Sat 17th Feb 2018, Southam

Levels 1, 2 and Pre-Trial Judges: Liz Ormerod, Susan Benson & Karen Kendall
Level 1

Gloria Bonnell & Dylan – 100.00
Denise Pile & Butty – 100.00
Kate Nicholson-Gard & Bo – 99.50
Lynda Stangle & Max – 99.25
Claire Bennett & Benson – 98.50
Kathy Fitzgerald. & Portia – 98.50
Julia Reeves & Dandy – 96.00
Janet Wykes & Jess – 79.75
Julia Bodsworth & Spot – 79.50
Patrice Taylor & Arnie – 79.50
Sue Kirkham & Tilly – 79.00
René Centa & Finn – 78.25
Julie Cox & Edith – 77.75
Christine Davis & Poppy – 76.75
Keith Clowes & Monty – 58.75

Level 2

Annette Leslie & Disney – 100.00
Harold Latusek & Rosie – 89.00
Amy Wood & Luna – 88.75
Sue Gardner & Lily – 79.50
Melanie Goble & Rowan – 74.25

The sun shone on our first Scentwork Trial at Southam. Helpers Lynda and Judy warmly welcomed the 15 Level 1 teams and thanks to the excellent judges Liz Ormerod and Susan Benson, and scribes Sue and Katrina we were able to run interior searches and exterior searches simultaneously. We started at 10am and were all done by midday. Teams were very happy they didn’t have to hang around too long, and thanks to Paul’s electronic spreadsheet calculating scores, the results were ready soon afterwards for the presentation.

A fantastic win by Gloria Bonnell and her young Sheltie Dylan. He achieved very quick times with a clean sweep and excellent handling by Gloria who announced she was feeling much more confident to read his indication. Congratulations for a close second achieving their Excellent Title to Denise Pile and her dog Butty, who came all the way up from Cornwall to compete. Rosette in the post soon Denise!

Fully refreshed after a nice lunch kindly organised by Sue and Judy, Liz started the 5 Level 2 teams on the vehicle search. Amazing nerve from Harry and little Rosie who made a fairly quick first find but took a while to find the second. Both stuck with it though to call it with seconds to go! Brilliant handling to encourage Rosie to keep looking. The exterior search on the grass caught a few teams out. The grass was a bit rough and some dogs were a bit distracted.

A brilliant win by Annette Leslie and little Disney, who worked brilliantly together to achieve a clean sweep and full marks. It was very close for second and third with Harry and Rosie just ahead of Amy and Luna.

There were 5 teams who carried out the three pre-trial searches and who found it a very helpful experience. Four achieved clean sweeps and I’m sure it won’t be long before we see them in competition.

Thank you to Judges, helpers, handlers and dogs for making today such a successful and enjoyable day.

Liz Ormerod

I was really pleased to be asked by Karen to co-judge the Level 1 trial at Southam with Sue Benson and then to go on to judge the Level 2 trial. I knew it would be well organised trial and it was!

Luckily for me, Sue chose to take on the outside searches, so it was coat off and on with some lovely searches.

It started for me with Table & Chairs, with Denise & Butty whizzing in with a magical 12 sec find, though Julia & Spot topped that with their search finding the scent in 9 secs. Some dogs needed to familiarise themselves with the hall first before they started but there was 100% finds and smiles all round!

Boxes & Luggage were next – dogs were more used to the inside space now, but we still had a couple of wrong alerts called. Patrice & Arnie had a quick find at 14 secs and I liked watching the methodical searching of Portia (Flat Coat Retriever) who searched while handler Kathy looked on.

When judging, you never know whose won until the scores are all added together and even more so when you’ve only judged two areas.

Congratulations to Gloria & Dylan – a well deserved first place and all those who were competing in their first ever Scentwork UK trial.

Big thanks to Sue Gardner, my scribe, my able sidekick!

A quick mug of tomato soup & bread roll, perfect for a cold day and onto the Level 2’s eagerly waiting.

A line of 3 cars, instead of them being side by side led to some interesting searching. Rosie made Harold sweat a bit on the 2nd find, but success with only 20 secs left. Sue & Lily though, weren’t hanging about – both scents found in 38 secs!

Inside to the tables & chairs / perimeter search – great handling by Melanie who kept wcsp Rowan on a line as she can tend to go everywhere “fast”. This led to a more efficient search.

The Exterior search proved very challenging for the teams as the grass was long and some dogs found very distracting. Little Disney the Papillon worked very well; Annette says she is finding him much easier to read now by observing him more.

Boxes & Luggage – you either love em or you hate em! Amy & Luna demonstrated some great teamwork, lovely to watch.

Big thanks to Paul for being my scribe and all the other helpers who kept the pace flowing.

A very enjoyable day with great successes for the competitors.

Sue Benson

Was very pleased to be asked to share the judging of Level 1 with Liz Ormerod. I opted to judge the outside searches, with Katrina Landrey as my scribe. We started with the outside search. Some very fast searches with several different items and some dogs having fun running round the new grassed area, before settling down to work. All teams succeeded in finding this search eventually. Our next outside search was the vehicle. The wind played a large part is several of the teams calling a wrong alert due to the scent being picked up further along the side of the vehicle. It was a good lesson to everyone as some of the wrong alerts were very convincing. A thoroughly enjoyable day, watching all the different teams working in their different ways. Well done to you all, onwards and upwards in this great sport.

Thank you to all the helpers, without whom the day wouldn’t have ran so smoothly.
Well done to Karen and Paul for all your hard work and all Paul’s rapid inputting.

Level 1 Tables &Chairs Exterior Search Vehicle Search Boxes & Luggage Totals
Handler Dog A/F H T A/F H T A/F H T A/F H T Marks Time
Gloria Bonnell Dylan 20 5.00 18 20 5.00 10 20 5.00 24 20 5.00 17 100.00 69
Denise Pile Butty 20 5.00 12.81 20 5.00 15 20 5.00 24 20 5.00 43 100.00 94.81
Kate Nicholson-Gard Bo 20 4.50 62 20 5.00 27 20 5.00 21 20 5.00 68 99.50 178
Lynda Stangle Max 20 5.00 15 20 4.75 58 20 5.00 21 20 4.50 48 99.25 142
Claire Bennett Benson 20 4.00 41 20 4.75 93 20 4.75 56 20 5.00 20 98.50 210
Kathy Fitzgerald. Portia 20 4.50 42 20 4.00 93 20 5.00 71 20 5.00 34 98.50 240
Julia Reeves Dandy 20 5.00 30 20 3.00 26 20 3.00 113 20 5.00 33 96.00 202
Janet Wykes Jess 20 5.00 17 20 5.00 6 20 5.00 28 0 4.75 32 79.75 83
Julia Bodsworth Spot 20 5.00 9 20 5.00 16 0 4.50 26 20 5.00 18 79.50 69
Patrice Taylor Arnie 20 5.00 14 20 5.00 37 0 4.50 36 20 5.00 14 79.50 101
Sue Kirkham Tilly 20 5.00 14 20 5.00 17 20 5.00 24 0 4.00 68 79.00 123
René Centa Finn 20 4.75 28 20 4.75 58 0 4.00 78 20 4.75 52 78.25 216
Julie Cox Edith 20 4.75 39 20 4.00 61 0 4.00 78 20 5.00 38 77.75 216
Christine Davis Poppy 20 4.75 27 20 5.00 27 20 3.00 116 0 4.00 6 76.75 176
Keith Clowes Monty 20 5.00 28 20 5.00 14 0 4.00 32 0 4.75 22 58.75 96
 

Level 2

Tables &Chairs Exterior Search Vehicle Search Boxes & Luggage Totals
Handler Dog A/F H T A/F H T A/F H T A/F H T Marks Time
Annette Leslie Disney 20 5.00 85 20 5.00 109 20 5.00 82 20 5.00 97 100.00 373
Harold Latusek Rosie 20 5.00 108 10 4.75 152 20 4.25 276 20 5.00 44 89.00 580
Amy Wood Luna 20 4.75 76 10 4.00 300 20 5.00 79 20 5.00 58 88.75 513
Sue Gardner Lily 10 4.75 37 20 5.00 127 20 5.00 38 10 4.75 81 79.50 283
Melanie Goble Rowan 20 5.00 85 20 4.50 147 10 0.00 224 10 4.75 68 74.25 524