Level 1
1st Niki Irving & Mutley 100
2nd Eileen Giles & Maisie 99.85
3rd Lorna & Ludo 98.75
4th Helen Byrne & Nellie 98.35
5th Julie Cox & Edith 98.25
6th Charles Robert & Missy 79.25
7th Jan Martin & Mattie 78.75
8th Chantal Karyta & Spice 78.7
9th Sam Quesnel & Maisie 78.5
10th Jane Powell & Dillan 76.25
11th Linda Austin & Paddy 75.75
Level 2
1st Pauline Nea & Tia 89.5
2nd Becky Lyphries & Reba 88.75
3rd Patrice Taylor & Arnie 86.5
4th Jan Martin & Amber 79.5
5th Maggie Cameron & Bomber 79.5
6th Lu Grant & Bo 78.6
Level 3
1st Rick & Max 99.75
2nd Donna & Lucy 98.5
3rd Michelle Murray & Rio 87.75
4th Kate Kemp & Paddy 78.9
5th Peter Biles & Charlie 77.5
Our third Ace of Dogs Scentwork trial and once again we were incredibly lucky with the weather! The sun even made an appearance. We had a big entry: 17 Level 1s, 8 Level 2s and 7 Level 3s, so we were in for a long day! Everything went pretty smoothly all in all, even if things did take a bit longer than anticipated at the start. We got through the Level 1 trial in the morning and had the other 2 to do in the afternoon.
I scribed for the Level 3 exterior and vehicle searches and was impressed by the quality of the searches and also the quality of the judging and feedback given to the competitors. It was a pleasure to watch and I learnt a lot from Geoff as well.
So, on to my most important point, which is a massive thank you to our judges, Geoff and Sue. They were exceptional. They had obviously put a great deal of thought into their hides in advance with very appropriate hides for each level, giving easier searches at Level 1 and an increased level of difficulty for the higher grades. The feedback they gave was brilliant (wish I had scrimed all day now but I needed to be able to keep n eye on my puppy in the car!) I got great feedback from many competitors saying how nice they were and that they had put them at ease!
Thank you also to those that helped out, Pauline, Patrice, Peter, Becky and Kate for scribing and Rick for running and, of course, my co-trial manager Laura.
And finally, thank you to all the competitors for entering, taking part and doing so well, keep up the hard work, it really does pay off. On a personal note, I was pleased to see how well all my own students did (trials are nerve racking for the trainer as well as the students, lol), I was really proud of you all and so pleased to see some excellent results. We have lots to work on still but we are definitely moving in the right direction.
The day started bright and early, we wanted to arrive with plenty of time to look at the venue, and get set up, as we had a ong day ahead of us. Hazlemere is a lovely venue, and gave us plenty of options for placement of the elements in each level, after
a quick chat with Helen, and Laura, we very quickly came up with a plan.
We began with the Level 1’s. A quick thank you to Peter, Pauline and Patrice who were competing in later levels, but took time out to scribe for us.
We had the Boxes, and Luggage, and Exterior running at the same time, and then moved on to Tables & Chairs, and Vehicles. Laura, and Helen were making sure everyone knew where they needed to be.
There were some really lovely Exterior searches. Niki and Muttley who went on to win did a faultless search, it was a joy to watch ( Tinker wasn’t bad either !! ) really great teamwork with both dogs.
There were a couple of dogs that were nervous in the environment, Nala, Mattie, and Missy, but they were handled calmly and did really well.
Ludo and Lorna had a great bond and searched all elements beautifully, as did Zoe (who despite being nervous) handled Dash really well, and did some lovely searching and did a fab indication on the Chair.
There were some lovely indications on the Tables and Chairs, it was great to watch the dogs tracking the scent to source. Nellie, Spice, Paddy did a great job, as did Nala and Edith, who both picked it up from a long way away, and were allowed to track back to source.
Charles and Missy had the best Vehicle search of the day, and Muttley who despite being a little short, had no problem indicating the number plate.
I want to mention Dillon too, his enthusiasm to please was a joy to watch, and I look forward to watching his progression.
We didn’t stop for lunch, as we were running a little behind, so we quickly put our plan for the Level 2 in place, and began.
A quick thank you here to Kate who scribed for me.
There were some really great teams in this Level, Pauline and Tia had a great day, and went on to win. Lovely searches on all elements, your hard work with an enthusiastic dog shows.
Mitch was handled beautifully all day, as was Bo , Amber. and Reba.
Gaus did a wonderful Chair search and tracked the scent right to source.
Everyone did well with the vehicle searches, it is the 1st level with 3 cars, and you were all methodical with your searching, allowing your dogs to work. Arnie did a great job,
Well done Everyone.
Then on to Level 3.
Really great teams in this level too, and we found ourselves just enjoying watching them work, it was 1st time on Gun oil, and I think some handlers were a little nervous of that, you shouldn’t have been, your dogs did you proud.
On boxes and luggage Arthur was very quick to the gun oil. There was some lovely handling here, moving dogs off of the 1st scent to work on Well Done.
Tables and Chairs/perimeter went well Arthur did another awesome search. Lucy did a great search, as did Max and Inca.
Rio was handled beautifully. as was Charlie. Paddy did a wonderful perimeter search leaving Kate in no doubt where the scent was.
Exterior and vehicles highlighted what great teams there were competing Sharon and Inca made the Vehicle search look effortless, and the way that Kate worked Paddy made her a pleasure to watch.
The trial ended with a fantastic car search from Max, and Rick, a pretty flawless team that went on to take the Red Rosette. Well done Rick.
Thank you Helen and Laura for inviting us to judge.
I hope everyone enjoyed the day, were we tried to give feedback at the time and I hope that will be helpful, We look forward to seeing you all progress through the levels, all the hard work you are putting in shines through.
You should all be really proud of your dogs.
| A/F = Alert Find | H = Handling | T = Time (seconds) | |||||||||||||||
| Level 1 | Tables & Chairs | Exterior Search | Vehicle Search | Boxes & Luggage | Totals | ||||||||||||
| Handler & Dog | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | Marks | Time | |||
| 1 | Niki Irving – Mutley | 20 | 5 | 51 | 20 | 5 | 20 | 20 | 5 | 25 | 20 | 5 | 13 | 100 | 109 | ||
| 2 | Eileen Giles- Maisie | 20 | 5 | 25 | 20 | 4.85 | 48 | 20 | 5 | 24 | 20 | 5 | 48 | 99.85 | 145 | ||
| 3 | Lorna – Ludo | 20 | 5 | 20 | 20 | 4.75 | 18 | 20 | 4.75 | 19 | 20 | 4.25 | 61 | 98.75 | 118 | ||
| 4 | Helen Byrne – Nellie | 20 | 4.85 | 43 | 20 | 4.75 | 81 | 20 | 4.25 | 54 | 20 | 4.5 | 60 | 98.35 | 238 | ||
| 5 | Julie Cox – Edith | 20 | 5 | 41 | 20 | 4.75 | 22 | 20 | 4.25 | 65 | 20 | 4.25 | 63 | 98.25 | 191 | ||
| 6 | Charles Robert – Missy | 20 | 5 | 19 | 20 | 4.5 | 107 | 20 | 5 | 33 | 0 | 4.75 | 65 | 79.25 | 224 | ||
| 7 | Jan Martin – Mattie | 20 | 5 | 30 | 20 | 5 | 17 | 20 | 4 | 179 | 0 | 4.75 | 180 | 78.75 | 406 | ||
| 8 | Chantal Karyta – Spice | 20 | 4.95 | 43 | 20 | 4.25 | 114 | 20 | 5 | 60 | 0 | 4.5 | 180 | 78.7 | 397 | ||
| 9 | Sam Quesnel – Maisie | 20 | 4.75 | 21 | 20 | 4.25 | 90 | 0 | 4.5 | 30 | 20 | 5 | 66 | 78.5 | 207 | ||
| 10 | Jane Powell -Dillan | 20 | 4.75 | 70 | 20 | 3 | 105 | 0 | 4 | 58 | 20 | 4.5 | 31 | 76.25 | 264 | ||
| 11 | Linda Austin – Paddy | 20 | 4.75 | 94 | 20 | 4.25 | 84 | 20 | 3.25 | 131 | 0 | 3.5 | 164 | 75.75 | 473 | ||
| Level 2 | Tables & Chairs | Exterior Search | Vehicle Search | Boxes & Luggage | Totals | ||||||||||||
| Handler & Dog | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | Marks | Time | |||
| 1 | Pauline Nea – Tia | 20 | 5 | 35 | 20 | 5 | 87 | 20 | 4.75 | 51 | 10 | 4.75 | 30 | 89.5 | 203 | ||
| 2 | Becky Lyphries – Reba | 20 | 4.75 | 49 | 20 | 4.5 | 38 | 20 | 5 | 84 | 10 | 4.5 | 189 | 88.75 | 360 | ||
| 3 | Patrice Taylor – Arnie | 20 | 3 | 238 | 20 | 4.5 | 111 | 20 | 4.5 | 246 | 10 | 4.5 | 77 | 86.5 | 672 | ||
| 4 | Jan Martin – Amber | 10 | 4.5 | 96 | 20 | 5 | 49 | 10 | 5 | 46 | 20 | 5 | 44 | 79.5 | 235 | ||
| 5 | Maggie Cameron – Bomber | 20 | 4.75 | 49 | 20 | 5 | 49 | 20 | 5 | 139 | 0 | 4.75 | 25 | 79.5 | 262 | ||
| 6 | Lu Grant – Bo | 10 | 4.25 | 223 | 20 | 4.5 | 56 | 20 | 5 | 107 | 10 | 4.85 | 143 | 78.6 | 529 | ||
| Level 3 | Tables & Chairs | Exterior Search | Vehicle Search | Boxes & Luggage | Totals | ||||||||||||
| Handler & Dog | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | Marks | Time | |||
| 1 | Rick – Max | 20 | 4.75 | 176 | 20 | 5 | 86 | 20 | 5 | 118 | 20 | 5 | 82 | 99.75 | 462 | ||
| 2 | Donna -Lucy | 20 | 4.75 | 55 | 20 | 4.5 | 85 | 20 | 4.25 | 128 | 20 | 5 | 28 | 98.5 | 296 | ||
| 3 | Michelle Murray – Rio | 20 | 4.5 | 162 | 20 | 4.5 | 66 | 10 | 4 | 215 | 20 | 4.75 | 95 | 87.75 | 538 | ||
| 4 | Kate Kemp – Paddy | 10 | 4.75 | 175 | 20 | 4.5 | 294 | 20 | 4.8 | 237 | 10 | 4.85 | 90 | 78.9 | 796 | ||
| 5 | Peter Biles – Charlie | 20 | 4.75 | 54 | 10 | 4.5 | 45 | 20 | 4 | 79 | 10 | 4.25 | 98 | 77.5 | 276 | ||