confusing. Sometimes sequential test tracks are plotted
on more than one campus. (This can happen at urban tests like
the ASCA TDU.) If radios are needed, s/he distributes them to the
judges and tracklayers. In these instances communication is both
more difficult and more important.
Plotting one TD track takes about 30 minutes, one TDU track
may take a bit longer, and one TDX track requires at least one
hour. So a full 12-track TD/TDU test or a full 6-track TDX test, or
PASA’s Tracking Test Secretary Linda Stamper presents Rubi’s ASCA MT rosette to exhibitor Donna Highstreet.
a trial including both TD and TDX test tracks in full complement,
requires a full day’s work for the judges, Chief Tracklayer and Test
Secretary.
On Test Day the Secretary is fully occupied at the staging area
while serving as host for the event. In summary: s/he greets the
exhibitors, provides direction and support as needed, introduces
the judges, and conducts the drawing for track order. After the
test tracks have been run, s/he gives marked copies of the tracking
test catalog to the judges. When the judges have completed their
charts, s/he collects copies of the charts for the ASCA Business
Office, the exhibitors, and the club records. S/he takes charge of the
awards ceremony, presenting ribbons and trophies to the passing
teams and gifts to the judges and tracklayers. S/he organizes photo
opportunities for everyone. Someone takes charge of the celebratory
lunch – hopefully not the Test Secretary. After the test, s/he sends
the tracking trial paper work to the ASCA Business Office. Here
are the details:
The Test Secretary arrives at the staging area to meet the
tracking judges and early tracklayers at an hour determined by
the judges at the end of Plotting Day, usually before daybreak.
A volunteer, possibly the Test Secretary at this early hour, brings
coffee. S/he places a stack of printed tracking test catalogs where
exhibitors and observers can find them but does not give catalogs
to the judges. (By tradition, the judges must not know who the
exhibitors will be.) The Test Secretary also brings a collection
of identical draw articles, the club’s award ribbons and trophies,
permanent marking pens for signing end article gloves, judges’
gifts and payment checks, and gifts for the tracklayers and other
workers. If radios are needed, s/he distributes them to the judges
and tracklayers.
The judges leave the staging
area to watch the tracks being
laid. The Hospitality Chair
arrives to set up breakfast
hospitality.
The exhibitors arrive.
The Test Secretary greets the
exhibitors, directs them to
the parking areas, bathroom
facilities and nearby space
set aside for exercising and
pottying their dogs. If a bitch
is entered, the Test Secretary
determines whether the bitch
is in season. If so, s/he tells
the exhibitor to sequester her
bitch, and explains that the
bitch in season will run the
final track in the test. S/he
monitors the team to be sure
the bitch is being sequestered.
At the advertised time of
the drawing for track order
(in a trial that includes a
combination of TD, TDU,
and/or TDX tests the draws
for the different tests may be
held at different times) the Test
Secretary convenes the group
AUSSIE TIMES November-December 2017 89