Due to hall and student availability, I made an ad-hoc decision to host a L1 trial on 3 May. Thanks Justine for quickly dispatching the rosettes and trophy.

Last minute switch of Annes meant we had to wait for Ann Matty with the briefing and still started on time. This was the first trial for a lot of the entrants and there were some serious nerves involved in all of the searches, leading to a number of “too quick” calls – despite a stern briefing.

Thank you once again, Paula for being my right hand.

Judges Report

As the forecast was mixed, we started with Exterior items. The scent was hidden in a toy truck wheel and in the first aid box. Belinda and Bella exceeded themselves by finding both items in 36 seconds, hotly followed by Ann and Angel. A number of handlers mistook their dog’s interest as alerts and ended up only finding one of the hidden scents – calling them on items that needed investigation, such as bike helmet and kid’s potty (Fenchurch and Wilbur). Freya called the alert on the adjacent item, not giving Winter the chance to make sure.

We then did Tables & Chairs, where all dogs found the correct chair, Fenrir in the record time of 15 seconds, hotly followed by Angel and a “dancing on ice” Fenchurch.

Next was the Wall search, where Winter decided no longer to play ball and decided to not give Freya any indication – making her even more nervous as they had to find both hides in their last search. Unfortunately, Belinda called the alert too far from the scent (and early.. After 30 seconds).

On Boxes and Luggage, Belinda and Bella missed a hide and Freya and Winter took their time (nearly 4 minutes) to make sure they would be successful.

It was a pleasure seeing the teams perform under test conditions and well done all for “giving it a go”… in some cases after only having had 4 lessons! Well done all!