Scout earned his TD at Giant Schnauzer Nationals on Tuesday September 26, 2006, Robertsville State Park, near St. Louis, Missouri. There were 7 tracks laid and Scout was one of 3 to pass. There were many cross tracks- including deer, but that was not what slowed Scout down. We had to walk quite a long way through dense cover to get to the start marker, so it was really a longer than expected; unfortunately, we had never really practiced walking that far into a field before starting. He broke before the 30 yard marker and I just knew we were NEVER going to finish. The cover was up to my shoulders and there were stickers everywhere. Scout hated the stickers, he wanted them OFF- and it took us over 2 hours to do that when he was done. The start article was a sock covered in those same stickers…not much help! The 1st, 3rd and 4th legs were 120 yards each. The 2nd was 90 and the 4th was 50. There really wasn’t a shape, maybe the Big Dipper, but there was one left turn and 3 right turns. Scout took what seemed like FOREVER to finish, but the judges say it only took him 20 minutes! The glove was finally found, in more stickers, and then we had to work our way back through all of the thick cover to get out of the area. Scout won an engraved trophy that we are waiting to arrive. The GSCA put on a really nice lunch and the judges spoke about each dog: pass or fail. It seems that they felt Scout has some potential, so we are starting to work on the X. Scout came home from the national with 2 titles, the TD and RN. Trackers would be proud as he tracked the entire rally course both days, but it made the required sits a little difficult! So, here we are, me and Scout, a novice owner and a “pet-bred” dog that finished his championship with 4 majors and now 2 more titles- he is officially Ch. Elliott Unique Saphire Scout, RN, TD.