Hosting a Trial

Before you apply

The one scheduling rule, how many days you can hold, and what a trial costs.

A possible conflict doesn't stop you applying. We review every application either way.

Clubs can also hold the same days of the same week every year. Tick the box on your application to ask, and see who holds what on the corresponding calendar.

How many days?

Two trials a day is the maximum, so a two-day weekend is four trials and a three-day weekend is six. The application asks how many days you're holding rather than how many trials, and fills in the rest of the dates from your first day — trial days have to be consecutive.

What it will cost

Apply and get on the calendar

Reserve your dates, then create the trial in Secreterrier so it appears on the site.

1. 1

   Submit the trial application

   Fill in the trial application with your dates, your site, your judges and the classes you plan to offer. There's no payment step — nothing is due until after the trial.

2. 2

   Wait for approval

   Once your application has been reviewed, we'll follow up by email. In most circumstances your dates will be approved, as long as there's no conflict with another trial.

3. 3

   Create the trial in Secreterrier

   Once you're approved, create the event on Secreterrier. The Upcoming Trials page picks your event up automatically, usually within the hour, with a map pin.

   You don't need a finished premium to get the date listed — only before you open the event for entries.

4. 4

   Take entries

   Entries come in online through Secreterrier. Paper entries are welcome too — someone at your club enters those by hand.

Your premium and your team

What has to be in the premium, what a judge costs, and who else you may want at ringside.

Classes and the premium

• You choose which classes to offer. Ideally give competitors the ability to move up a level.
• Day-of-show entries: if your premium offers them, every class listed in it has to be available on the day, even with no pre-entries.
• Say so if you restrict collars. Prong, choke, pinch and electric collars are never allowed in the staging area or on the way to the ring. If your club won't permit some other type of collar on its grounds, that has to be stated in your premium and registration form. The full list of what dogs may wear is in the approved collars and harnesses document.
• Use the official branding. The premium header and every logo file are on the Forms & Downloads page, ready to drop straight into your premium.

Hiring your judge

• Approved judges are paid $2.00–$3.00 per judged run, plus mileage, meals, and an overnight stay if one is needed. Pay for a provisional judge's days is agreed between the judge and the club.
• Agree it all up front in an email of understanding between the club and the judge at the time of hiring.
• A gift from the host club is always a nice touch.

Setting up the ring

Ring size, fencing, piles and containers — plus what changes when you run a game.

• Ring size: roughly 400–600 sq ft for Ratter, Happy Ratter and Expert; 500–900 sq ft for Champion and Extraordinaire. Any shape is fine.
• Fencing: the ring must be securely fenced to about 4 feet.
• Hunting piles: about 100 sq ft of piles for Ratter and Happy Ratter — separate, in a line, or in a circle. 100 sq ft or more for Expert and above.
• Start box: a clearly defined area of about 4 ft × 4 ft, marked with tape, cones, foam mats or a rubber mat. It can sit anywhere in the ring, but usually works best at the entry.
• Rat containers: secure enough that no person or dog can open or break them, however they're handled. Every container must look the same, and each needs enough air flow for breathability and temperature control.
• Bridges and burrows: put them wherever the flow makes sense, leaving room for dogs to enter and exit safely. Burrows must be at least 24 inches across. Through-burrows run to 3 ft at Ratter and Happy Ratter, up to 10 ft at Expert, and up to 20 ft at Champion and Extraordinaire.
• Rat tubes: tie down or bolster tubes so they can't be dislodged, and set them in open-top boxes — window boxes, flower boxes, or tube boxes with an open end, never a fully closed box. The grill end faces front, and any elevated tube must be firmly anchored.
• Extraordinaire and Extreme Ratter staging: teams should wait outside, or in another room where they can't hear how many rats have been found. Where that isn't possible, the judge may change the number of rats for each run.

What changes for each game

Games are built differently from a standard class. The essentials are below; the full rules and diagrams for every game are in the rule book and on the Learn the Games page.

• A-MAZE-ing Rat: a spiral maze of standard 8-panel expens (about 3 ft tall) clipped together for quick handler access — 2 expens at Level 1 rising to 6 with a dead end at Level 5. The rat tube sits in a safe box at ground level (ammo boxes work well), and the maze entrance stays open at all times.
• Box-A-Rat: boxes only, no bags or other items, and no clean or litter tubes. Tubes stay concealed. Maximum tube heights run 12″ / 12″ / 18″ / 24″ / 36″ for Levels 1–5.
• Dump Hunter: no bridge, burrow or other tubes. The rat sits 5 ft, 10 ft or 15 ft from the start line for Levels 1–3. Run it in a line against a wall or in a circle, and move the start line between levels rather than the rats.
• Earn A Rat: bridges (table, ramp, ladder) and burrows (chute, tunnel, barrel) on course, 3 rats at least 10 ft apart, and no dirty or clean tubes.
• Infestation: pack the course with enough "stuff" to resemble an urban alley. Two to six rats, no bridge or burrow requirement, no dirty or clean tubes.
• Rats in the Garden / Rats in the House: the Garden runs outdoors with yard items — wheelbarrows, planters, flowerpots, kids' toys, slides, pools — off leash in a secure fenced area or on leash. The House runs indoors with house items: chairs, tables, sofas, bookcases, laundry bags. Tubes stay concealed, no clean or litter tubes, heights 12″ / 12″ / 18″ / 24″ / 36″ by level.
• Rat Race: 4 rat tubes, no dirty or clean tubes, no bridge or burrow. You'll need two timers and two stopwatches.
• Rat Trap: lots of visible tubes (rat and clean only, no litter tubes), every one secured to the ground, in a holder, or in a box so it can't roll. Never elevated. Counts run 12–20 at Level 1, 12–25 at Levels 2–3, and 15–30 at Levels 4–5.
• Road Rage Rats: every wheeled item — toy vehicles, wagons, dollies, carts — carries a tube, firmly anchored. Rat and clean tubes only, all visible. Item counts run 10–12, 12–15, 14–17, then 17–20 at Levels 4–5. Indoors is always off leash.
• Silent Hunt: no bridge, burrow or other tubes, standard ring configurations, heights 12″ / 18″ / 24″ for Levels 1–3.
• Ultimate Distance: no bridge, burrow or other tubes, a chair for the handler (arms recommended), and the rat set at 5 ft, 10 ft or 15 ft by level.
• Village Rats: fabric pop-up playhouses or tents and plastic playhouses, all stable and standing upright. Rat and clean tubes only, on the ground in boxes or bins, never elevated. Levels 1–2 keep flaps tied open with tubes slightly visible; Levels 3–5 leave flaps to the judge with tubes completely hidden. Playhouse counts run 5–6, 6–7, 7–8, 8–9, then 9–10 or more.
• Double Dutch & Three Dog Night: two (or three) fenced start boxes in the ring corners — lattice fencing, ring gates or expens — covered with a blanket or tarp as a visual barrier. Note which type of fencing you're using in the premium. Rats sit no closer than 10 ft from the start boxes, at a maximum height of 1 ft, with no bridge or burrow.

Trial day

What to have on site, who does what, and what goes home with the dogs.

What your club provides

• A site with appropriate fencing
• Rats and containers
• Trial secretary paperwork
• 2 stopwatches
• Hunting material: clean boxes of all sizes; trash bags of various sizes filled with crumpled paper and/or clean boxes; items for bridges; items for burrows; and anything else suitable — chairs, child toys, wagons, carts. Think outside the box, as long as everything is safe.
• Cleanup supplies
• Ribbons and awards

Who does what

A ring needs a judge and a rat steward working inside it, a rat catcher and a timer outside it, a scribe, and someone on the score table — with an assistant there too if you can spare one. Jobs may be combined if you don't have enough volunteers.

Who stands where is on page 7 of the rule book, each role is defined in full on pages 19–20, and what to do about a competitor who arrives late is on page 20.

Looking after the rats

• Rats stay in secure cages with water and food available between working.
• The area must not get extremely hot or cold.
• No rat should be working for more than about an hour at a time.

Ribbons and awards

Qualifying ribbons must show the Happy Ratters logo and the words "Happy Ratters". Many clubs order through Hodges Badge Company (codes AT454 and AT455) or Stineman Ribbon Company.

Title ribbons are up to you — rosettes, flats, tabs, medals for the medallion titles, and versatility or lifetime awards. Special awards are optional but always popular, and there's no set convention, so be creative: Fastest, Oldest, Most Improved, Perfect Sniff Day, Team Having the Most Fun, and Judge's Choice.

Scoring at the table

Clubs make their own scribe sheets. For the score table itself, print the score table summary sheets — every standard class and game with its times, rats, heights and points breakdown, laid out for quick reference. The standard classes are on the first page and the games start on the second, so the two halves can be printed separately.

After the trial

Four things to finish off once everyone has packed up.

• Enter your results into Secreterrier. That's what puts runs, qualifications and titles on each dog's record. Step-by-step help is on pages 77–79 of the rule book.
• Keep your scribe sheets for at least six months. They're what settles a question about a score long after the day itself.
• Had a provisional judge at your trial? Your club's evaluation goes in on the Host Club Provisional Judge Report, sent directly rather than through the applicant.
• Watch for your invoice. Your day fees and run fees arrive together as one PayPal invoice, worked out from your entry count.

Straight to the rule book

The rule book pages you'll want most often. Each link opens the PDF at that page.