Level 2 & Level 5 at Marston Mortaine

Emma asked me to come to judge her Level 2 and Level 5 on a rainy November 5th. Luckily Sarah Witkin stepped in to help with the exterior in the hope of beating the predicted downpours. Thank you for your help.

Level 2 was in the morning. We started with Tables and Chairs and Perimeter, One chair scented early on the front of the table and one item (collapse seat) an early if you went anti clockwise but a late if you went clockwise, both scents were cleanly found by most people.

Second search was Exterior Items on the patio, there was a wellington at the front in the middle,and a carpet sweeper set to one side, most of the dogs worked well in the damp showing some good searching, but occasional surprises with dogs not really wanting to play today, certainly not performing to their normal standard.

Third search was the Container Search, which ran concurrently with the final outside search that Sarah judged, the container search is often the nemesis of competitors pressurising themselves to be perfect. The scents were both earlies, either in a box on the left or a bag on the right. Having two early hides surprised those who were methodical who found it quickly or caught out those who rushed their dogs at the start.

Overall there were some lovely indications developing in these Level 2 dogs and some really fabulous searching, the human team members nerves sometimes over ruled the whole team as the canine member tried hard to please. I hope everyone enjoyed their morning.

Level 5 was held in the afternoon. The weather remained unpredictable so we got on with interior 1 quite quickly after lunch. The scents were divided equally with 4 in each area.

The first search was the narrow corridor with the small room at the end, the scents were as follows 1 – gun oil in the bolt on the left at the start, 2 – clove in the cupboard door at the end behind the basket, 3 – clove in the hinge of the white connecting door, 4 – gun oil under the blue box. Two people achieved all 4, everyone else found 3 a mixture of finds.

Area 2 was half of the outside yard, the scents were laid working anti-clockwise from the side door, 1 – gun oil on frame of the blue door, 2 – clove on the hinge of the white door, 3 – clove on the gate hinge, 4 – gun oil on the wheel of the pallet fork trolley. This area proved hard the weather was windy and damp, no one found all 4, most people found 2, but from a judges view all scents were found even if not by all competitors. Teams spent a lot of time searching a blank wall even after their dogs had cleared it confidently. A learning curve for everyone.

The final search was Interior 2, this took place in Emma’s training room. 4 hides placed hopefully to encourage good systematic searching. We placed 2 tables with couple of chairs in the centre of the room, the first table was scented on the lower bar, the other table had a scent on the top corner. The other 2 scents were placed in a piece of luggage and behind a stack of chairs in the glass roofed area. Solid systematic searching paid off and clearing the areas in sections certainly worked for some of the teams. With 4 teams finding all 4. Emma needs to be proud of her training.

It was a lovely moment to present the first place rosette and trophy to the winner who was more than surprised at their achievement. Well done to all who competed, qualifiers and winners.