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 |