Thanks to Marie for inviting me to judge the L6 at Goatacre. My thanks also to Marney Wells for standing in as trial manager for the day and to my scribe Barbara Oldham. You both did a fantastic job.
We started with internal search 1. I used a changing room area and a small additional space that had a large full height window over looking the cricket pitch. The smaller area was very ‘busy’ with a stack of small lockers, a freezer, piles of towels, empty large bins and boxes of plastic cups. The changing room area had benching round the perimeter and was relatively clear of clutter. I put out 5 hides in this search. 4 of which were in the changing room area with the fifth in the smaller area. The odour split was 2 x clove, 2 x gun oil, 1 x truffle. Of the 5 hides, 2 proved to challenge most teams; first hide that challenged (clove) was located in a gap between two benches. The gap was approximately 2 foot wide and to source the hide dogs needed to work to the back of the gap. The second hide (truffle) that really challenged I had placed in a crack in the wall adjacent to the large window in the smaller area.

We then moved outside for the external search. Whilst there was no rain, the wind was swirling round the search area. The external comprised of a court yard type area with paving slabs. 1 side of the area was the buildings side wall, low raised planting and garden furniture. The length of the rear perimeter comprised of low rise planting made of wooden sleepers. The remaining side had large cricket nets. I put out 4 hides in this area , 1 x clove, 1 x truffle, 2 x gun oil. Teams worked this area really well and dogs worked exceptionally hard to source the hides in the swirling wind. There were 2 hides that were tricky for teams. One (clove) was located in a the middle of the paving area in a washing line holder. The other (gun oil) was placed on the under side of a garden table. The table was not next to a wall and as such exposed to the swirling wind. Dogs found sourcing this hide very challenging.

Internal 2 was a bar area with benching, tables, chairs and stools. The area isn’t overly large, but it is busy with furniture. 3 hides, 1 x clove, 1 x gun oil, 1 x clove. Nerves were running high for this search as a fair few teams needed all 3 hides to qualify. The hide that proved to be the most challenging (truffle) was located right at the very start of the search area by the door.

Congratulations to not just those that qualified, but to all who entered. All teams demonstrated some great work and every dog showed some fab Scentwork skills. I had a great day, thank you!