Level 1
1 Marie Tomkinson – Bert – 100
2 Penny Harris – Chance – 100
3 Anita Scott – Meadow – 100
4 Tracy Ridgway – Enzo – 100
5 Joanne Andrews – Cora – 99.5
6 Anne Johnson – Ellie – 99.25
7 Jennie Gibson – Nelson – 80
8 Barbara Unitt – Amos – 79.75
9 Jane Page – Dinah – 79.75
10 Pat Wills – Toby – 79.75
11 Liz Burton – Artti – 79.75
12 Jess Martin – Ruby – 79.75
13 Sarah Fortes Mayer – Bonnie – 79.25
14 Baz Tomlinson – Chester – 74.75
Level 5
1 Alison Deakin – Izzie – 130
2 Lynn Grice – Chess – 120
3 Chris Clements – BaileyBoo – 100
4 Jill Harper – Herbie – 100
The weather started as a beautiful sunny day in Sutton Coldfield, but sadly didn’t stay that way. The rain dampened dogs and humans alike, but it didn’t seem to dampen spirits.
A huge thank you to everyone who helped out – whether as a cleaner-upper at the end, a runner, scribe or judge. Trials cannot run without you and your input is more appreciated than I can say.
Level 1 in the morning was judged by Karen Denton and Denise Pile, scribed by Jackie Hodge and Lynn Grice and kept running smoothly by Heather Poulton and Janet Wykes.
Level 5 in the afternoon was judged by Karen Denton and scribed by Liz Beaumont.
Also a big thank you to Chris Clements, Liz Beaumont and Janet Wykes for being my clean-up crew.
Sutton Coldfield is a new venue to me, and I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. The carparking situation is vastly superior to Erdington, but the coffee lounge facilities are not dog friendly. I’m still on the search for the perfect venue.
Congratulations to everyone who took part, especially those for whom it was their first trial at these levels. And an even bigger congratulations to everyone who qualified.
I look forward to seeing you all again.
Ellen
Denise Pile
Thank you Ellan for letting me judge two searches on Saturday for level 1 and thank you Jackie for being an excellent scribe . I was so lucky to be able to judge the vehicle search before it started to rain . I thought the standard was very high most of the dogs found the scent on the vehicle some handlers were very surprise their dogs found it so quickly , Jane Page trusted Dinah and was rewarded with a correct alert in a very quick time.
I’m afraid the boxes and luggage turned out to be a bit of a struggle for a lot of the dogs , there didn’t seem to be any obvious reason for the difficulty .
Just remember you all take home the best dog!!
Karen Denton
There was a long list of L1 handler and dog teams when I arrived at Ellen’s lovely new venue in Sutton Coldfield. Judging alongside me was Denise Pile and we took an interior and exterior search each. Denise, Jackie her scribe, and the competitors enjoyed warmth from the sun during their Vehicle search but myself and Lynn, my scribe, caught the heavy showers later on for our exterior search. I felt for Anita and her little Poodle who got drenched while they were working but Meadow wasn’t fazed and found the hidden scent with no trouble.
I started inside with Tables & Chairs and most dogs found the hidden swatch with ease and I was impressed with the speedy times in which they did. In no time at all we were through all the searches and prepared outside for the exterior search. There was some lovely handling and love for the dogs which was a pleasure to watch. Congratulations to Marie and her super speedy Bertie who took 1st place. Great performances included Penny & Chance, Anita & Meadow and Tracey & Enzo who came in 2nd, 3rd and 4th all with 100 points and going down to time for rosettes. Congratulations also to Jo & Cora who were competing for the first time and got a clean sweep. Cora is blind in one eye and losing her sight in the other so this sport will give her the opportunity to excel despite her handicap.
After a lovely lunch the Level 5 folk were ready and waiting. There were 9 competitors and dogs and most were doing this level for the first time. At first the sun came out and I was going to put the highest percentage of hides in the outside area but the weather broke and big black clouds appeared so since I’d already been soaked once, I decided just to put only four scents outside. Quite a few teams found this search difficult as I’d placed one of the hides in a manhole cover and although many of them had decided it was a possible hiding place on their initial walk around the area, they promptly forgot about it during the search! I must admit, though, I’ve been guilty of this too!
Interior search 1 included the whole hall where I hid 6 scents. The highest find was under a dado rail and, amazingly, it was Timmy, the smallest dog, who found it the most easily. Only two dogs covered the whole area completely and found all six and they went on to take 1st and 2nd place so very well done to Alison & Izzie and Lynn & Chess. Chris worked hard to calm Bailey Boo from barking and he found five for her. They went on to take 3rd place and an Excellent rosette so congratulations to them. Herbie worked hard for Jil and came in 4th. Congratulations to all four qualifiers.
The last search was in a small corridor where I’d placed two scents. One or two dogs found the enclosed space quite challenging but most did well in this area overall. Felicity’s Danni Darko worked hard even though she was unsure and made Felicity proud. There were some lovely freeze indications from Danni Darko, Lima and Herbie.
A couple of teams missed qualifying by just one find! Such a shame as they were so near.
On a few occasions when handlers were moving quickly with their dogs on lines behind them to the next area they’d decided to cover, they didn’t notice the dog moving in a different direction towards a scent. It’s important to watch the dog all of the time to observe differences in body language and where the dog might know something the handler doesn’t!
Well done to everyone who took part. I hope you enjoyed the day.
Thanks to Ellen for inviting me to judge and for baking a lovely lemon birthday cake for me. Thanks also to my co-judge Denise, my scribes Lynn and Liz and to Janet and her dog, Jess, who did the white dog searches.
I enjoyed watching all your dogs work and I look forward to the next time.
| 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 1 | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | Marks | Time | |
| 1 | Marie Tomkinson – Bert | 20 | 5 | 8 | 20 | 5 | 8 | 20 | 5 | 7 | 20 | 5 | 26 | 100 | 49 |
| 2 | Penny Harris – Chance | 20 | 5 | 17 | 20 | 5 | 21 | 20 | 5 | 34 | 20 | 5 | 10 | 100 | 82 |
| 3 | Anita Scott – Meadow | 20 | 5 | 34 | 20 | 5 | 22 | 20 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 5 | 42 | 100 | 108 |
| 4 | Tracy Ridgway – Enzo | 20 | 5 | 21 | 20 | 5 | 27 | 20 | 5 | 43 | 20 | 5 | 21 | 100 | 112 |
| 5 | Joanne Andrews – Cora | 20 | 5 | 8 | 20 | 4.5 | 30 | 20 | 5 | 13 | 20 | 5 | 35 | 99.5 | 86 |
| 6 | Anne Johnson – Ellie | 20 | 5 | 73 | 20 | 5 | 90 | 20 | 4.75 | 58 | 20 | 4.5 | 94 | 99.25 | 315 |
| 7 | Jennie Gibson – Nelson | 20 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 5 | 26 | 20 | 5 | 12 | 20 | 5 | 16 | 80 | 68 |
| 8 | Barbara Unitt – Amos | 20 | 5 | 29 | 20 | 4.75 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 18 | 20 | 5 | 37 | 79.75 | 96 |
| 9 | Jane Page – Dinah | 20 | 5 | 31 | 20 | 4.75 | 105 | 20 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 79.75 | 155 |
| 10 | Pat Wills – Toby | 20 | 5 | 67 | 20 | 5 | 23 | 20 | 4.75 | 70 | 0 | 5 | 37 | 79.75 | 197 |
| 11 | Liz Burton – Artti | 20 | 5 | 20 | 20 | 4.75 | 89 | 20 | 5 | 50 | 0 | 5 | 85 | 79.75 | 244 |
| 12 | Jess Martin – Ruby | 20 | 5 | 44 | 20 | 4.75 | 130 | 0 | 5 | 125 | 20 | 5 | 72 | 79.75 | 371 |
| 13 | Sarah Fortes Mayer – Bonnie | 20 | 4.75 | 30 | 20 | 4.75 | 45 | 20 | 4.75 | 83 | 0 | 5 | 52 | 79.25 | 210 |
| 14 | Baz Tomlinson – Chester | 20 | 5 | 23 | 20 | 0 | 42 | 20 | 4.75 | 95 | 0 | 5 | 18 | 74.75 | 178 |
| 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 | Alison Deakin – Izzie | 1 | 60 | 10 | 0 | 267 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 0 | 44 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 240 | 1 | 110 | 20 | 0 | 130 | 551 |
| 2 | Lynn Grice – Chess | 0 | 60 | 10 | 0 | 292 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 0 | 138 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 240 | 0 | 100 | 20 | 0 | 120 | 670 |
| 3 | Chris Clements – BaileyBoo | 0 | 50 | 0 | 0 | 360 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 0 | 76 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 240 | 0 | 90 | 10 | 0 | 100 | 676 |
| 4 | Jill Harper – Herbie | 0 | 50 | 0 | 0 | 360 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 0 | 97 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 240 | 0 | 90 | 10 | 0 | 100 | 697 |
St Chad’s Anglican Church, Hollyfield Road, Sutton Coldfield. B75 7SN.
L1 9.30am, L5 2pm
Entries capped at 20 for L1 and 10 for L5
Entry Fees: £22 per dog,
Contact: Ellen Lindley, Tel 07413 111 921
Online entries are available Level 1, Level 5
Anyone wanting to submit by post needs to call first so the slot can be reserved in the online booking system