Thank you to Marie for inviting me to judge her L4. It was a very wet and windy morning with storm Alex providing an additional challenge for the teams. We had 2 groups of 3 Which worked well and meant the dogs weren’t hanging round in the wet too long.
Distraction odours used were shampoo and coffee and only one team called a find on a distraction odour.
We started with the vehicle & wall search, one hide on the front bumper of car (GO) and one on a wall (C). Most handlers worked this search really well, allowing their dogs space to source the odour on the car which, due to storm Alex, was being blown round a fair bit.
Exterior search the distraction odours were placed in the spout of a watering can and the handle of a child’s toy. The odours were hidden in a different watering can (GO) and the inner plastic of a wheelbarrow wheel (C). Again teams worked this part of the test well.
Next came the container search with distraction scents placed it a purple glitter bag and a plastic box. Odours were hidden in a large suitcase (GO) and a computer carry case (C). The container search was by far the element of the trial I enjoyed watching the most. The dogs worked brilliantly (pleased to be out the rain maybe!). There were 3 teams that really stood out for me for different reasons. First was Rosie and Slinkydog, Rosie really kept her nerve when slinkydog was working a distraction odour and correctly recognised that Slinky was investigating rather than giving a full indication. Mike & Poppy also stood out as Mike recognised that Poppy was beginning to flag so he took her out to reward and reset her before sending her back in to be rewarded with a quick find. And then we had Marnie and Kipper. Kipper was a joy to watch working every side of each container independently.
We finished on Table, chairs & perimeter . Both distraction odours were placed on the perimeter, one in a cabinet door, the other on a plastic box. Both scents were placed on chairs round the table.
Great team work by all entrants today. A huge congratulations to Peter & Button on their very well deserved win.