Level 3
1 Charles Robert – Misty – 100
2 Jane Prichard – Percy – 99.9
3 Mark Phillips – Kibo – 89.9
4 Michelle Davies – Lola – 89.9
5 Shelley Stubbington – Whirligig – 89.8
6 Richard Purnell – Ziggy – 89.7
7 Jane Ellis – Febe – 89.7
8 Nicky Dunhill – Zak – 79.8
9 Jackie Lawer – Tarn – 79.7
10 Linda Bowden – Baileyhill Wiseman – 78.7
Level 6
1 Kathy Killick – Rowan – 120
2 Alison Williamson – Peppa – 120
3 Nicola Davies – Acer – 115
4 Chris Clements – QueevaDiva – 110
What lucky people we were – the sun shone and after the weekends foul weather it was brilliant. I had to adjust where we did the vehicle search as the ground was a bit wet and I was worried we might churn up the immaculate field. This meant the dog walking area was limited to the lane and car park, which wasn’t perfect. Harry Latusek and Janet Wykes were my two judges for level 3 and were very cheerful and efficient throughout the day. Thank you very much for travelling and judging for me. Sharon and Christine were excellent first time scribes – thank you. They both felt they had learnt a lot and recommend having a go at scribing to others. Karen and Ann also ensured everyone was where they should be and were excellent runners. Little Roger and Jess acted as white dogs and both did a brill job. They have already been thanked with cheese!
Can I also thank all the competitors for bringing along lovely attitudes and great dogs.
The level 6 also had lovely weather, just a bit of wind whipping up towards the end, and despite our judge having huge vehicle problems and not making it we survived with me judging and Harry being a very supportive scribe. Julie worked as runner but did so many other jobs and the lovely competitors helped pack everything away whilst I reverted to trial manager role and worked out the scores. Liberty was our white dog and very much enjoyed having a go at a Level 6! A long day but in hindsight a very satisfying one.
Janet Wykes
Many thanks to Marie Poole for inviting me to co-judge with Harry Latusek in her first level 3 trial at Goatacre Village Hall. This was a great new trial environment with plenty of outside space and a nice selection of internal rooms available (for the later level 6). A huge thanks to all the runners and helpers that ensured the morning ran smoothly, and a special thanks to my scribe Christine who not only did a fantastic job keeping track of all the scores, but was also great company. I ran the exterior and vehicle searches, whilst Harry took the internal searches. A white dog was used in all searches
Exterior Search
For the exterior search, we sectioned off an area of the playing field. The scented articles were a filing box (gun oil) situated right at the start of the search area and a car stereo (cloves) placed at the back of the search area. Out of the 14 teams, 13 found both hides with Nicky & Zak, Charles & Misty, Jackie & Tarn, Michelle & Lola, Mark & Kibo, and Linda & Brewster all gaining full handling marks in this section. I think a special mention must go to Linda who was nursing a very nasty gash to her hand after an accident prior to the start of the trial, but despite this (and following some great first aid from Marie), carried out a fantastic search.
Many of the dogs knocked the gun oil on the filing box very early in the search, and it was lovely to see those that trusted their dog’s indication to be rewarded with a correct call very early in the search. This can be a difficult decision to make when it is such an early find, but it was interesting to see those who were not so sure of their dogs early indication make a mental note of the dogs interest, work the other articles, and then return to this item later in the search.
Vehicle Search
For the vehicle search we had the three cars lined up on the playing fields with the start line directly in the middle – allowing the teams to choose which order of the cars they would work. The gun oil was placed in the door sill at the join between the front and back doors on the left-hand vehicle (light blue van), and the cloves was hidden in a front mud flap on the large 4×4 (middle vehicle).
It was interesting to see most teams drawn initially to the non-scented car at the right of the search area, and a lot of time was spent searching this vehicle. Many of the teams correctly found the scent in the mud flap on the 4×4, but I think it’s fair to say that everyone found the scent in the door sill on the van much harder to locate. One thing for the handlers to note here was how many of your dogs would focus on searching the wheels and bumpers of the vehicles but would lose interest as they moved down the side of the vehicle, either moving their nose off the vehicle or actually down to the ground. One other observation was that some of the dogs did pick the odour up in the correct vicinity, but had a little trouble working to source – as the door provides numerous exit points around the door frame. Those of you that helped your dog work along the gap were rewarded when your dog found the strongest odour point and the source of the find.
Out of the 14 teams, 4 teams found both hides – Charles & Misty, Jane & Percy, Shelley & Whirligig, and Nicky and Zak. Some fantastic teamwork here, well done. A special mention to Richard & Ziggy who were unfortunate in that Ziggy located the odour but didn’t quite work to source, and Jane & Febe who were almost onto odour when Febe was distracted by the flies and ran out of time. There was again some lovely handling in this section and it was nice to watch some very methodical vehicle searching from Shelley and Whirligig.
There was a huge range of personalities in the dogs at this trial, from the extremely exuberant through to the quietly reserved and extremely sensitive, but what was interesting to watch was how each of you understood these characteristics and worked with your dogs to try and get the best out of them. Well done
Congratulations to:
Charles and Misty – 1st Place. A superb partnership and Misty appeared to be gaining confidence in her exterior searches. Fantastic to see that you also gained your excellent title, well done.
Jane and Percy – 2nd Place. A lovely team with some great searching from Percy. I especially liked your vehicle search which was completed in one of the fastest times, well done.
Mark and Kibo – 3rd Place. An extremely exuberant girl but as she focuses into the task she produces some lovely searching and some great indications, well done.
Michelle and Lola – 4th Place. A great team and some super times, with one of the quickest searches in the exterior (and I note a very good time in the boxes and luggage too). One to watch!
Well done to everyone, I look forward to seeing you all continue to progress on your Scentwork journey.
Harry Latusek
A big Thankyou to Marie Poole for inviting me to judge at this lovely venue,a village hall,with adjacent cricket club,what more could a man want on this fine summers day.I,for one would certainly not hesitate to return,should I be fortunate enough to be invited.I would like to thank my lovely scribe for the day,Sharon,you did a wonderful job.
I shared the judging on the day with the lovely Janet Wykes.I was tasked with the inside searches.I would like to add, that I ensured that a white dog was used, prior to the commencement of each search.
Tables/chairs and perimeter
I set up this search in a T formation,placing the scent on the 2nd chair to the left of the start line.The gun oil,I secreted in the handle of a radiator,which was attached to the wall,on the far right of the room.The scent on the radiator proved a little difficult for some of the dogs, and it became very clear,that the majority were happy to search the free standing articles laid out,but avoiding the radiator and doorways.I had informed all handlers that the doors and radiators were part of the search area.The chair,was certainly more familiar to the teams,with all but 2 of the 14 not finding this scent.However,that said,some lovely searching,Richard and Ziggy,finding both in an excellent time of 35 secs.some nice methodical searching by Mark and Kibo,Charles and Misty,Michell and Lola,paid dividends for them.8 of the 14 identified both scents and 4 finding 1.
Boxes and Luggage
I hid the gun oil scent in a small black bag to the front left of the start line,the cloves scent was hidden on the underside of a wooden slatted box,to the right at its furthest most point from the start.I positioned the cones at a 45d angle to the right.It was interesting to watch,every handler influenced thier dogs to follow the line of the cones to the right side of the search area.10 of the 14 participants correctly identified both scents,after some lovely patient and methodical searching,the bag at the start proving the most difficult,the 4 remaining Dogs correctly identified the box but not the bag.An Excellent time by Linda and Brewster of 31 secs.closely followed by Shelly and Whirligig in 39 secs and Michelle and Lola in 47.Overall,Some lovely searching and handling skills came to the fore,with 8 gaining full handling marks,the others with only very minor deductions for slight misdemeanours,such as blocking and returning to the first scent several times.
I can summarise by saying I was very impressed by the majority of the dogs and the handlers skills were well above average.
I wish you all the success in the future and hopefully will meet up with some,if not all of you,at sometime in the future.
You all have a wonderful scenting career ahead of you,Good Luck.
My fellow judge,Janet,has already commented on the eventual Rosette winners on the day,so I’ll refrain from duplicating,before you nod off.
Marie Poole
Well that was a surprise to end up judging the Level 6 trial today, Heather had vehicle issues enroute and as an experienced retired Police Dog Trainer and handler– I seemed to be the obvious choice. Although I have to say not that obvious to me! I had Harry Latusek as my scribe. He was very efficient which I imagine is not easy on a Level 6 and I would like to thank him. Julie Cox was left to run the back ground stuff and acted as runner and also did whatever else was necessary – if rosettes could be given to runners I would feel honoured to hand “best runner ever” to her.
We had 12 dogs competing and I had my Level 5 dog Liberty acting as white dog.
I was impressed with the ability of both the dogs and handlers that I saw at this level. There was some cracking team work, with many of the teams making me give a silent wow! There were a significant number of handlers who called the find in the last seconds. These weren’t the last minute, we haven’t found anything so I will call this area, finds. These were dogs working to source and getting it in the last five seconds, gosh they made my heart flutter!
The exterior search caused the most problems with some dogs looking tired. The wind had also picked up and the hide on the picket fence could only be sourced from one direction.
As a generalised observation I would like to see some handlers giving their dogs more freedom to search, if some space can be created between you and your dog it becomes easier to see the subtle changes in body language when your dog is on odour. When you see these subtle changes, if the dog is struggling to get to source independently, you can move in and detail more to assist the dogs to get to source. That detailing should be low, medium and high. Most detailing was done at nose height, where the dogs had already effectively sniffed.
Some handlers forgot to task their dogs into corners, it is so easy to work an arc across the corners and to not task the dog into them.
Interior Search 1
The first search area was a foyer with multiple doors, a short corridor and an adjoining disabled toilet. This area had 4 hides and the handlers had 4 minutes.
Hide 1 was in a broken ventilation grid and was gun oil. Found by 12 out of 12 teams.
Hide 2 was in the base of an open fire duct pipe and was truffle. Found by 12 out of 12 teams.
Hide 3 was on the emergency door opener mechanism of a fire door and was truffle. Found by 6 out of 12 teams.
Hide 4 was on a blackboard A frame and was between the boards near to the edge. This was Clove. Found by 11 out of 12 teams.
The toilet was a negative search area.
Interior search 2
Ths was in a smallish bar area, that had about 6 groups of tables and chairs. The tables on the left hand side had 2 chairs to each table. The tables on the right hand side had built in seating which came along the wall and curved around the corner. The upper part of this seating was excluded from the search. Towards the rear of the room was a shuttered bar that had a few bar stools. There were 4 windows slightly inset with floor length curtains. I allowed 3 minutes but increased this to 4 minutes whilst the first dog was working.
Hide 1 was on a on a door hinge – this was truffle. 11 out of 12 teams found this.
Hide 2 was tucked behind the edge of the rear of the built in seating area. This was Clove. 10 out of 12 dogs found this.
Hide 3 was on top of the leg of one of the chairs next to the tables. This was gun oil. 9 out of 12 dogs found this.
As the handlers were walking this area, I realised it was going to be a handler scarer. I think the area was actually more simple and straightforward than the first search area.
Exterior search
This was a number of benches against a wall, the drainpipe and fittings and a five bar gate. The search then went into a triangular area enclosed by 6ft fence panels to the rear and picket fence to the front and once side. The floor surface here was astro turf. There were a number of benches and chairs in this area. 5 minutes was allowed for this area. Liberty located and ate a piece of food between the first and second benches. The residual scent from this did cause a few wrong alerts, but some handlers also demonstrated that they could read the difference between an indication and a food hunt.
Hide 1 was on the cross strut on the base of the first bench – this was clove. Found by 5 out of 12 teams.
Hide 2 was in a crack in the wall and was clove. Found by 7 out of 12 teams.
Hide 3 was in the box hinge of the 5 bar gate and was gun oil. Found by 7 out of 12 teams.
Hide 4 was on the close board fence at the rear of the search and was truffle. Found by 4 out of 12 teams
Hide 5 was on the picket fence on the exterior edge of the triangle and was gun oil. Found by 4 out of 12 teams
Congratulations to the first 4, who were also the only qualifiers.
Kathy Killick and Rowan 1st with 120 points 642 seconds
Alison Williamson and Peppa 2nd 120 points 683 seconds
Nicola Davis and Acer 3rd place 115 points 616 seconds
Chris Clements and QueevaDiva 110 points 612 seconds
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 3 A/F H T A/F H T A/F H T A/F H T Marks Time
1 Charles Robert – Misty 20 5 162 20 5 92 20 5 164 20 5 108 100 526
2 Jane Prichard – Percy 20 5 102 20 4.9 54 20 5 108 20 5 62 99.9 326
3 Mark Phillips – Kibo 20 5 74 20 5 64 10 4.9 125 20 5 68 89.9 331
4 Michelle Davies – Lola 20 5 110 20 5 30 10 4.9 157 20 5 47 89.9 344
5 Shelley Stubbington – Whirligig 10 5 69 20 4.8 34 20 5 185 20 5 39 89.8 327
6 Richard Purnell – Ziggy 20 5 36 20 4.9 43 10 5 195 20 4.8 177 89.7 451
7 Jane Ellis – Febe 20 5 132 20 4.8 66 10 4.9 280 20 5 50 89.7 528
8 Nicky Dunhill – Zak 10 4.9 48 20 5 24 20 5 103 10 4.9 79 79.8 254
9 Jackie Lawer – Tarn 20 4.8 176 20 5 42 10 4.9 161 10 5 79 79.7 458
10 Linda Bowden – Baileyhill Wiseman 10 4 46 20 5 35 10 4.9 172 20 4.8 31 78.7 284
WA P B D T WA P B D T WA P B D T WA P B D P+B+D Time
WA = Wrong Alerts ( 4 = elimination ) P = Points (articles found X 10)
B = Bonus (10 if all items found) D = Deductions T = time (seconds)
Interior Search 1 Interior Search 2 Exterior Search Totals
No of items Time allowed No of items Time allowed No of items Time allowed P+B-D = Points + Bonus - Deductions
WA P B D T WA P B D T WA P B D T WA P B D P+B-D Time
1 Kathy Killick – Rowan 0 40 10 0 167 0 30 10 0 235 2 30 0 0 240 2 100 20 0 120 642
2 Alison Williamson – Peppa 0 40 10 0 204 0 30 10 0 239 1 30 0 0 240 1 100 20 0 120 683
3 Nicola Davies – Acer 1 40 10 0 153 0 30 10 0 223 0 30 0 5 240 1 100 20 5 115 616
4 Chris Clements – QueevaDiva 1 30 0 0 240 0 30 10 0 132 0 40 0 0 240 1 100 10 0 110 612