Some basic requirements:
Ring Size: approximately 400-600 Square feet for Ratter, Happy Ratter and Expert levels. 500-900 square feet for champion and extraordinaire. May be any shape. The ring must be securely fenced at a 4 foot height.
Hunting Piles: Ratter and Happy Ratter, approximately 100 square feet of hunting piles, separate or in a line or circle. Expert and above levels 100 square feet or more.
Rat Containers: must be secure containers that will not open or break by any person and/or dog handling or mishandling! All containers must look the same. All containers must have sufficient air flow fore breathability and temperature control.
Extraordinaire Class: Depending on the physical set up of the facility, Extraordinaire teams can wait outside, or in another room, where they can’t hear how many rats are found. If there is no way to isolate the competitors, the judge may change the number of rats for each run.
Hosting a Trial
Please check the calendar before applying for a trial. Trials will not be allowed less than 150 miles from each other on the same day.(Google map distance). It is the club responsibility to check with nearby clubs. Please use the trial application form, if trial is accepted, you will be paypal invoiced for the application fee.
Hosts may select which classes to offer, ideally the ability to move up to the next level is in a competitor’s best interest. If a host offers day of show, all the classes listed in the premium or entry form must be available as a day of show class even if there are no pre-entries for that class.
Fees:
- Trial application fee $25.00 per trial (how to know if it’s 2 trials? if a host offers 2 rounds of the standard classes – Ratter, Happy Ratter up to Extraordinaire)
- Trial run fees $1.75 per Run
Approved Judge Fee:
- $2.00- $3.00/run, mileage, meals, and overnight stay fees (if needed).
- best to have an email of understanding between club and judge at time of hiring.
- Judge’s gift from the host club are nice to offer.
Host Club Tasks:
- Apply for trial
- create premium/entry form
- create trial in Secreterrier (as of July 1, 2025)
- take entries (online in secreterrier) or on paper
- enter paper entries
- post trial, enter results into Secreterrier as of 7/1/2025
- Training videos in process, will be available in June.
Host club provides:
- Site with appropriate fencing
- rats and containers
- trial secretary paperwork
- 2 stopwatches
- Hunting Material
- Clean boxes of all sizes
- variety of sizes of trash bags filled with crumpled paper and/or clean boxes
- item for bridges (see general rules)
- Item for burrows (see general rules)
- other suitable items include chairs, child toys, wagons, carts, etc.
- Feel free to “think outside the box” as long as items are safe.
- Clean up supplies
- Ribbons, 1st – 4th place
- In USA 1st Blue, 2nd Red, 3rd White, 4th Yellow, your country may vary
- Qualifying ribbons (Green)
- Games Qualifier (hot pink)
- Perfect Score (hot tomato_
- Metallic Qualifying ribbons (Rainbow)
- New Title Rosettes – nice to have
- and any special awards (fastest hunt, oldest dog, most improved, perfect day, perfect fun..) (host choice, optional)
- Image below, Hodges Badge has the logo (Button Logo AT228, Ribbon AT227)
A word about collars…
Prong, Choke, Pinch, or electric collars are not allowed in the staging area or on the way from the staging area to the ring. Hosts who prefer that any particular type of collar is not permitted on their grounds should say so in their premium or registration form.
Rat Care
- Rats must be in secure cages with water and food available in between working.
- Area must not have extreme temperatures.
- Rats should not be working more than approximately an hour at a time.
- Rat Care Guidelines please review
Scoring :
- Hosts may make their own scribe sheets for scoring, its a good idea to keep them for at least 6 months in case there are questions
- this spreadsheet is an example of scribesheets (4 to a page) for each level and game
- Happy Ratter Master Scribesheet sept 2022