I’d offered to scribe at this Trial but a few days prior Ellen asked me if I would judge instead which I was very happy to do for her. I met up with Dolores who was co-judging and we’d soon decided to take an inside and an outside search each.

We started with L1 in the morning and I was judging the Vehicle search and the Boxes & Luggage. Overall in these searches the standard was very high with both handlers and dogs knowledgeable of the task to be done. I thought I’d hidden the scented swatch in quite a tricky place but it didn’t fox the dogs, who in most cases, found it in less than 30 seconds! Notable dogs for their beautiful indication was Nikki’s Harleigh, Sue’s Sunny and Jane’s Dinah. The Boxes and Bags proved a bit trickier as I’d placed the scented swatch on the top of a suitcase which, because of its size, some dogs only searched one side and then disregarded. Remember folks big items have many sides to approach from. However, this wasn’t a problem for Penny’s Lyra who got it in 6 seconds, Sue’s Sunny in 8 seconds and Alison’s Lola in 17 seconds! Lola jumped on top of the case, sat down and wasn’t going anywhere! I’d said in the judges’ briefing that I’d give feedback but the only comments I needed to make to most handlers was ‘well done’ as the teamwork was very good. It was lovely to watch Logan, Rachael’s tripaw Rottweiler, enjoy this sport so much. Well done Rachael. . Congratulations to Sue & Sunny who went on to win the red rosette for Level 1.

After a lovely lunch, Dolores and I swapped over so I judged the Exterior item search and the Tables/Chairs and Perimeter search. The Exterior searches were conducted very well with all the dogs finding both the scented items. Notables here were Justine’s Chumley who was very quick and went directly to both finds and both of Liz’s dogs Chandra and Cash who have lovely indications. Santi did well too and I must commend Chris’ handling of her long line which is the best I have ever seen anyone manage! The Tables and Chairs proved more difficult for some with a few dogs only finding one of the two scents. Julie’s Daisy was handled well and came a well deserved 2nd place. Liz had a great day with Cash and Chandra taking 1st and 3rd places and winning her Excellent rosette with Cash! Congratulations Liz. Everyone qualified at L2 so congratulations to you all!

I’d like to thank Ellen for inviting me to judge a very well organised trial and Faye for being a wonderful scribe. Also thanks to the runners and tea makers!

As always in my experience of Scentwork UK everyone was friendly and enthusiastic and I had a lovely day!

Karen Denton

This is a lovely venue so I was surprised Ellen hadn’t filled all the places. From a competitor’s perspective it must have been lovely to have a warm room to sit in throughout the trial, (a very unusual occurrence). The dogs who can be reactive were also catered for so they felt safe. The venue is also very easy to get to. Thank you, Ellen for asking me to judge at your first trial. It was a pleasure! Thank you also to my very able scribe, Jo, for your very competent scribing and great company. I hope you enjoyed finding out more about this type of scentwork.
Judging was shared between myself and Karen Denton. In Level 1 I judged tables/chairs and exterior. The standard of work that I saw was very high and there was some lovely handling of dogs.
A couple of dogs found the hall distracting want to check out the hall before going to the table/chairs. Cath Seddon put Dana on the lead after it was clear that Dana was very distracted, this enabled Dana to then get on with the job. Excellent handling, well done! Seven dogs found the scent and gained full handling marks – well done. Jane Page obviously recognised her dog had found the scent, though Dinah didn’t give the usual indication and so Jane called alert after her dog had moved away. Excellent reading of your dog! There were two very quick finds; both Rachel Fox with Logan and Sue Taylor with Sunny found the scent in 10 seconds. Nikki Johnson & Harleigh and Penny Harris with Lyra also did very nice searches. Having completed the table/chairs
I then went out to set up the exterior search. Again, there was some lovely searching and handling with some very quick searches. Sue Taylor & Sunny and Nikki Johnson with Harleigh completed their searches in 8 seconds. Rachel Fox who handled Logan, her 3-legged dog beautifully, found the scent in 12 seconds. Of course, time doesn’t matter unless you have the possibility of a placing and are on equal points with another team. It was good to see Marcus, handled by Helen Hepple, having a good search around for the scent – by this time he seemed to have settled into the environment. Also, it was good to see Lola handled by Alison Deakin and Ellie handled by Anne Johnson working so well and finding the scent after a distracted start with the table/chairs. Special mention for Jane Page who very skilfully kept her dog’s attention during the briefing for exterior and whose handling of Dinah was excellent!

Many Congratulations to the 3 people who earned full marks, Sue Taylor with Sunny coming first, Penny Harris with Lycra coming second, and Alison Deakin with Lola coming third, plus, losing only a quarter of a mark and coming fourth, Nikki Johnson with Harleigh. Well done to everyone else who qualified! To those who didn’t make it today practice searching in different places for all the searches and I’m sure you’ll qualify next time around.

In the afternoon, for Level 2 Karen and I swapped over the searches we judged. Again, the standard was very high, with everyone qualifying. I started with the luggage and boxes. Five teams found both scents. Elizabeth Beaumont realised her dog had missed searching the scented suitcase, so directed her dog onto this, Cash then very quickly indicated exactly on the scent. Good observation Liz. Justine Steele supported her dog, Chumley, to find the second scent by thinking about the air current in the room and supporting her dog – very nice handling. Two dogs indicated on a second box and unfortunately, in the moment, the handlers having forgotten the trial guidelines for Level 2 called alert. The moral being read the guidelines again just before your trial.
The vehicle search was excellent in that all dogs found both scents. A lot of the dogs picked up the scent on the second car whilst searching the first one. Well done to those handlers who observed what their dogs were doing, read the dogs correctly and went with their dogs. I did dock some points for handlers who insisted the dogs carry on searching the first car.
Well done to Elizabeth Beaumont who came first with Cash and third with Chandra – lovely handling of both dogs. And congratulations to Julie Russon with Daisy who came second and Sarah Wren with Tia who came fourth. I also saw lovely searching from Chris Bennett with Santi, Justine Steele with Chumley and Jean Tomkinson with Neah. All the competitors look like they are ready to move into Level 3 so well done everyone!

Dolores Palmer