Thanks to Karen for asking me to judge this trial and also to Hazell for allowing us yet again to use her fabulous venue.
I have to say that out of all the trials I have judged over the last few weeks, these teams have probably been the best I’ve seen since lock down, and definitely had me holding my breath at times. So thank you to everyone who attended.
We started with interior 1, this was held in the summer house. 5 hides were placed around the inside and they were truffle at the door, gun on some netting, clove in a cabinet draw, clove in the zip of a bench cushion and truffle in a wall bracket. The decoy was placed in the right hand corner of the building. Only 1 team found all 5 and declared the area clear and that was Heather & Timmy, 2 teams found 4 and they were Dolores & Gypsy and Sarah & Hugo. 3 teams found 3 and they were Yaz & Banjo, Lindsay & Stanley, Janet & Jess and Hazell & Teddy. 1 team found 2 and that was Helen & Nellie. The most missed hide was the seat zip and a few teams declared clear after just 3 hides.
Next it was the exterior search held around a caravan and patio area. The scents were hidden from left to right and they were corner strut of caravan – truffle, truffle in crack in the paving to right of search area, and truffle by a large gas bottle. The decoy was placed to the left of the caravan door. 3 teams found all 3 and they were Lindsay & Stanley, Janet & Jess and Sarah & Hugo. 2 teams found 2 and they were Dolores & Gypsy and Helen & Nellie. 2 teams found 1 and they were Yaz & Banjo and Hazell & Teddy. 1 team found nothing. The most missed hide was the paving slab by the gas bottle. Janet & Jess were the only team to correctly call the area clear.
Lastly it was interior 2 which was held in a covered car port. 4 hides were placed in this area and they were from left to right gun oil on the corner edge of the building, gun on a trailer cover, gun on the bottom edge of a boat and gun on the right edge of the building. The decoy was placed on one of the support pillars. 4 teams found all 4 hides and they were Hazell & Teddy, Janet & Jess, Sarah & Hugo and Dolores & Gypsy. 1 team found 3 and that was Helen & Nellie. 1 team found 2 and that was Lindsay & Stanley. 1 team found 1 and that was Yaz & Banjo. Unfortunately after an incredible start Timmy decided he didn’t want to do any more searching, so Heather made the decision to withdraw him from the competition. The most missed hide in this area was the bottom of the boat. Sarah & Hugo were the only team to correctly call this area clear.
So congratulations to Sarah & Hugo in 1st place with an excellent award, Janet & Jess in 2nd place with an excellent award and Dolores & Gypsy in 3rd place. Well done to everyone else and thank you for making it an interesting trial to judge. I hope to see you all in the future.
The weather was pretty perfect for our Level 7 trial being overcast and still with the rain holding off.
As usual, at the moment due to Covid restrictions, we had four morning dog teams and four in the afternoon and, as we’ve seen recently, one or two dogs were rusty after lockdown.
A white dog was run before the searches began and he completed all twelve finds in half the time allocated to the handlers. Heather and Timmy got off to a storming start being the only team to find all five hidden scents in the first interior area. Sadly, he faded after his perfect start. Lindsay’s Stanley looked impressive in the first two searches but found the ground in the second interior search too exciting and his concentration lapsed. A couple of handlers declared ‘clear’ too early in the first area so deprived themselves of further valuable searching time which was a great shame because they were doing so well.
By the end of the trial we had three qualifiers and these were Sarah & Hugo who took 1st place and an Excellent title, Janet & Jess were 2nd and also won an Excellent title and 3rd was Dolores & Gypsy. Huge congratulations to all three of you and many thanks to all the competitors for attending. It’s been great to catch up with friends from the SWUK community over the past few weeks as I’ve been running our trials again.
Many thanks to Ali Brannen who set a great Level 7 challenge and who gave feedback during a summing up after each group session and of course to Hazell Williamson who’s beautiful home we’re currently running our trials from.
See you soon
Best wishes
Karen Denton
I hope you all enjoyed the trial and I look forward to catching up again soon.
Judges Report – Level 7
Thanks to Karen for asking me to judge this trial and also to Hazell for allowing us yet again to use her fabulous venue.
I have to say that out of all the trials I have judged over the last few weeks, these teams have probably been the best I’ve seen since lock down, and definitely had me holding my breath at times. So thank you to everyone who attended.
We started with interior 1, this was held in the summer house. 5 hides were placed around the inside and they were truffle at the door, gun on some netting, clove in a cabinet draw, clove in the zip of a bench cushion and truffle in a wall bracket. The decoy was placed in the right hand corner of the building. Only 1 team found all 5 and declared the area clear and that was Heather & Timmy, 2 teams found 4 and they were Dolores & Gypsy and Sarah & Hugo. 3 teams found 3 and they were Yaz & Banjo, Lindsay & Stanley, Janet & Jess and Hazell & Teddy. 1 team found 2 and that was Helen & Nellie. The most missed hide was the seat zip and a few teams declared clear after just 3 hides.
Next it was the exterior search held around a caravan and patio area. The scents were hidden from left to right and they were corner strut of caravan – truffle, truffle in crack in the paving to right of search area, and truffle by a large gas bottle. The decoy was placed to the left of the caravan door. 3 teams found all 3 and they were Lindsay & Stanley, Janet & Jess and Sarah & Hugo. 2 teams found 2 and they were Dolores & Gypsy and Helen & Nellie. 2 teams found 1 and they were Yaz & Banjo and Hazell & Teddy. 1 team found nothing. The most missed hide was the paving slab by the gas bottle. Janet & Jess were the only team to correctly call the area clear.
Lastly it was interior 2 which was held in a covered car port. 4 hides were placed in this area and they were from left to right gun oil on the corner edge of the building, gun on a trailer cover, gun on the bottom edge of a boat and gun on the right edge of the building. The decoy was placed on one of the support pillars. 4 teams found all 4 hides and they were Hazell & Teddy, Janet & Jess, Sarah & Hugo and Dolores & Gypsy. 1 team found 3 and that was Helen & Nellie. 1 team found 2 and that was Lindsay & Stanley. 1 team found 1 and that was Yaz & Banjo. Unfortunately after an incredible start Timmy decided he didn’t want to do any more searching, so Heather made the decision to withdraw him from the competition. The most missed hide in this area was the bottom of the boat. Sarah & Hugo were the only team to correctly call this area clear.
So congratulations to Sarah & Hugo in 1st place with an excellent award, Janet & Jess in 2nd place with an excellent award and Dolores & Gypsy in 3rd place. Well done to everyone else and thank you for making it an interesting trial to judge. I hope to see you all in the future.
A white dog was used on all areas.
Ali Brannen
Trial Manager’s report
The weather was pretty perfect for our Level 7 trial being overcast and still with the rain holding off.
As usual, at the moment due to Covid restrictions, we had four morning dog teams and four in the afternoon and, as we’ve seen recently, one or two dogs were rusty after lockdown.
A white dog was run before the searches began and he completed all twelve finds in half the time allocated to the handlers. Heather and Timmy got off to a storming start being the only team to find all five hidden scents in the first interior area. Sadly, he faded after his perfect start. Lindsay’s Stanley looked impressive in the first two searches but found the ground in the second interior search too exciting and his concentration lapsed. A couple of handlers declared ‘clear’ too early in the first area so deprived themselves of further valuable searching time which was a great shame because they were doing so well.
By the end of the trial we had three qualifiers and these were Sarah & Hugo who took 1st place and an Excellent title, Janet & Jess were 2nd and also won an Excellent title and 3rd was Dolores & Gypsy. Huge congratulations to all three of you and many thanks to all the competitors for attending. It’s been great to catch up with friends from the SWUK community over the past few weeks as I’ve been running our trials again.
Many thanks to Ali Brannen who set a great Level 7 challenge and who gave feedback during a summing up after each group session and of course to Hazell Williamson who’s beautiful home we’re currently running our trials from.
See you soon
Best wishes
Karen Denton
I hope you all enjoyed the trial and I look forward to catching up again soon.