Sat 30th Nov 2019, Islip

Level 7: Judge - Karen Denton
WAPBDTWAPBDTWAPBDTWAPBDP+B+DTime
WA = Wrong Alerts (4 = elimination)P = Points (articles found X 10)
B = Bonus (10 if all items found)D = DeductionsT = time (seconds)
Interior Search 1Interior Search 2Exterior SearchTotals
No of itemsTime allowedNo of itemsTime allowedNo of itemsTime allowedP+B-D = Points + Bonus - Deductions
WAPBDTWAPBDTWAPBDTWAPBDP+B-DTime
1Nikki Inglis & Elli14000240140100.25240030002402110100.25119.75720
2Sue Gardner & Lily0401002340300012003000.252400100100.25109.75594
3Sarah Taylor & Hugo140002400300013203000240110000100612
4Wendy Clay & Chilli04010024012000.2516103000240190100.2599.75641

Trial Manager and Judges Reports

Judge’s report

Thank you to Annette for inviting me to judge this Level 7 Trial and also for scribing and providing a lovely lunch.

I had a very high calibre of dogs and handlers today with most of them having achieved Excellence at Level 6 and those who hadn’t were pretty close. The competitors all knew each other very well and were happy and chatty and none of them seemed nervous at all.

I set the test with four hides in each area and a white dog was run before each search. I started with Interior 1 which was the main hall. There was a table and four chairs in the middle which one or two handlers inevitably forgot about proving
that it’s not just me who forgets! The decoy was on one of the chairs and, of those who did remember to search the middle, some dogs fell foul of it.

Then we went outside into the freezing cold for the Exterior search which was the paved area that ran the length of the hall and round the corner. No dogs indicated the decoy here but several handlers spent too long round the fire exit steps where there were no hides. It was interesting to see the difference in the search technique of the dogs and handlers – some having detailed method and others just letting the dog do its thing. If a couple of the handlers had watched their dog’s head instead of looking ahead themselves, they’d have seen the dogs preference to go the opposite way to the handlers’ direction.

Back inside for the second Interior search which was a corridor, the ladies’ and the disabled toilets. Most did well here and it was a relief to get out of the cold. A couple of dogs indicated the decoy here too.

I saw some beautiful handling of confident dogs which you’d expect at this level. Everyone knew how to play the game and, although a couple of dogs were off their game a little which was a shame, it was a great trial overall.

Many congratulations to the qualifiers who were Nikki & Elli taking the red rosette, Sue & Lily coming 2nd, Sarah & Hugo were 3rd and Wendy & Chilli came 4th. Well done ladies you made it look easy.

I hope you all enjoyed it even if you weren’t successful on this occasion and were able to take some good experiences from it.

See you next time.

Karen Denton

Hi Annette Leslie, trial manager here. 1st level 7 at Islip, oh so very cold, thick fog today but it didnt dampen the 9 competitors spirits. Our judge set a fabulous test and four qualified.

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