Welcome to DDT
Every team that has ever competed here showed up for the first time once. This is yours.
Your First Step
A DDT Pro membership is where everything begins. From the moment you join, the full calendar of trials is open to you. Find one near you, register your dog, and the rest takes care of itself. Your division, your record, every result you ever earn all live in DDT Pro from your very first trial forward.
Your host is your greatest resource before the day arrives. They will reach out with everything you need — check in details, the schedule, what to bring, and anything specific to their venue. Every detail has been considered with your experience in mind. Take it all in and arrive ready to enjoy the day.
If you have questions before you arrive, reach out to your host directly. Every host in this sport has been exactly where you are.
On Trial Day
Bring what your dog needs to be comfortable and focused. A flat collar or harness, your preferred reward and an odour tin for a pre-run nose touch are all you need to get started. Your host will handle everything else.
When you arrive, check in with your host and give yourself and your dog a moment to settle into the environment. The judge will be in the search area with you. They are there to see your team work. They want to see everything you have built show up in that search.
When your run is over the judge will give you immediate feedback on what they saw. Every score comes with an explanation. Every run is an opportunity to understand your team more deeply than you did before it. That is what makes DDT different from the moment you step into it for the first time.
Your Dog
Any breed. Any size. Any background. Any odour your dog is trained on. DDT was built to welcome every detection dog that has ever been asked to find something and do it well.
If your dog is nervous or reactive, you are still welcome here. Let your host know ahead of time and they will do everything they can to make the day work for your team. The search area belongs to you and your dog for the duration of your run. The judge will give space where it is needed.
If your dog has never competed before, that is exactly what a first trial is for. There is no experience requirement and no prerequisite beyond the work the two of you have put in together. The standard is honest. The community is generous. Come and find out what your dog is capable of.
The Community
The DDT community is one of the things handlers mention most after their first trial. Not the score. Not the result. The people around them.
This is a sport built on genuine partnership between dogs and their handlers and that ethos extends to everyone in the room. Experienced competitors remember what it felt like to be new. Hosts run their events with care and intention. Judges give feedback that helps you understand your team more deeply after every single run.
What you will find here is a community that takes the work seriously and takes care of the people doing it. Everyone in that search area worked to get there. Everyone outside it is glad you did.
Your First Score
Your first DDT score will show you something new about your team. Not because the number is the point. Because the nine categories behind it are.
Every run is scored across nine categories, each one looking at a different part of what your team did inside that search area. Odour Location. Area Coverage. Handler Tasking. Commitment to Odour. Indication. Team Impression. And five more. Each one scored honestly by a judge who watched every second of your run and will tell you exactly what they saw when it is over.
The qualifying score is 80 points. Whether you get there on your first run or your tenth, what the score gives you every single time is an honest picture of where your team is and what to build next. That is what keeps handlers coming back.
A Word Before You Start
DDT welcomes competitors at every level and you may enter at any division you feel ready for. There is no requirement to start at Preliminary.
What we have seen, though, is that the teams who start at Preliminary and work through the levels tend to have the richest experience of the sport. DDT scores things that no other format measures. The nine categories see the partnership between a dog and their handler in ways that take a little time to understand from both ends of the lead. Preliminary is where that understanding builds naturally, at a pace that sets every team up for what comes next.
Experienced competitors from other sports are some of the most talented teams in DDT. The transition is simply smoother when the format has a chance to introduce itself properly.
If you would like to talk through where your team should start, we are happy to help. Reach out at info@detectiondogtrials.com and we will find the right starting point together.