I really enjoyed judging my first Level 5 trial in Cornwall. Many thanks go to Denise Pile for acting as Trial Manager and the lovely scribes and helpers.
The first search area we used was the kitchen. There were four hides in here – one in a plastic sign laying on the floor behind a door which was fixed ajar but enabled the dog to access the find easily without needing to actually go into the area to reach it – all the teams found this one quite easily. There was one tucked below a small ledge next to a doorframe in an open type of utility area, where several items such as brooms were hanging. A couple of dogs flipped off the scent at the corner and the handlers did not task them back despite the dogs showing a lot of interest opposite the hide, which was a very flat cabinet side and pretty obvious nothing could be there. However, the majority found the scent and indicated nicely. The next was under the oven door of a large cooker and all dogs found this one without an issue. The hide that several dogs missed was in the seam of the cupboard under the sink. I popped a plug in the sink after the white dog tried to trace the scent from above!
We then did the exterior search, which was a straight path to the side of the building. On one side was the wall of the hall and the other had kerb stones and was adjacent to a large planted area containing shrubs and trees (not included). I did not remove anything from the area, there were a few items of rubbish in the planted area and some leaves on the path. I had to ask one competitor not to remove the leaves during the walk through! The hides were under a lip on the wall about 30 cm from the start cones, between two pipes on the wall and between two of the kerb stones. I stood on the planted area to keep out of the way. Most dogs whizzed past the first hide but all but one found it by back tracking or when brought back from the other direction. Everyone found the one in the pipe area quite easily and all found the one between the kerb stones, although one competitor called it just as time was called – phew! All three scents were placed within the first half of the path and some handlers spent quite a bit of time on the empty section.
The second interior search consisted of about two thirds of a large main hall. It was a large area and there were 5 finds – congratulations to everyone who found them all. One of the 3 walls of the hall to be searched had a line of heavy chairs along it with just one item at the far end covered by a sheet with just a black bar visible at the bottom. The end wall was the bottom of a stage flanked on either end by two full size doors and the other side had a door leading to the kitchen area and a sort of semi-rigid partition running along it. To add a bit of interest to the area, I added several small tables set in a rectangle and surrounded by chairs. One hide was on a flat metal fixing in the floor close to the tables and chairs, another on the far end of the tables under a leg, one on the last chair next to the large covered item, one in the door to the right of the stage and one on the end of the rigid partition next to the kitchen door.
I tried to vary the heights of the hides and make some easier and some more difficult. Everyone did very well and all qualified – I only gave two deductions throughout the whole trial, both for moving the dog away from the scent. Shane and Rio were a delight to watch, a great team with a handler who let the dog do the work only stepping in to re-direct if necessary. I would also like to commend Chrissie and Oggie on a fabulous and confident search in the main hall.