Janet Wykes

Many thanks to Ellen for inviting me to co-judge the levels 1 & 2 with Sue Kirkham, and to judge my inaugural level 5 at this great venue. Yet again, it seemed that we had picked one of the hottest days, but the cool halls, plenty of shade for the cars and competitors, and the provision of a paddling pool for the dogs, managed to keep the dogs and handlers comfortable. A huge thanks to Julia Bodsworth my scribe for levels 1 & 2, and Collette Guy my scribe for level 5, who both did a fantastic job. Thanks also to Vicki Martin and Ellen who helped make sure there were a steady stream of competitors for all levels, and Brenda Ward for providing refreshments. A white dog was used in all searches

Levels 1 & 2
Levels 1 and 2 were run together – modifying the level 1 search area for level 2 competitors. I chose to carry out the exterior searches, whilst Sue took the indoor areas.

Exterior Search
Level 1 – The clove scent was placed just inside the top of a wellington boot that was placed towards the front corner of the search area. There were some fantastic searches for a level 1 trial and it was lovely to see so many of you trust your dog’s indication. A special mention to Penny & Chance who completed this in just 11 seconds with Chance picking up the odour from the start line, and Sarah & Bonnie who only took 22 seconds and provided a lovely indication. Full handling marks also went to Jess & Ruby who displayed a lovely indication, and Lynn & Dixie. Dixie was a fantastic little dog who worked very independently. Out of the 12 competitors, 9 were successful in this search area so well done also to: Lisa & Brew, Suzanne & Luther, Ruby & Boo Boo, Rosemary & Harley, and Anne & Oscar. At this level, the handler can be told which 3 possible articles the scent is hidden in, unfortunately a couple of competitors chose not to have this advantage and this did result in some wrong calls.

Level 2 – A second clove scent was added to a collapsible bucket towards the rear of the search area. Marie & Hebe were a super-fast team with both finds located in only 22 seconds and some lovely indications. Barbara & Amos also carried out a lovely methodical search (85 seconds). Anne & Missy, Pam & Willow, Liz & Artie, and Rob & Bella all found both items with some lovely handling.

Vehicle Search
Level 1 – The clove scent was placed in the left fog light at the front of the car (this area of the car was in the shade to make this as comfortable as possible for the dogs). Ruby & Boo Boo made this look easy with Boo Boo heading straight for the scent and indicating within only 10 seconds. Penny & Chance, and Lisa and Brew, also gained full handling marks in this search as they let their dogs take them to the find in only 14 & 17 seconds respectively. Some lovely handling from Lisa – Brew came off the car just as he was approaching the find but a 360 degree turn of both handler and dog meant that no coverage of the car was missed and Brew was put straight back onto the find. Out of the 12 competitors, 10 found this find, so well done also to: Sarah & Bonnie, Suzanne & Luther, Rosemary & Harley, Jess & Ruby, Becky & Reu, Lindsay & Meg, and Jenny & Nelson.

Level 2 – The first clove scent remained in the fog light of what was now the middle car, and the second clove scent was placed in the front right wheel of the furthest car (again in the shade). Anita & Meadow carried out a faultless search of both vehicles in 40 seconds, and Molly & Raika displayed some lovely handling and found both in 78 seconds. A lot of competitors found this search difficult and it appeared that this was due to the breeze carrying the open scent from the front right wheel of the white car under the car. Many of the dogs were showing interest around the front left wheel and some were even trying to crawl under the car. It is worth remembering that the breeze can play a big part in these outdoor searches and if you find your dog is downwind but struggling to find the source of the odour, it may be blowing across from the other/upwind side of the car.

Congratulations to:
Level 1
Sarah & Bonnie – 1st Place
Lisa & Brew – 2nd Place and their excellent rosette, well done.
Ruby & Boo Boo – 3rd Place.
Suzanne & Luther – 4th Place.

Level 2
Anita & Meadow – 1st Place.
Molly & Raika – 2nd Place and their excellent rosette, well done.
Pam & Willow – 3rd Place.
Anne & Missy – 4th Place.

Level 5
Exterior
Due to the afternoon heat, I decided to run a short exterior search, and to run this first and in the shade of the church. There were three hides in this area and 3 minutes were allocated – Metalwork by door (gun oil) & bottom of wall and edging stone (clove). Six of the teams found all three hides in this section (well done to Felicity & Mr Smiths, Sara & Tia, Jackie & Lima, Lynda & Max, Kathy & Portia, and Kathy & Star). The hide that appeared to be most difficult was the clove scent in the edging stone and this appeared to be due to the wind swirling the odour around the wall and flower bed in that area, and the dogs picking the scent up high in the air but not working it down to ground level.

Interior 1
We ran the first interior search in the main hall and had 5 finds in this area with 5 minutes (woodwork at bottom of radiator, hole in stage – cloves; stacked chair leg, pipework, bottom corner of hatch – gun oil). Only two of the teams found all five hides in this section. Felicity & Mr Smiths (204 seconds) and Jackie & Lima (270 seconds) both carried out some lovely thorough searching and both dogs worked extremely hard in this large room (and around the decoy chairs that had been placed in the middle). Several of the dogs missed the gun oil on the bottom of some pipework. This find was adjacent to a small pillar and the dogs really had to hit this from the right angle, well done to Sara & Tia, and Kathy & Portia who both found 4 out of the 5 hides including this one.

Interior 2
The second interior search was in a small corridor with multiple doors and a small area with some steps. There were 4 hides in this area with 4 minutes given – radiator and door mat (cloves), and corner of stairs and door (gun oil). Three of the teams found all 4 hides (Sara & Tia, Lynda & Max, Denise & Butty). Some of the dogs found the corner of the stairs quite difficult as this was quite a tight area to work in and the dogs needed to be facing into the alcove to locate the scent. Well done also to Jackie & Lima, Lisa & Tomba, Felicity & Mr Smiths, and Suzanne & Duke who all had quite large dogs but managed to work them nicely in this area and locate this tight find. The other area that a few teams missed was the first door on the right (as the team went down the corridor). This appeared to be a bit of a blind spot for many of the teams – five teams failed to locate this hide and this was often due to the door not being searched thoroughly. Kathy & Star were extremely unlucky on this one as a couple of seconds longer and you would have called it!

This was a lovely level to judge and it was so rewarding to watch each handler work their dogs and understand their needs.

A special mention also goes to Hazel & Yogi. Yogi just didn’t want to search today but Hazel took this all in her stride and Yogi made us all smile as he decided to spend a lot of his search time sitting on the feet of the judge and scribe!

Congratulations to
Felicity & Mr Smiths – 1st Place, Mr Smiths is a powerful boy who is so enthusiastic about his searching. Felicity handled him beautifully and I really enjoyed seeing this team work.
Sara & Tia – 2nd Place, Tia is just lovely to watch as she air-scents and focuses in on the source. There was some great detailed searching requested from Sara and it was lovely to see this team also rewarded with their excellence today.
Jackie & Lima – 3rd Place. Lima works so enthusiastically, and it was lovely to watch the teamwork in play to ensure coverage of all of the search areas.
Lynda & Max – 4th Place. Again, another great team to watch and a fantastic result at your first level 5, well done

Well done to everyone that took part today, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Sue Kirkham

Thank you Ellen for asking me to judge Level 1 and 2, sharing the judging with Janet Wykes. Also thank you to James for scribing. Level 1 and 2 worked along side each other. 12 entered for Level 1 and 9 for Level 2.

Tables and Chairs
There were some quick times and fines. Jess and Ruby – 8 seconds, Ruby and Bobo – 8 seconds and Becky and Reu – 9 seconds. There were some lovely clear indications; Lynn and Dixie, Lisa and Brew, Penny and Chance and Sarah and Bonnie, giving their dogs space to work.

Boxes and Luggage
The scent was placed along the zip line of a black bag. This search proved to be abit more tricky for some competitors. Rosemary and Harley, Anne and Oscar covered the search area well.

Level 2
Tables, chairs and perimeter
The scent was on a chair and on a stool. 6 out of 9 teams finding both scents. The dogs seemed to enjoy searching different articles with good focus. Rob and Bella, Marie and Hebe, Anita and Meadow worked off lead allowing their dogs freedom to search.

Boxes and luggage
3 teams only finding both scents. Liz and Artie, Pam and Willow, Molly and Raika had quiet and calm handling (Mollie was only 10 years old).

A few competitors would benefit from longer leads/lines to allow their dogs more freedom to search .

Congratulations to Lisa and Brew for their excellent award.

I enjoyed watching your dogs work and the partnership between you.

Enjoy your dogs.

		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 1		A/F	H	T	A/F	H	T	A/F	H	T	A/F	H	T	Marks	Time
1	Sarah Fortes-Mayer – Bonnie	20	5	40	20	5	22	20	5	41	20	4.95	36	99.95	139
2	Lisa Finney – Brew	20	5	34	20	4.9	65	20	5	17	20	5	31	99.9	147
3	Ruby Kwok – Boo Boo	20	5	8	20	4.8	63	20	5	10	20	5	18	99.8	99
4	Suzanne Olford – Luther	20	5	17	20	4.9	107	20	4.9	91	20	5	125	99.8	340
5	Rosemary Steen – Harley	20	4.9	64	20	4.8	71	20	4.9	67	20	5	37	99.6	239
6	Penny Harris – Chance	20	5	33	20	5	11	20	5	14	0	5	12	80	70
7	Jess Martin – Ruby	20	5	8	20	5	35	20	5	20	0	5	19	80	82
8	Lynn Evans – Dixie	20	5	23	20	5	35	0	4.8	14	20	4.9	81	79.7	153
9	Anne Tucker – Oscar	20	4.95	38	20	4.5	77	0	5	60	20	5	56	79.45	231
Level 2
1	Anita Scott – Meadow	20	5	0	10	4.9	98	20	5	40	20	5	66	89.9	204
2	Molly Holdsworth – Raika	20	4.95	0	10	4.9	67	20	5	78	20	4.9	78	89.75	223
3	Pam Butcher – Willow	20	4.95	0	20	4.9	77	10	4.8	113	20	5	75	89.65	265
4	Anne Glennon – Missy	20	5	0	20	5	118	10	4.9	91	10	5	32	79.9	241
5	Marie Herridge – Hebe	20	5	0	20	5	22	10	4.7	142	10	5	32	79.7	196
6	Liz Burton – Artie	20	5	0	20	4.8	126	10	4.9	279	10	5	67	79.7	472

		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	Felicity Ashford – Mr Smiths	0	50	10	0	204	1	30	0	0	240	0	30	10	0	98	1	110	20	0	130	542
2	Sara Wren – Tia	0	40	0	0	300	0	40	10	0	130	0	30	10	0	166	0	110	20	0	130	596
3	Jackie Hodge – Lima	0	50	10	0	270	1	30	0	0	240	0	30	10	0	141	1	110	20	0	130	651
4	Lynda Stangle – Max	0	30	0	0	300	1	40	10	0	170	0	30	10	0	83	1	100	20	0	120	553
5	Kethy Fitzgerald – Portia	0	40	0	0	300	0	30	0	0	240	0	30	10	0	95	0	100	10	0	110	635
6	Kathy Killick – Star	0	30	0	0	300	1	30	0	0	240	0	30	10	0	158	1	90	10	0	100	698
7	Denise Pile – Butty	0	30	0	0	300	2	40	10	0	238	0	20	0	0	180	2	90	10	0	100	718