Organising a Grassroots Tracking Assessment
1. Tracking Award Assessments can be organised by a Club, Trainer/instructor, an assessor, an individual or a group of people who train together.
2. A list of Assessors for the Grassroots Tracking Awards and the Core UK Tracking Dog Association levels is available for download from uktrackingdog.co.uk. This is available to download from the ‘Files’ section of the Facebook page, ‘downloads’ section below, on this website.
3. The awards can be assessed by any UKTDA assessor including the Trainer/Instructor of the tracking team.
Platinum level requires the dog to have successfully achieved two Gold awards. The first Gold Award assessment may be carried out by the same assessor who conducted the Bronze and Silver assessments. The second Gold Award, however, must be assessed by a different assessor.
4. It is the responsibility of the individual handler to print and complete relevant sections of the Assessment to present to their Assessor prior to their Tracking Assessment. The pre-assessment paperwork can also be made available by the assessment organiser if mutually agreed.
5. The assessment organiser will also need to ensure that they have a track-layer for their Assessment.
6. The Assessor should decide on the course of the track. This should be documented. The track-layer will lay the track, as set by the Assessor. For the Preliminary and Bronze levels, the handler may watch their track being laid. For the Silver, Gold and Platinum levels, the track will be laid out of sight of the handler. They may watch other handlers tracking after they have completed their own track, if permitted by the assessor and the handler taking the assessment.
7. After the track, the Assessor should complete the Assessment form and return this to the handler. It is an expectation that the Assessor will discuss their feedback with the handler.
8. For monitoring purposes, a copy of the completed Assessment forms (both "Pass" and "Not Ready") should be sent to The UK Tracking Dog Association by the assessment organiser or the handler being assessed.
9. If the Tracking team are successful, this information will be entered onto a database and a Certificate and Medal/Rosette will be awarded to the dog/handler team. An assessment fee of £15 will be charged by UKTDA which will contribute towards costs of awards, postage & packaging, websites & other IT.
10. Only those handlers that return their completed Assessment forms with the required fee will have their results entered on the database. No Award will be granted by The UK Tracking Dog Association, or progression to further Levels permitted, until this process is completed.
Registration Procedures for the UKTDA Grassroots Tracking Awards
How Instructors Can Register Tracking Teams
You can register your clients for the Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Tracking Dog Awards in whichever way works best for you:
•Complete and Submit the registration on their behalf by sending in a completed form for each dog and handler team.
•Ask your clients to fill in their own form and return it to you for submission.
•Ask your clients to pre-register directly with UKTDA (see Pre-Registration Procedure below).
Every registration must include the appropriate registration fee for the award level.
•Preliminary Level: £10
•Bronze, Silver, Gold & Platinum: £15 per level
Please check that all forms are complete before sending them in.Once registration is received and processed, the relevant award materials will be sent directly to you in preparation for the assessments.
Recognising that some dog and handler teams may achieve the Preliminary Level with minimal training, instructors may pre order Preliminary Level certificates and rosettes in advance. The details of each successful team can then be submitted retrospectively.
Pre registration Procedure
To pre register a tracking team for the Award being assessed, please complete the appropriate registration form in full.
Once completed, the form may be sent by email, Messenger, or post to:
UKTDA C/o High Reach, Fernbank Road Ross on Wye Herefordshire HR9 5RU
The registration fee must accompany each form:
•Preliminary Level: £10
•Bronze, Silver, Gold & Platinum: £15 per level
Payment may be made by bank transfer to: Account No: 58240813 Sort Code: 60 83 71
Or by cheque, made payable to: The UK Tracking Dog Association
Once registration is received and processed, the relevant award materials will be sent directly to your assessor in preparation for the assessment.
NB: The fees listed above represent the UKTDA award registration fees only. They do not include any charges made by your assessor for training courses, classes, or the award assessment itself.
All registration forms are available in the ‘Files’ section of the Facebook group, or in the ‘downloads’ section below, on this website,