Balto/Articles

Articles

The Article exercise editor

Article search is a discipline where the dog is trained to locate articles or items associated with a person, such as clothing, personal effects, or evidence. Balto's Article exercise log captures the article composition, placement, and the dog's performance.

Starting an Article Exercise

If you haven't already started a Mission, follow these steps.

1. From the Welcome page, press and hold the begin training button to start a new mission
2. Configure the mission details (date, location, DR number) and tap Start a new task
3. On the Exercise Configuration screen, select Articles as the training type
4. Tap Set Task Details to begin the exercise

Otherwise, you'll be skipping steps 1 and 2.

The Article exercise has four sections that scroll vertically: Article Area (Config), Article Details, Event Log (Logger), and Review.

Article Area Section

This section captures the configuration of the exercise and the search area.

Activity

Select the type of activity:

• Imprinting — Teaching the dog the target scent or behavior
• Known — Handler knows the article location(s)
• Blind — Handler does not know the article location(s)
• Other — Any other activity type

Lead

Select On lead or Off lead based on how the dog is working.

Area Size/Length

Enter the approximate size of the search area. Use the spinning wheel control to quickly adjust the value, or tap the text field to enter a specific value.

Select the appropriate units from the dropdown:

• acres (max 200)
• sq. meters (max 10,000)
• sq. feet (max 10,000)
• meters (max 1000) — for linear search areas
• miles (max 20) — for linear search areas

Article Details Section

This section captures the specifics of the articles being searched for.

Number of Articles

Select the number of articles placed in the search area, from N/A to 10.

Composition

Check all materials that the articles are made of:

• Metal
• Wood
• Leather
• Fabric
• Plastic
• Glass
• Paper
• Rubber
• Foam
• Other — Use the adjacent text field to specify

Multiple compositions can be checked for exercises with diverse article types.

Placement Age

Select how old the article placement is when the dog begins searching:

• Fresh to 1 Hour
• 1 to 2 Hours
• 2 to 4 Hours
• 4 to 8 Hours
• 8 to 12 Hours
• 12 to 24 Hours
• 24 to 48 Hours
• Other

Cover

Check whether articles are Covered (concealed under leaves, brush, debris) or Uncovered (visible if you knew where to look). Multiple boxes can be checked if the exercise has mixed conditions.

Position

Check the position of the articles:

• Surface — On the ground
• Buried — Beneath the surface
• Elevated — Off the ground (in trees, on rocks, etc.)

Multiple boxes can be checked if articles are placed in different positions.

Placement Details

Free-form text field to add specific details about article placement.

Specific Articles

Select from a predefined list of common article types, or enter a custom description in the text area below. The dropdown is sourced from the Things database in Settings, which can be customized by the handler.

After selecting a type from the dropdown, the description appears in the text area for editing or expansion. Use the text area to add additional details about the specific articles placed (color, size, distinctive features, etc.).

Event Log Section

This section captures the start and end times of the exercise.

Set K9 Start Time and Start Working Timer

Press and hold the large button to:

• Record the time the dog began working
• Start the working time counter
• Display the K9 Start time below the button

The press-and-hold action prevents accidental starts. A visual progress indicator shows the hold duration.

Stop Timer

Tap the Stop Timer button when the exercise ends. This records the final working time.

K9 Start and Time Working

These fields display the start time and elapsed working time. Both can be edited manually if you need to correct the values.

Review Section

This section captures the performance rating and notes.

Performance Rating

Select a rating from N/A through 0-10 to assess the dog's performance.

TFR

Select TFR Unprompted (dog gave the trained final response on their own) or TFR Prompted (dog responded after handler cue).

False Alert

Check if the dog gave a false alert during the exercise.

Notes

Free-form text area for activity notes and remediation plan.

Finishing the Exercise

When you're done recording the exercise:

1. Scroll to the bottom of the screen
2. Tap Finish & save exercise
3. The exercise will be saved and you'll return to the mission

If the working timer is still running when you tap Finish, the timer must be stopped first.

Tips

• Use the Article Editor in Settings to maintain a list of articles you commonly use in training, making selection faster
• Track article composition to understand which materials your dog finds easier or harder to detect
• The Placement Age tracking is essential for understanding scent aging on different materials
• For exercises with multiple articles of different ages or compositions, document each in the Specific Articles section
• Combine articles of similar composition with different ages to test the dog's discrimination on aged scent
• Buried and Elevated placements present different challenges — track success rates separately to identify areas needing focused training

Article Editor

From the Gear Menu in the upper right corner, you can access the Article editor which modifies the choices available in the Specific Articles popup menu.