What can I say, we had a lovely evening without it being too warm and thanks to everyone present on the evening everything ran so smoothly.. Thank you to Hayley and Alison for judging and Gill, Janice and Diane for scribe duties and running order.
Knowing who the entries were I knew it was always going to be a tight result so credit to all the teams who supported each other throughout the evening. Very well done everyone.

Judges Report

Hayley Whitaker
Thank you to Susan for inviting me to co-judge this lovely evening L2 trial. Thanks also to Gill for being a wonderful scribe. The standard was quite remarkable and it was an absolute pleasure. I judged two areas EXTERIOR ITEMS and TABLES/CHAIRS/PERIMETER.
The exterior was first and it was still quite warm at the rear of the venue as the bricks were giving out a lot of warmth. We had 14 items set out and the odour was on the folded down small stool (in between the layers) and low on the kettle. Everyone found both hides with very little trouble! A few dogs took a lot of interest in the fence nearest the small stool where odour was clearly pooling but all of the owners were quick to bring their dogs back to the search at hand. Leanne and Freddie were unlucky to get a touch of rain for their search.
We positioned the tables/chairs and items away from the rear doors just to be 100% sure that there was no odour being pulled towards them. The odour was on the first chair and it was brilliant to see so many dogs picking it up straight away and their handlers having the confidence to call it. The second hide was on a kettle again – a different one and it was located in a different location! Some dogs made a beeline straight for it and neither hide gave the teams any major issues.
Its rare that everyone finds all the hides in my areas and I also don’t make any deductions – but that’s a testament to the quality on display.
Congratulations to those that placed. Chester loves his work and was so speedy and Venor searches with such joy that it always makes me smile. Barbara and Ranga did a beautiful tables/chairs search where she let Ranga work off lead for the first hide on the chair and then worked on lead for the perimeter items. It was thoughtful, considered and fast! Denise told me tables and chairs was her nemesis but then went on to do a great search in just 46 seconds. It was Emily and Maisie’s first L2 and they are a team to watch going forward! Leanne and Freddie were unlucky to miss out on a place by 1 second!!
My take home message would be more of the same please – oh and trust your dog!! Often that comes with time and learning to trust one another – its part of the joy of working with your dog.