Sat 24th Aug 2019, Canvey Island

Level 1: Judge - Emma John

1 Peter Elvidge – Lola – 99.9
2 Alexandra Seal – Rio – 99.8
3 Jo Crosby-Deakin – Flea – 94.9
4 Tracey Cole-Wilkin – Flynn – 79.4
5 Alison Jones – Finn – 74

The day was warm again, it’s becoming a pattern for trials at our venue but at least we had a nice breeze and the slightly earlier start made it more than bearable for all of the competitors.

We saw some lovely teamwork from the teams and as always, a nice relaxed and supportive atmosphere.

Our lovely Judge Emma, was organised and calm and made all the competitors feel at ease.

Well done to all who took part today and as always a massive thank you to our scribe, Danielle Olford and todays runner, Wendy Linge.

Firstly, a huge thank you to Jo for inviting me out to Canvey to judge this Level 1 trial, we were blessed with fabulous weather so there were no complaints from me at heading to the coast on a warm,sunny day.

Assisted by a well organised team in Jo (trials manager), Danielle (scribe) and Wendy (runner) we were able to get underway promptly and finished before the temperature really started to rise.

We had 6 entrants, a fab mix of breeds – 3 of which running on Gun Oil as the target odour and 3 on Cloves.

Tables and Chairs

All competitors hit the ground running with a successful search by each of the teams.

There were some really fast searches with Flea and Lola locating the hide in under 30 seconds.

Despite being a completely new environment for both Rio and Finn,they held their own and with calm and encouraging handling settled into the task at hand.

External

The scent article was hidden on the top surface of a shoe, with a dustbin lid and a candlestick making up the other ‘possible 3 items’.

Another 6 out of 6 sucessful searches. Quick again was Lola and her handler Pete. Fabulous handling by Paul with Ted- allowing him to pick his own route through the items and get to the find in a very worthy 0.44 seconds.

An unfortunate wee, interrupted an otherwise super enthusiastic search by Flea.

Boxes and Luggage

Unfortunately, the curse of the luggage search struck with only 50%of the teams being successful, which was a real shame. However, the three that did find their hidden scentput in some impressively quick searches – Rio, Lola and Flea (0.15, 0.17 and 0.39 seconds respectively)-Wow!!!

Vehicle

Some really great handling was noted at the vehicle searches, on what was turning out to be a very warm day.

After a false call on the previous search, special mention for Tracey with Flynn who really held her nerve and trusted her dog when giving the ‘alert’- lovely teamwork.

Finn was a pleasure to watch in this search, it was getting warm, but gentle and supportive handling from Alison saw them succeed- great job.

All in all, every dog and handler team showed great skill, it was a real pleasure to watch you all.

Pete and Lola took first place with a fantastic 99.9 points, and Alex with Rio were hot on their heels taking 2nd with 99.8 points. Jo and Flea took 3rd place and Tracey with Flynn 4th.

Handlers- you should all be proud of yourselves and your canine counterparts- well done.

T&C - A/FT&C - HT&C - TES - A/FES - HES - TVS - A/FVS - HVS - TB&L - A/FB&L - HB&L - TMarksTime
A/F = Alert FindH = HandlingT = Time (seconds)
Tables & ChairsExterior SearchVehicle SearchBoxes & LuggageTotals
Level 1A/FHTA/FHTA/FHTA/FHTMarksTime
1Peter Elvidge – Lola2052920526204.9562051799.9128
2Alexandra Seal – Rio204.85220560205832051599.8210
3Jo Crosby-Deakin – Flea2051320073204.9592053994.9184
4Tracey Cole-Wilkin – Flynn204.799204.8105204.952055579.4311
5Alison Jones – Finn20553204119205720018074424

K9 Scent & Search UK, 1a Tavistock House, Charfleets Road, Canvey Island, Essex, SS8 0PQ.

Start time – 10am
Entry Fees: £25 per dog, Capped at 10 entries. One or two dogs per handler per level.
Contact: K9 Scent & Search UK, Tel: 07776 334481,
Download entry form to book a place.