Hilfsperson — assistant in the Carry and Hand-over exercise
VP
Victim / hiding person
FHL
Fährtenleger — track layer (F discipline)
TL
Trail Layer — person being trailed (MT discipline); also used as Team Leader in general SAR context
RHT
RettungsHundTeam — Rescue Dog Team (DH + D together)
RDT
Rescue Dog Team — same as RHT; both appear in the documents
Disciplines (RH = Rettungshund)
Abbr
Meaning
RH-F
Fährtenhund — tracking dog
RH-FL
Flächensuchhund — area search dog
RH-T
Trümmersuchhund — rubble search dog
RH-L
Lawinensuchhund — avalanche search dog
RH-MT
Mantrailing dog
RH-W
Wasserrettungshund — water rescue dog
Exercise Elements
Abbr
Meaning
AC
Audio Command (verbal)
VC
Visual Command (hand signal)
GS
Grundstellung — basic position (D sitting at DH’s left, shoulder at knee height)
KW
Kehrtwendung — U-turn / about-turn
RW
Rechtswende — right turn
LW
Linkswende — left turn
Exercise Phase and Scoring Phases
Phase A = nosework; Phase B = obedience/dexterity. These are distinct from test levels V, A and B.
Abbr
Meaning
UO
Unterordnung — Obedience phase
GW
Gewandtheit — Dexterity / Agility phase
LH
Leistungsheft — scorebook (submit to the event office before the test)
Other
Abbr
Meaning
IRO
International Search and Rescue Dog Organisation
GPS
Global Positioning System — handler use prohibited in nosework except declared GPS in MT
Notes
TL is overloaded: Trail Layer in MT nosework context; Team Leader in general organizational context. In the alert rules table (“Any assistance from DH/VP/TL → 0 points”), TL refers to the person being searched for in the MT discipline.
RHT / RDT: both mean the working team (DH + D). RHT is the German-derived form, RDT is the English rendering. Used interchangeably in the documents.