Mon 27 Mar 2017, Hazlemere

Level 1 Judge: Heather Donnelly

Mon 27 Mar 2017, Ace of Dogs, The Stables @ The Cedar Barn, Barn Lane, Hazlemere, Bucks. Judge: Heather Donnelly

Level 1

1 Patty & Joey – 100
2 Pauline & Tia – 99.75
3 Janice & Gem – 99.5
4 Michele & Rio – 99.5
5 Niki & Tinker – 98.5
6 Sam & Teddy – 98.25
7 Peter & Charlie – 98
8 Pat & Arthur – 98
9 Felicity & Bracken – 97.75
10 Karen & Remy – 79.75
11 Penny & Oscar – 79.5
12 Niki & Mutley – 79.5
13 Jane & Zola – 78.25
14 Nina & Callie – 78
15 Sharon & Inca – 77.5

Well this was our first trial and I was quite nervous about it all!  However, I think it went fairly smoothly and all the feedback I have had has been positive so I guess it was “alright on the night”, so to speak!  I have learnt lots of lessons ready for next time!  A huge thanks must go to Heather Donnelly for judging and also for the massive part she played in making sure the organisation was on track and to Lynne Moulson who agreed to scrime for us and did a fantastic job.

The trial proved to be popular and all 16 places filled within a couple of days so I knew we would need all the time we had in the hall (mistake No 1, don’t make the start time the same as the time you can get in the hall!).

After a slightly delayed start, we got cracking with the tables and chairs search, which went off pretty well with a very high percentage of successful finds.  We then got more in the swing of things and whistled through the vehicle searches (we had 2 people with 2 dogs so had to set up 2 searches in each case) with another very high percentage of passes.

Then there was a chance for the competitors to have a breather and some lunch.  Heather, Lynne and I however, carried on working hard with setting up the boxes and luggage search.

After lunch, I learnt a new skill – delegating!  I appointed a runner which meant I was able to nip home and get a couple of things we needed and also allow my dogs to stretch their legs albeit briefly as, by now, we had a much better queuing system and by the time I got back, they were just finishing the boxes and luggage.  This was the part that most people seemed to be worried about but we still had a 75% pass rate!

Finally, we set up the last search, the exterior search.  By this time, I thought dogs and handlers might all be getting a bit tired after a long day so it makes me very proud to say they all really stepped up to the mark with a 100% pass rate!

Lynne and I then had the onerous task of writing up 15 certificates which we then presented to some very happy competitors.

It was a long and tiring day but everyone enjoyed themselves and we had a high success rate!  A huge well done to everyone.  And a huge thank you to Heather, Lynne and all the competitors who helped to make it so enjoyable and successful.

I have already been asked when the next one will be!  Gulp!  That one will have to be Level 1 and 2!

I was delighted to be asked by Helen Soper ‘Ace of Dogs’ to be asked to judge at her first ‘Scentwork UK’ trial. She had attracted a really good entry of 16 dogs from 14 handlers all ready and eager to have a go at their first Level 1 some of which had never entered a competition before.

Unfortunately my new ‘mapping’ system didn’t seem to be working and I ended up getting lost on route which meant that Helen had to come and find me but we were both relieved that all the competitors’ had found the venue. Unfortunately the previous hall booking took their time meaning that we couldn’t start until 10.30am so it meant that we needed to get a move on to finish by 4.30pm.

I was introduced to my scribe Lynne Moulson who I must say was absolutely brilliant and took on the tasks of stop clock starter & stopper, score recorder, adder up and certificate writer. Helen was both trials manager and runner which meant a lot of hard work, especially keeping a steady flow of competitors which is no easy task.

As a judge generally I was mightily impressed with the overall standard especially in that many of the competitors were very confident to call an early ‘alert’ when their dogs had only searched two chairs; a very brave thing to do and were awarded full handling marks for doing so. With the vehicle search I wanted to see how quickly the handler knew the difference between their dog searching for the scented article or just going off to have a general sniff!. Also I wanted to see, once they had realised, where they resumed the search and if they had missed out any part of the vehicle; my handling marks were a reflection of this. The dreaded ‘boxes & luggage’ search again took its toll resulting in a couple of ‘false alerts’ with some dogs being rather interested in a green bag. It seemed that some handlers didn’t know the difference between an investigation and an ‘alert’, just beginner stuff really. However others were brilliant at reading their dogs especially Sharon & Inca whose indication was so brief.

So our winner was Patty and Joey and it was Patty’s experience and her ability of reading Joey’s signals that made them the best team on the day. Also well done to Pauline & Tia, the rather excitable Golden Retriever, who managed to keep Tia’s exuberance under control, Janice & Gem for very nice quite and calm handling and Michelle and Rio who were also a lovely team to watch. Also well done to Niki & Karen, both who called an incorrect alert in the first search but managed to keep their cool under pressure successfully finding the next 3 and qualifying. Well done.

A/F = Alert Find H = Handling T = Time (seconds)
Tables & Chairs Exterior Search Vehicle Search Boxes & Luggage Totals
Name of Handler & Dog A/F H T A/F H T A/F H T A/F H T Marks Time
1 Patty & Joey 20 5 10 20 5 13 20 5 16 20 5 15 100 54
2 Pauline & Tia 20 4.75 17 20 5 10 20 5 25 20 5 12 99.75 64
3 Janice & Gem 20 4.5 33 20 5 15 20 5 10 20 5 12 99.5 70
4 Michele & Rio 20 5 15 20 5 35 20 4.5 33 20 5 12 99.5 95
5 Niki & Tinker 20 4 56 20 5 12 20 4.5 60 20 5 19 98.5 147
6 Sam & Teddy 20 4.75 21 20 5 82 20 4.5 45 20 4 69 98.25 217
7 Peter & Charlie 20 5 10 20 4 59 20 4 16 20 5 16 98 101
8 Pat & Arthur 20 4.5 22 20 4.5 20 20 4.5 42 20 4.5 44 98 128
9 Felicity & Bracken 20 5 11 20 4.5 28 20 4.25 61 20 4 58 97.75 158
10 Karen & Remy 0 4.75 15 20 5 26 20 5 25 20 5 22 79.75 88
11 Penny & Oscar 20 5 21 20 4.5 22 20 5 12 0 5 17 79.5 72
12 Niki & Mutley 0 4.5 152 20 5 15 20 5 44 20 5 33 79.5 244
13 Jane & Zola 20 5 28 20 5 13 20 3.75 136 0 4.5 0.08 78.25 177.08
14 Nina & Callie 20 4 13 20 5 11 20 5 8 0 4 13 78 45
15 Sharon & Inca 20 4.5 12 20 4.5 32 0 4 26 20 4.5 12 77.5 82
n Patty & Roonie 0 5 101 20 5 26 20 5 135 0 5 38 60 300