1 Rachel Gowshall – Hattie – 100
2 Katie Rogers – Gylly – 100
3 Andrea Bolden – Ruby – 100
4 Mike Wright – Poppy – 99.65
5 Ruth Hawkesford – Darwin – 99.5
6 Fiona Firth – Theo – 99.25
7 Karen James – Alfie – 79.4
8 Sharon Smith – Mosi – 79
9 Marney Wells – Kipper – 78.25
What a brilliant start we had for our first trial at Foxham. The sun beamed down on us and the venue looked beautiful. Can I start with a huge thank you to Shelley Stubbington who judged and her mum Kay Jennings who scribed. Also to Ann Douglas and Julie Cox who were very friendly and efficient runners. There were many firsts – my first trial as manager, Shelley’s first judging experience and some competitors first competition. As I was setting up the hall I started getting text messages from Shelley saying that the traffic was gridlocked and she was going to be tight on time. I decided to have a contingency and luckily enough had my judges wig, gown and gavel in my van, so knew I could step in and judge the first search if needs be. As it was Shelley and Kay arrived a little flustered but not too late. After a quick breather they very efficiently set everything up the way they wanted and off we went. Shelley I suspect will quickly become a very well respected judge, her feedback was concise and relevant. The searches were all fair and achievable. There was a lovely atmosphere with dogs and handlers being ready at the right times in the right place. The teamwork displayed was awesome. I was really impressed with many of the searches I watched, even the teams who missed the finds came away with a good experience. I do have to say thank you to all the competitors for making it such a lovely experience for all involved in the organising and running of the trial. Thank you to Kate for the lovely lemon drizzle cake. It was so nice I took unopened packets of Jaffa cakes home – has this ever happened before? Was this yet another first? Also thank you to Karen and Julie who tidied the hall up whilst we prepared the rosettes. I hope to see everyone again at our future trials.
Thank you to Marie for inviting me for my first judging appointment and organising such an efficient trial, and to the runners Ann and Julie and my scribe (my mum, Kay Jennings) for keeping things running so smoothly. I arrived slightly flustered when my one hour journey took two and a half hours due to awful traffic, but I found everything perfectly set up, and the competitors were raring to go, so we got stuck straight in.
We started with the Tables & Chairs, with a simple square set up and two chairs on each side. Nerves got the better of a few handlers, and there were a few early calls, but overall most teams were successful, with Fiona & Theo putting in a very speedy performance of 17 seconds! We went straight on to the Exterior Items, and all teams were successful here, which was fantastic. Any points lost were only for very minor things, and all teams worked well to complete the search. After a quick break, we moved back in to the hall for the Boxes and Luggage search, and again there was some beautiful searching from some of the dogs. A few got a little overexcited and showed a bit too much interest in some of the items which resulted in a couple of false alerts or wrong calls, but overall most teams were successful, with some real stand-out searches from Rachel & Hattie, Katie & Gylly, Andrea & Ruby, Ruth & Darwin, and Fiona & Theo. Last up was the Vehicle search, and again every partnership was successful here, even if Mossi made his handler Sharon wait until the dying seconds of his 3 minutes to show her where the scent was! I was delighted to see Karen & Alfie and Peter & Button pull off perfect searches after a few nervous searches earlier in the evening.
I really enjoyed watching all of the partnerships work, and was willing everyone on throughout!
I was really impressed with the start line routines of Rachel & Hattie, Katie & Gylly, and Mike & Poppy, who all set their dogs up to work and focus from the start so well.
The results were really close at the top, with 3 partnerships earning a perfect 100, and there really was nothing to deduct from the lovely performances put in by Rachel & Hattie, Katie & Gylly, and Andrea & Ruby. Lovely calm handling, and very happy dogs who knew their job. It was an absolute delight to watch them all work.
Thank you to all the dog and handler teams that took part, it was a privilege to judge this trial.
| T&C - A/F | T&C - H | T&C - T | ES - A/F | ES - H | ES - T | VS - A/F | VS - H | VS - T | B&L - A/F | B&L - H | B&L - T | Marks | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A/F = Alert Find | H = Handling | T = Time (seconds) | |||||||||||||
| Tables & Chairs | Exterior Search | Vehicle Search | Boxes & Luggage | Totals | |||||||||||
| Level 1 | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | Marks | Time | |
| 1 | Rachel Gowshall – Hattie | 20 | 5 | 31 | 20 | 5 | 8 | 20 | 5 | 17 | 20 | 5 | 11 | 100 | 67 |
| 2 | Katie Rogers – Gylly | 20 | 5 | 38 | 20 | 5 | 32 | 20 | 5 | 9 | 20 | 5 | 12 | 100 | 91 |
| 3 | Andrea Bolden – Ruby | 20 | 5 | 50 | 20 | 5 | 13 | 20 | 5 | 25 | 20 | 5 | 22 | 100 | 110 |
| 4 | Mike Wright – Poppy | 20 | 4.75 | 25 | 20 | 5 | 8 | 20 | 5 | 26 | 20 | 4.9 | 41 | 99.65 | 100 |
| 5 | Ruth Hawkesford – Darwin | 20 | 4.8 | 49 | 20 | 4.8 | 36 | 20 | 4.9 | 82 | 20 | 5 | 27 | 99.5 | 194 |
| 6 | Fiona Firth – Theo | 20 | 5 | 18 | 20 | 4.5 | 46 | 20 | 4.75 | 41 | 20 | 5 | 38 | 99.25 | 143 |
| 7 | Karen James – Alfie | 0 | 4.75 | 27 | 20 | 4.9 | 36 | 20 | 5 | 60 | 20 | 4.75 | 46 | 79.4 | 169 |
| 8 | Sharon Smith – Mosi | 20 | 4.75 | 43 | 20 | 5 | 33 | 20 | 4.5 | 168 | 0 | 4.75 | 101 | 79 | 345 |
| 9 | Marney Wells – Kipper | 20 | 4.5 | 53 | 20 | 4.5 | 67 | 20 | 4.75 | 36 | 0 | 4.5 | 26 | 78.25 | 182 |