Level 1
1st Pauline – Oscar – 100
2nd Jane – Sami – 100
3rd Jane – Meg – 99.75
4th Heather – Wilf – 99.75
5th Amanda – Thai – 99.75
6th Mollie – Nell – 99.5
7th Sue – Xena – 99
8th Margery – Rory – 99
9th Pam – Bronte – 98.5
10th Ray – Mickey – 98.5
11th Sally – Asher – 79.25
12th David – Dazzler – 77.5
Level 2
1st Michael – Buster – 98
2nd Pippa – Billie – 97.25
3rd Ren – Dudley – 96.5
4th Julie – Ben – 96
5th Kim – Mili – 95.75
6th Julie – Joey – 86.5
7th Rob – Warwick – 84.25
8th Nyah – Delilah – 83.75
9th Anita – Lily – 79.75
10th Lindsay – Stanley – 72.5
11th Mick – Cookie – 70.75
| Level 1 | 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 | Pauline – Oscar | 20 | 5 | 29 | 20 | 5 | 7 | 20 | 5 | 18 | 20 | 5 | 20 | 100 | 74 | ||
| 2 | Jane – Sami | 20 | 5 | 53 | 20 | 5 | 13 | 20 | 5 | 21 | 20 | 5 | 14 | 100 | 101 | ||
| 3 | Jane – Meg | 20 | 5 | 7 | 20 | 4.75 | 25 | 20 | 5 | 12 | 20 | 5 | 26 | 99.75 | 70 | ||
| 4 | Heather – Wilf | 20 | 4.75 | 40 | 20 | 5 | 24 | 20 | 5 | 21 | 20 | 5 | 18 | 99.75 | 103 | ||
| 5 | Amanda – Thai | 20 | 5 | 28 | 20 | 5 | 12 | 20 | 4.75 | 52 | 20 | 5 | 28 | 99.75 | 120 | ||
| 6 | Mollie – Nell | 20 | 4.75 | 55 | 20 | 5 | 29 | 20 | 4.75 | 67 | 20 | 5 | 19 | 99.5 | 170 | ||
| 7 | Sue – Xena | 20 | 4.75 | 46 | 20 | 5 | 20 | 20 | 4.5 | 41 | 20 | 4.75 | 34 | 99 | 141 | ||
| 8 | Margery – Rory | 20 | 4.75 | 38 | 20 | 4.5 | 61 | 20 | 5 | 28 | 20 | 4.75 | 29 | 99 | 156 | ||
| 9 | Pam – Bronte | 20 | 4.5 | 79 | 20 | 4.5 | 35 | 20 | 4.5 | 117 | 20 | 5 | 7 | 98.5 | 238 | ||
| 10 | Ray – Mickey | 20 | 4.75 | 39 | 20 | 4.5 | 93 | 20 | 4.5 | 75 | 20 | 4.75 | 68 | 98.5 | 275 | ||
| 11 | Sally – Asher | 0 | 4.5 | 14 | 20 | 4.75 | 63 | 20 | 5 | 38 | 20 | 5 | 16 | 79.25 | 131 | ||
| 12 | David – Dazzler | 20 | 4.5 | 63 | 20 | 4.5 | 13 | 20 | 4.5 | 64 | 0 | 4 | 155 | 77.5 | 295 | ||
| Level 2 | 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 | Michael – Buster | 20 | 4.75 | 99 | 20 | 3.5 | 53 | 20 | 5 | 80 | 20 | 4.75 | 31 | 98 | 263 | ||
| 2 | Pippa – Billie | 20 | 4.25 | 32 | 20 | 4 | 14 | 20 | 5 | 55 | 20 | 4 | 18 | 97.25 | 119 | ||
| 3 | Ren – Dudley | 20 | 4 | 145 | 20 | 3.75 | 63 | 20 | 4.25 | 197 | 20 | 4.5 | 50 | 96.5 | 455 | ||
| 4 | Julie – Ben | 20 | 3 | 45 | 20 | 3.75 | 40 | 20 | 4.75 | 61 | 20 | 4.5 | 19 | 96 | 165 | ||
| 5 | Kim – Mili | 20 | 3 | 71 | 20 | 3.75 | 82 | 20 | 4.75 | 68 | 20 | 4.25 | 92 | 95.75 | 313 | ||
| 6 | Julie – Joey | 10 | 3 | 51 | 20 | 4.25 | 23 | 20 | 5 | 47 | 20 | 4.25 | 47 | 86.5 | 168 | ||
| 7 | Rob – Warwick | 20 | 2.25 | 25 | 20 | 3.25 | 68 | 10 | 5 | 167 | 20 | 3.75 | 58 | 84.25 | 318 | ||
| 8 | Nyah – Delilah | 10 | 2.5 | 175 | 20 | 3 | 218 | 20 | 4.5 | 207 | 20 | 3.75 | 84 | 83.75 | 684 | ||
| 9 | Anita – Lily | 20 | 3 | 67 | 10 | 0 | 156 | 20 | 3 | 181 | 20 | 3.75 | 85 | 79.75 | 489 | ||
| 10 | Lindsay – Stanley | 0 | 1 | 30 | 20 | 3.5 | 34 | 20 | 4 | 79 | 20 | 4 | 21 | 72.5 | 164 | ||
| 11 | Mick – Cookie | 10 | 1.75 | 224 | 10 | 2.5 | 214 | 20 | 3 | 102 | 20 | 3.5 | 31 | 70.75 | 571 | ||
Thank you to Rick and Kate for the invitation to judge the Scentwork Wessex level 1 trial.
It’s lovely to see handlers and dogs taking their first competitive steps in this very rewarding sport. The weather was kind to us being neither too hot or raining, even the breeze wasn’t to strong, just varied a bit.
12 teams worked and 12 teams qualified though a couple of dogs and handlers kept me on my toes.
1st Pauline Hinks with Oscar a rescue Collie. 4 efficient finds, beautifully indicated, Pauline’s handling was lovely to watch, letting Oscar get on with the job.
2nd Jane Holmes with Sami, Collie, Sami does everything at break neck speed, fortunately Jane reads her well.
3rd Jane Holmes with Meg, Collie, Meg has really found her forte in scentwork and together they work as a formidable team, all 4 searches in 70 seconds, they lost .25 of a mark otherwise they would have won.
4th Heather Rose with Wilf, black Labrador, a very happy dog whose tail never stops just wags faster when he’s found the scent, a real pleasure to watch.
Also qualified
5th Amanda Murray and Thai
6th Mollie Edwards and Nell
7th Sue Dawe and xena
8th Margery Grant and Rory
9th Ray McKenzie and Mickey
10th Pam Randall and Bronte
11th Sally Wynes and Asher
12th David Halls and Daz
Thank you to all who entered and gave me a very enjoyable day, good luck with level 2.
Pippa Bentham
They SEARCHED, they SOURCED, they INDICATED, and CONFIRMED the target scent their dogs had been trained to detect and CONQUERED their nerves of being judged by a complete stranger.
From a Police trained and Prison Service search dog background I had the privilege thanks to Rick Burgess and Kate Kemp of being asked to Judge a level 2 Scentwork UK trial at their HQ in Longbridge Deverill on Sunday 11th June 2017.
What a cracking bunch of people I said to Tina my wife on our way home, NO I said looking in the mirror Dog Handlers that is what they are. Cracking DOG HANDLERS and cracking SEARCH DOGS all worthy of serving Queen and Country thanks to themselves and their commitment, and to Rick and Kate for their support and expert guidance.
Trial overview Positions 1 to 4
1st Place went to Mike and Buster – High drive Spaniel. A cracking team.
2nd Place went to Pippa and Billie – Collie. Handler tasked well. Good praise. Good overlapping on Vehicle
3rd Place went to Ren and Dudley – GSP. Good initial tasking. Handler understood method of search. Calm and steady handling throughout.
4th Place went to Julie and Ben – Collie x Spaniel. Methodical dog who understands the scent pattern.
Real World if I had to file a report to the Head of Police, Prison or Military it would read:
The above named dogs and handlers provided with more training hours in the elements of search work could easily be put forward for licensing and accreditation within Governmental Departments. Very well done guys but don’t rest on your laurels yet, remember it’s going to get tougher with trials 3, 4 and 5 so your mantra has to be train hard trial easy.
Trial overview position 5 to 11
Firstly, I would like to praise you all for competing and achieving your level 2 Scentwork, just putting your name down to compete makes you Real World Handlers. So again, I file my report to Heads of Departments it would read:
All Handlers 5 to 11 show great promise in their handling ability with training hours and reinforcement of scent and understanding of the importance of having a good a robust method of search can easily move up the trials ladder. Well done guys push yourselves hard now to achieve the best for you and your dogs.
Judges Awards
Judges Commendation
The Handler Care, compassion and dedication award goes to Nyah and Delilah.
Judges Special
The Handler certificate of merit goes to Lindsey and Stanley [Stanley is the Governor]
Judges Thank you
Goes to All Team Wessex DOG HANDLERS you are ALL winners and should be proud of yourselves and what you have achieved with your SEARCH Dogs and a very special thanks to Sue my scribe and aide-de-camp for all your help, support and witty sense of humour and finally my favourite dog of the day goes to……….. Warwick bless him and the dog I would have liked to operate in the field goes to……. little Millie sweet but bold.
Warm regards to all fellow Handlers and Trainers
PHIL TEMPLE
Ex South Central Area Drug Dog Co-ordination and Dog Trainer Instructor PDD-ADD-MPDD [Retired]
HM PRISON SERVICE
The weekend of trials was upon us, starting today with Level 1. As we prepared the hall I reflected on all the hard work that both handlers and dogs had put in to be ready for this their first Scentwork UK Trial.
As always Pippa Bentham our judge exuded cool and calm as she briefed all the competitors putting them all at ease setting them up for the day ahead.
The draw for the day was done and the first element, Table & Chairs was set up ready for the first dog. We saw some great searches including Jane with Meg taking just 7 seconds!
All bar one successfully completed their first search, just unfortunate that the nerves crept in and the alert was called a bit early.
Next search was the vehicle search. Again some lovely searches from all dog & handler teams especially Margery with Rory and Ray with Mickey. Pleased to say all teams were successful.
On to the third search, Boxes and Luggage. With the handlers confidence growing we saw some really good searches, with only one team calling a false alert. Pam and Bronte were on fire taking 7 seconds, Sami although struggling a little with the floor soon gained her momentum and Jane successfully called in 14. Asher working like a train carried out a nice search enabling Sally to confidently call the alert.
The final search was the Exterior search. By this stage most handlers had relaxed leaving only two teams needing this search for qualification. So proud that they managed to hold it together as the pressure was really on them.
Sue with Xena, Mollie & Nell and Amanda & Thai carried out their best searches of the day.
A few heart stopping moments but very pleased that all 12 Dog and Handler teams had qualified.
Level 2
Sunday we held a Level 2, trying out our venue for its suitability for holding trials. It didn’t disappoint.
Our Judge today was Phil Temple, a very experienced recently retired operational dog handler and instructor for HMP. Given Phil’s background in instructing, operations and leading various inter Police Prison service dog detection teams I knew he would be particular and looking closely at the handler skills, but I had every confidence in all the dog & handler teams’ abilities.
During the Judges briefing Phil explained that not only would he be judging their practical skills he was also going to test their knowledge and promptly split them into two teams. The look of horror on everyone’s faces soon disappeared when the first question asked was “what was the name of Bill Sikes dog in Oliver Twist” What a great ice breaker!
So on to the serious stuff. We started with Table & Chairs and Perimeter. This element proved to be the most difficult test of the day with only 7 of the 12 competitors successfully obtaining both finds. Mainly down to handler nerves. Although Warwick the laid back Lurcher managed his two finds in 25 seconds. Amazing!
Due to an expected weather change we opted to carry out the Exterior item search next. With some handlers now settling into their stride the majority managed to alert both finds correctly. Unfortunately a few of the dogs paid a little too much attention to a couple of the judge’s items resulting in false alerts. Julie & Joey and Pippa with Billie both carried out quick efficient searches.
Back inside for the Boxes and Luggage.
Everyone now had upped their game and we saw some consistent searching. Everyone was successful in calling both finds which was a real boost for all.
We stopped for a brief spot of lunch which with everybody’s contributions turned into a banquet a King would be proud of including some delicious cakes supplied by the judge’s wife Tina (my particular favourite being the Ginger cake). The rain didn’t materialise and the sun had come out and we ended with the vehicle search.
In my opinion this proved to be the best searches of the day. With a light breeze and warm sunshine the dogs were working well and some impressive searches were being carried out.
Nyah who was drawn towards the end gave us all some nail biting moments as Delilah was paying particular attention to the front bumper of the non-scented vehicle. Fortunately, Nyah knowing Delilah so well didn’t false alert and went on to achieve two good finds, resulting in a massive cheer from us all at the end.
Everyone should be so proud of their achievements from these trials; you all worked so hard and thoroughly deserve your qualification. Well done all.
A heartfelt thanks to both judges over the weekend, Pippa is the perfect judge and keeps not only the handlers calm but me as well. Thanks to Phil for his professionalism, encouragement and good sense of humour. Sue our scrime who is just brilliant and always there to call on.
Finally thank you to all that entered both trials over the weekend, your enthusiasm and commitment makes all the stress of watching you worth it!
Rick Burgess (Trial Manager)
Scentwork-Wessex