Sat 12 Nov 2022, Stithians

Levels 2 & 6: Judges - L2 Debra Cassidy, L6 Sue McAuliffe

Stithians Centre, Church Road, Stithians, Truro TR3 7DH

Start: L6 – 10 am / L2 – 2 pm
Entry Fees: £28 per dog.
Contact: Jackie Lawer jackie@capablecanines.org

Trial Manager and Judges Reports

Thank you very much, Jackie, for inviting me to judge your first level 6 trial. It’s a lovely venue, spoilt for choice with the search areas we could use! Thank you to the helpers who were invaluable.
Interior 1 5 hides
We used the main hall plus part of the adjoining cloakroom. Turning left from the start, there was clove at the edge of a hatch on the floor, truffle on the edge of the toilet door, clove on opening edge of door just under 80 cms from floor in bottom corner of hall, gun oil on the skirting board to the right of the door and across the hall to the next corner where truffle was under the skirting board. There was a range of success with Hannah and Serena doing really well to find 4 each.
Interior 2 4 hides
We used a small storage room which was a busy but interesting area. Going to the left around the room there was gun oil under the pedal of a bin, gun oil in the cupboard door seam near corner of room, clove on side of box at top and truffle at top edge of red sign. Nearly everyone cleared this area which was great to see.
Exterior 3 3 hides
We used a length of the walkway around the hall. On the right hand wall soon after the start there was truffle in a gap in the wall, further down on the left, gun oil on a fence post and clove on the drain pipe at the bottom of the search area. Katie and Hannah cleared the area with everyone else just missing 1 find.
It was a real privilege to watch the teams who handled very well and kindly and who carried on calmly throughout.
Debra and Andrew chose to go nfc and proved that they are ready to compete at this level, well done!
Congratulations to Hannah and Quin, Katie and Gylly and Serena and Lyric on their places. Brilliant results!
Thank you everyone who took part

Thank you so much to Sue McAuliffe for judging our Level 6 trial (the first L6 in Cornwall!) and Debra Cassidy for judging the Level 2 after a busy morning working Buddy NFC in the L6. Sue set a great but challenging test for the L6 competitors. It was lovely to see that she made the decision to change some of the hides in the 2nd and 3rd areas to make them a bit easier, after the initial area proved quite tricky for the dogs.
Debra set interesting searches for the Levels 2s and everyone seemed to enjoy the trial. Thank you, Debra, for adding an informative report so promptly.
Unfortunately, we had a dog in each trial who didn’t seem very well, and the handlers understandably withdrew them.
It has been a real pleasure running trials this year and I hope we will see lots of keen sniffers again in 2023. Many, many thanks to all the people who have kindly helped make this possible. We couldn’t do it without you!

Level 2 Judges Report
Thank you again Jackie for inviting me to judge the level 2 at Stithians. Also thanks to all the helpers without whom trials would be impossible to run.

The weather was kind to us although the wind did cause a few issues on the wall search.
We started the afternoon with tables,chairs and perimeter with the hides hidden on the front right chair and the cones in the corner.

Moving outside to the exterior search one hide was placed at the bottom of the house reel and the second on the upturned red chairs legs, the dogs all worked well to get on source.

Back inside the containers and bags, one hide was on the small red flat bag. These can be tricky to find as they are low on the ground, all the dogs sniffed it, not sure they passed and had a shake and came back to it. The second hide was in the top seam oblong box at 2 o’clock as you looked at the items.

Finally outside to the wall, where the hides were placed near the start and end of the wall. The hide at the start made the dogs think as they picked up odour due to the wind and then worked their way to source. The hide at the end was in a corner and again the dogs had to work their way to source.

Handling today was outstanding with calm handlers and responsive dogs, all teams were a pleasure to watch. Well done to you all.

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