Sussex County Dog Training, The Dog Barn, Park Farm, Hook Lane Aldingbourne West Sussex PO20 3TL
Start: L1 – 9am, L2 – 1:30pm
Entry Fees: £25 per dog.
Contact: Anna Coyne lois@sussexcountydogtraining.co.uk
Trial Manager and Judges Reports
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Thank you Anna for asking me to co judge the Level 2 with Helen. I volunteered to do the outside
judging,which was a fenced off concrete yard in full sun.
We started with the external search. There was 16 different items the scent was on a baby walker and a plastic bath. All 12 teams found both hides, although some dogs struggled with the heat including Chester who had a lie down in the shade halfway through.
Next was the wall search,using the back outside wall of the new doggy play centre.I placed one hide on right hand edge of wooden board attached to the wall and a second hide in a small hole near the outside tap.
Again all teams found both hides.
Congratulations to all teams some really good searching,good luck on your Scentwork journey.Hope to see you all again soon.
Firstly thank you to Anna for asking me to co-judge Levels 1 and 2 in her new premises, which had never been used before. This is always a dream, as whilst we had the wonderful Nellie to white dog all the items, we knew the premises was clean of scent.
Level 1
I co-judged with Jennie, who judged the inside and I the outside searches.
The weather forecast was for cloud and 20 degrees. Well in actual fact there was little cloud and the heat was more like the Bahamas!
There were lots of first time teams to a trial and whilst there were nerves, for me it’s always lovely to see teams at the very start of their scent journey.
First up was the Vehicle Search and 19 competitors. I hid the scent on the back of the wheel cap, on the right hand side back wheel of the car. 13 teams found the scent, 6 unfortunately did not. False alerts were mainly due to and in part to the dogs catching the scent on the other side of the car and investigating the other side of the car. Instead of waiting their dogs out for them to track it in, some called too early. Despite this there were some lovely searches, most notably the novel way both Hussey and Tayto decided to find the scent, by going under the back of the car to get directly to source!
The Exterior Search was a hot one with very little shade. The scent was placed on the little red trolley. Most teams chose not to know the three items it may have been on. Very brave, but it paid off as all but one team found the scented item. Well done!
Congratulations to you all, especially to our top four teams, Michelle & Rogue, Wendy & Jazz, Emma & Growlithe and Jane & Buddy. Also a very special mention to Wendy & Jazz and Emma & Growlithe who achieved their Excellent Titles. Fabulous work! A mention also to our non-qualifiers; keep going and learn from this trial. Next time when you qualify it will mean so much more and you will have grown as a team too.
Last but not least a huge thank you to my Scribe, Sam. A first timer at the job and she took to it like a duck to water. She was keen to learn and did a fabulous job. Thank you. It makes a judge’s job so much easier knowing all the scoring is being looked after and in safe hands.
Well done Level 1’s, I will be keeping an eye on your progress 🙂
Level 2
I co-judged with Richard and he very kindly said he would take the outside searches whilst I judged the inside.
There were a few teams new to Level 2 and even with experience of Level 1, nerves were evident, but by the end of the day, they all seem to have relaxed.
We started off with Boxes and Luggage. One of the scents was on a box in the middle of the search and the other on a bag to the far right of the search.
Of the 12 teams, 10 teams found both items, 1 team found one item and one team, unfortunately, found the bags too interesting, so neither were found.
Tables and Chairs was the next search. The scents were placed on a small projector on the left hand wall of the perimeter and the other on the right of the righthand table and under the far right chair.
It was much cooler by now inside and out and I think most dogs welcomed this. All the teams appeared more calm and some knew at this point they had enough points to qualify. It was a joy to see their happy, smiley faces and I am delighted to say every team found both items in this search. Super well done to one and all!
Congratulations to everyone, especially to our top four teams, Sam & Wilson, Jacky & Amber, Marie & Roo and Nick & Luna. Super well done also to Gill & Layla and Jacky & Amber for achieving your Excellent Titles. Onwards to Level 3!
I would also like to thank my fabulous scribe, Sarah. Sarah has scribed many times and needed little guidance. In this level a judge needs to go in and take out the first item found in both of these searches and remember to put them back. So my huge thanks for the gentle reminders and sometimes popping them back for me herself. Great team work, thank you.
Well done to all the Level 2’s. Some of these teams I have had the privilege to judge before and its’s a real pleasure to see how they have grown in confidence as well as working as a team. I do hope I will have the opportunity to see you all continue in your scent work journey. Until then, enjoy this wonderful game 🙂
Thank you Anna for inviting me to judge the Level 1’s today. We had lovely weather for it. I was tasked with judging the interior searches and we started with the tables and chairs. We had several new teams and it was brilliant to see some new faces taking on these trials. A few of the dogs were a little distracted to begin with but there was some fabulous handling to get them focused and back working. The vast majority of the teams quickly located the correct chair with 7 teams correctly calling it in 20 seconds or less! Very impressive confidence in your wonderful dogs
Next we moved onto the boxes and bags. Nerves began to creep in a little for some handlers. Special mention to Wendy and Jazz for an absolutely text book search locating the hide and correctly calling it in 10seconds without missing an item on the way to locating it (at the back of the hall)
The top 6 all finished on 100% which shows the calibrate of the teams competing.
1st – Michelle and Rogue – I saw 2 great inside searches, seeing her under test for a total of 35 seconds it’s hard to find fault. Beautiful handled and lovely searching from her
2nd – Wendy and Jazz – as mentioned above they did an absolutely textbook search in the boxes and bags. Such a great partnership and I love watching them developing
3rd – Emma and Growlithe – I was very impressed by Emma’s brilliant handling of Growlithe. He isn’t the most methodical which can make it harder on the handler but Emma has this absolutely perfected. Making sure he covers the area without interfering in his way of working. Beautiful to watch.
4th – Jane and Buddy – loved this team, very calm, but quick and accurate. Stealth mode activated! Under estimate this combination at your peril.
5th – Marie and Wren – Wren is a timid dog which Marie understands well and handles her sympathetically. It was really lovely to watch her confidence grow as the day went on.
6th – Julie and Gus – this team I have had the pleasure of watching their confidence growing over a few trials now. Was lovely to see score 100% together, well deserved after all the hard training and very close result previously
I saw some beautiful partnerships just starting and some more experience ready to take on the next step. Pass or not you should all be very proud of yourselves and your dogs and I hope to see you all at another trial soon.