Code of Conduct
Every team that enters a DDT search area deserves the same thing. A fair search, a safe environment, and a standard that protects everyone in it.
Equipment
A flat collar or harness is required for all runs. No correctional equipment or training aids may be worn in the search area. Simple, consistent, and the same for every team at every trial.
Dogs may work on or off lead. Your host will advise in advance if the venue requires on-lead work, and may make that call on the day if conditions change.
Rewarding Inside the Search Area
You may reward your dog in the search area with a toy or food. Food must not be crumbly or dropped on the floor, and the hide must not be interfered with.
Your dog found it. That moment belongs to both of you. DDT has always believed that the reward is part of the work — the punctuation at the end of everything your team has built together. At Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced where multiple hides are in play, the clock pauses while you reward. Take the moment. It was earned.
Just keep the search area clean and the hide intact for the team that comes in after you.
Conduct in the Search Area
If a dog urinates or defecates in the search area, the judge may deduct points under Obedience to Search, or disqualify if it is considered marking. This is judged more strictly indoors than outdoors. The judge may pause the run to clean the area.
For any team running after a soiled area, the judge will advise you of the affected zone and any interest your dog shows there will be disregarded in scoring. Every team deserves a fair search. This is how DDT protects that.
Welfare
Every dog that steps into a DDT search area deserves to be there on their own terms. The work is real, the standard is high, and the search asks a great deal of a trained dog. What it never asks is for a dog to work through pain, fear, or discomfort.
If a judge feels a dog is uncomfortable, in pain, or being harshly handled, they have the right to pause the run to discuss or end it entirely and ask the competitor to leave. This is not a punishment. It is the sport doing what it was built to do — seeing the dog, respecting what they bring into that search area, and protecting it.
Judge's Authority
Every DDT judge is trained to see everything that happens inside the search area. Their decision on what they saw is final.
DDT understands that competition brings passion and that passion sometimes brings questions. The integrity of every search depends on the authority of the judge who watched it. That authority is respected absolutely at every trial, by every team, in every country DDT operates in.
Disqualification
Arguing a judge's ruling results in automatic disqualification. If a team is disqualified, has their run stopped, or is asked to leave for any reason, entry fees will not be refunded.
DDT is built on a standard that treats every team with equal respect. That standard runs in every direction. The same integrity the sport brings to the search area is what it asks of everyone who enters it.