Sue Gardner

Originally, this trial was going to be at Bournheath, however due to a change of plan, the trial was at the beautiful setting of Great Rollright. The venue was simply amazing. I would like to thank Hazell for making me feel so welcome.

I would also like to thank Karen for asking me to judge the level 2 and of course to my scribes Nikki and Michelle for keeping me on track. Thanks go to Ali for sharing the load and providing the white dog.
Ali kindly offered to face the elements and judge the two exterior searches which left me with table & chairs and boxes & luggage.

I started with tables, chairs and perimeter, with one on a chair and one on the hoover. Alan and Rhum making it look easy with a blistering time of 24 seconds to find both searches, it was simply amazing. However, Mandy and Rennie, Hazell and Teddy, Charles and Breeze all produced quick times.

Boxes and luggage, was the more difficult search, with some teams not finding the scent on the bag. However, it was no problem for Alison and Lola, who found both scents in 25 seconds. Close behind followed our winner Hazell & Teddy with Cath and Dana and Val and Heike both completing in 53 seconds.

Some great team work met with some great results, well done to Hazell and Teddy on their win, Alan and Rhum’s supersonic search seeing him collect second place and also collecting his excellence, Charles & Breeze came third and Gabrielle and Peppa who managed to pip Marie and Roger into four place.

As always, great to spend time with some lovely people and fantastic dogs, enjoying this fun but sometimes challenging sport.

Ali Brannen

Level 2

First off thank you to Karen Denton for asking me to judge at her level 2 trial, also thanks to my co judge Sue Gardner, scribes Michelle Rodgers and Nikki Inglis and thanks to Hazell Williamson for the use of her venue.

I was tasked with the exterior and vehicle searches, so we started with the exterior. The 2 scents were hidden in the top of a shredder and in the bottom of a chair leg. 11/13 teams found 2 scents, they were Alan Clancy & Rhum, Hazell Williamson & Teddy, Marie Poole & Roger, Helen Reaney & Mia, Charles Robert & Breeze, Val Isherwood & Heike, Mandy Rigby & Reenie, Alison Deacon & Lola, Gabrielle Inglis & Peppa, Emma Conlisk & Danny and John Hearn & Skip. 2 teams found just 1 scent.

It was then on to the Vehicle search, the 1 scent was hidden in a gap in the wheel of the 2nd car, the 2nd scent was hidden in the wheel nut of the 3rd car. 8/13 teams were successful finding both hides, they were Pat Wills & Toby, Val Isherwood & Heike, Charles Roberts & Breeze, Hazell Williamson & Teddy, Gabrielle Inglis & Peppa, Alan Clancy & Rhum, Mandy Rigby & Reenie and Marie Poole & Roger. 5 teams just found 1 scent.

10/13 teams qualified, so well done to Hazell Williamson & Teddy with 1st Place, 2nd Place went to Alan Clancy and Rhum, 3rd place to Charles Robert & Breeze, 4th Place to Gabrielle Inglis & Peppa. Further qualifiers were Marie Poole & Roger, Mandy Rigby & Reenie, Val Isherwood & Heike, Pat Wills & Toby, John Hearn & Skip and Cath Seddon & Dana. Well done everyone

In conclusion it was a successful trial, some lovely searches along with great indications from the dogs made for interesting watching. There was no trashing of search areas and no scraping at cars and the handlers all read their dog’s body language well. A very high standard of work from level 2 teams, well done guys, I hope to see you all in the future.

A white dog was used on all searches.

Level 6

First off thank you to Karen Denton for asking me to judge for her, also huge thanks to my Scribe Michelle Rodgers who was my 2nd set of eyes, and to Hazell Williamson for being the runner. We had 10 teams competing on the day with 5 qualifying.

We started with the interior search, this was held in the hall. The hides were from left to right, a tie up ring, bottom of a mirror, back of a heater, behind the corner of a mirror and on a sleeve of a coat placed on 2 chairs in the middle with a bag underneath. All of the hides were surface hides meaning an area of the swab was exposed to the dog’s nose. 2/10 teams found all 5 scents, they were Heather Poulton & Timmy and Nikki Inglis & Ellie. 4/10 teams found 4 scents, they were Geoff Dixon & Bug, Jennie Dean & Reo, Helen Soper & Trek and Sarah Taylor & Hugo. 2/10 teams found 3, 1/10 found 2 and 1/10 just found 1. The most missed hide was the tie up ring at the beginning of the search with 6/10 teams missing it. The next missed hide was the coat sleeve with 4/10 teams unable to find this, after this the mirror, again at the beginning of the search area was missed by 3/10 teams.

Then it was on to the exterior search, which consisted of a summer house and covered over area. 4 scents were hidden from left to right on a fence area, tucked behind a post on the summer house, behind a post in the covered area, and lastly in the gap in a joist. 4/10 teams found all 4, they were Jennie Dean & Rio, Sarah Taylor & Hugo, Helen Soper & Trek and Yvette Preston & Anya. 3/10 teams found 3, they were Sue Abbott-Dixon & Halle, Nikki Inglis & Ellie and Heather Poulton & Timmy. 3/10 teams only found 2 hides. The most missed hide was the joist at the end of the search area, with 3/10 teams missing this.

Then it was on to the last interior search which included a toilet, kitchen area and row of chairs. The first hide was hidden on a wicker basket, the second was around a water stop tap, and the final hide was hidden in the door hinge of a kitchen unit. 4/8 teams found all 3 hides, they were Yvette Preston & Anya, Sarah Taylor & Hugo, Geoff Dixon & Bug and Jennie Dean & Rio. With 3/8 teams finding 2, and one team finding just 1. The most missed hide was the tap, followed equally by the cupboard and the basket.

On the teams:-

Yvette Preston & Anya, although the team struggled with the first interior search they soon picked up with the exterior and interior 2 search finding all the hides.

Heather Poulton & Timmy, these guys flew through the 1st interior search by finding all the hides, Timmy had to have a bit of coaxing at times, but Heather remained determined and came in 4th overall.

Geoff Dixon & Bug, bug is a lovely enthusiastic search dog and this was shown when he blasted through the interior 2 search, landing them a 5th place overall.

Sue Gardner & Lily, Lily is a great little searcher, full of joy to be doing the job at hand, and although they left early it was a pleasure to watch them work.

Jennie Dean & Reo, Jennie was worried about Reo as he has been quite poorly and just wanted to have some fun with him, well they had so much fun that they went on to win the trial. Grand job guys.

Helen Soper & Trek, Trek was as fast as ever through his searches and wasn’t short of enthusiasm throughout the afternoon. Again although they left early Trek is a fun dog to watch search and his speed is amazing. Hope the agility went well Helen.

Nikki Inglis & Ellie, Again a lovely enthusiastic dog, who needs very little guidance with her searches, she’s quick and always eager to please Nikki. So much so they came 3rd overall, good job guys.

Sarah Taylor & Hugo, Hugo is a very bouncy fast Labrador and boy can he use his nose, always fun to watch work. These guys nailed it with a 2nd place overall. Awesome Job.

Deb Townsend Wood & Belle, Belle is a super sweet dog but seemed off her game that day. Deb took this with good humour throughout the afternoon. Deb decided to retire her after the exterior search. I hope you enjoyed the concert Deb.

Sue Abbott-Dixon & Halle, such a lovely team. Sue & Halle have a really lovely partnership, Halle is a very enthusiastic dog and really wants to get those hides. Sue was worried about the exterior search as it was surrounded by very Halle tempting fields, however Halle remained focused on the job at hand, well-handled Sue.

Well done everyone, you all worked hard during the afternoon and this showed in the quality of handling and the scores. Hope to see you all again in the future.

A white dog was used on all search areas.

		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 2		A/F	H	T	A/F	H	T	A/F	H	T	A/F	H	T	Marks	Time
1	Hazell Williamson – Teddy	20	5	60	20	5	59	20	5	48	20	5	49	100	216
2	Alan Clancy – Rhum	20	5	24	20	5	72	20	5	74	20	5	73	100	243
3	Charles Robert – Breeze	20	5	62	20	4.95	120	20	4.75	78	20	5	62	99.7	322
4	Gabrielle Inglis – Peppa	20	4.75	108	20	5	59	20	5	83	10	5	70	89.75	320
5	Marie Poole – Roger	20	5	77	20	4.75	86	20	5	108	10	5	63	89.75	334
6	Mandy Rigby – Reenie	20	4.75	47	20	4.95	100	20	5	43	10	2	258	86.7	448
7	Val Isherwood – Heike	10	0	174	20	5	36	20	4.74	69	20	4.75	53	84.49	332
8	Pat Wills – Toby	20	5	71	10	4.5	64	20	4.95	177	10	5	71	79.45	383
9	John Hearn – Skip	20	5	87	20	4.95	64	10	4.5	129	10	4.75	114	79.2	394
10	Cath Seddon – Dana	20	4.75	162	10	4.5	168	10	4.75	210	20	5	53	79	593

		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	Jennie Dean – Reo	1	40	0	0	280	0	30	10	0	115	0	40	10	0	128	1	110	20	0	130	523
2	Sarah Taylor – Hugo	2	40	0	1	300	0	30	10	0	140	0	40	10	0	161	2	110	20	1	129	601
3	Nikki Inglis – Elli	2	50	10	0.5	265	0	20	0	0	180	0	30	0	0	240	2	100	10	0.5	109.5	685
4	Heather Poulton – Timmy	0	50	10	0	222	3	10	0	0	180	0	30	0	0	240	3	90	10	0	100	642
5	Geof Dixon - Bug	2	40	0	0.5	300	0	30	10	0	136	0	20	0	0.5	240	2	90	10	1	99	676