Sat 11 Jan 2020, Bodymoor Heath

Level 7: Judge - Karen Denton
WAPBDTWAPBDTWAPBDTWAPBDP+B+DTime
WA = Wrong Alerts (4 = elimination)P = Points (articles found X 10)
B = Bonus (10 if all items found)D = DeductionsT = time (seconds)
Interior Search 1Interior Search 2Exterior SearchTotals
No of itemsTime allowedNo of itemsTime allowedNo of itemsTime allowedP+B-D = Points + Bonus - Deductions
WAPBDTWAPBDTWAPBDTWAPBDP+B-DTime
1Dolores Palmer - Gypsy12000.52400401001090401002001100200.5119.5549
2Sarah Taylor - Hugo13000240040100211030001571100100110608

Trial Manager and Judges Reports

Ellen Lindley asked me to be Trial Manage for her Level 7.
I was worried at first but soon got into the roll and I learnt so much so.
Thank you to Ellen first and also to Karen who was lovely and help me though the day. Also thanks to Collette for scribing.
It ran very smoothly, competitors and dogs being in the right place at the right time.
The venue was lovely, the ground was a bit wet but the day went well.

Judge’s report

Many thanks to Ellen for inviting me to judge this Level 7 trial. My thanks also go to Helen Hemple for trial managing and keeping everything calm and running smoothly and supplying me with cups of coffee! Thanks also to Collette Guy who was a super scribe who conducted the role with great efficiency.

We had eight dog teams competing with two teams qualifying. There were four hides per area with four minutes allowed for each search. Interior 1 was the main hall. I placed two scents quite close to each other and, in the majority of cases, handlers moved quickly away from the first scent without considering the area close by. This was particularly the case when handlers had taken their dogs out to reward them. None of the teams found all four but all four scents were found between all the competitors.

The Exterior search was the length of the hall which included three picnic benches and other paraphernalia. Only two teams found all four scents here. Generally speaking handlers would have benefited from tasking their dogs into the benches more than they did. There were two hides on one of the picnic tables and again, many handlers didn’t consider there might be another close by and shot off to the next bench!

Interior 2 was the disabled toilet, the gents and the ladies toilets. Only one team got all four finds and the most missed hide was an early on the door frame going into the gents. Missing an early was also the downfall of many in the main hall search.

Huge congratulations to Dolores & Gypsy who took 1st place. Although Gypsy is an excitable girl who isn’t the easiest to manage, Dolores reads her well and was able to declare the ‘all clear’ twice giving her the advantage of 20 bonus points! Well done Dolores! A well-deserved win!

Huge congratulations to Sarah & Hugo also who were the other team to qualify taking 2nd place. Sarah also declared Interior 2 clear. Again, Hugo can be excitable and sometimes his indication is very subtle but Sarah knows the signs and secured a great 2nd place. Well done Sarah.

I saw some great dogs and wonderful handling today as you’d expect at this level. One or two handlers were kicking themselves as soon as their search had finished when they realised they hadn’t covered certain areas as well as they’d planned. But hey! We’ve all been there! As long as it was a fun and enjoyable experience that’s all that really matters.

Well done to all the competitors.

Karen Denton

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