Level 1
1st Rob & Belle 99.5
2nd Wendy & Max 93.75
3rd Hazel & Mog 79.75
4th Julie & Edith 79.25
5th Deb & Skyla 79.25
6th Helen & Mia 79
7th Pat & Lulu 79
8th Rachael & Logan 75
9th Mandy & Reenie 74.5
Level 6
1st Nikki Inglis & Elli 99.75
2nd Tina Schuster & Timon 99.5
3rd Geof Dixon & Bug 99.25
I’m sure the folk who travel regularly to my venue for Trials must think the Weather Gods of Wind and Rain must bear down on Bournheath constantly as, once again, the afternoon brought gale conditions! Despite that, the Trial ran smoothly because my helpers did a sterling job at moving things along and keeping dogs and handlers in the right place at the right time.
Level 6 was run in the morning and with only eight handlers and dogs, I thought they’d all be done and away by noon. Not so, as Becky Harris had set a fair but challenging test and most folk were taking their fully allocated time for each search. Level 6 shouldn’t be easy which it wasn’t and we finished with three qualifiers. Many congratulations to Nikki & Elli taking 1st place, Tina & Timon who were 2nd and Geof & Bug 3rd. Well done to all for taking part – there was great teamwork happening today.
Tina then joined Becky to co-judge the Level 1 folk in the afternoon and when the weather turned and got cold. The benefit of having two judges means that the competitors only have to wait half the time. Many of these teams were running in their first Trial so the experience was very new for them. I did assure them that the first Trial is always the hardest. It does get easier, promise! Congratulations to Rob & Bella for taking the red rosette, Wendy & Max for 2nd place and Hazel & Mog 3rd and Julie & Edith 4th. Well done to all the other qualifiers too.
I’d like to thank Becky Harris and Tina Schuster for judging this Trial and giving great feedback to the handlers. Thanks must also go to my fabulous team of scribes and helpers who were Sarah Taylor, Michelle Rodgers, Heather Poulton and Jess Martin.
One thing that always strikes me in this sport is the affection people have for their dogs. Without exception, the love that the owners showed their dogs today was heart melting. I love it. 🥰
Karen Denton
After having finally passed out L6 in the morning, Becky and I got ready to judging Karen’ Level 1 trial straight after a couple of lovely bites of sandwiches (having overrun in the morning). We had 11 competitors in the Level 1 trial, and a for a large number of them, it was their first time. Brave souls – especially those, for whom this was an entirely new location. I stuck to my customary outside and started with the vehicle search. A number of teams had trouble “going to source” and Rachael (and Logan) showed great maturity, recognising she should have given Logan one more second before calling the alert, as unfortunately, he was still finding the source when she called it. It took a lot of dogs some time to start searching and focusing on the car but everyone got their dogs working in the end.
In the exterior search, all teams opted to know which 3 items the hide could have been in and all teams successfully found the item. It was great seeing the handlers work through 3!! Pee incidents by the end of the afternoon – and in the near dark (when the bike tyre (one of the 3 potential items) became nearly “invisible” on the dark floor). I would like to offer a special “well done” to Wendy and Max, who “needs space”, for helping channel his energy and put his brain and nose to good use.
Thank you Karen for asking me to judge for you again and thank you Michelle for being such a faithful scribe.
| 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 | Rob Warman – Belle | 20 | 5 | 63 | 20 | 5 | 26 | 20 | 4.5 | 128 | 20 | 5 | 45 | 99.5 | 262 |
| 2 | Wendy Hooker – Max | 20 | 4.75 | 45 | 20 | 0 | 87 | 20 | 4.5 | 139 | 20 | 4.5 | 118 | 93.75 | 389 |
| 3 | Hazel Anderson – Mog | 20 | 5 | 11 | 20 | 5 | 11 | 20 | 4.75 | 47 | 0 | 5 | 46 | 79.75 | 115 |
| 4 | Julie Cox – Edith | 20 | 5 | 45 | 20 | 4.75 | 93 | 20 | 4.75 | 79 | 0 | 4.75 | 97 | 79.25 | 314 |
| 5 | Deb Atkins – Skyla | 20 | 4.75 | 104 | 20 | 5 | 42 | 20 | 4.75 | 65 | 0 | 4.75 | 124 | 79.25 | 335 |
| 6 | Helen Reaney – Mia | 0 | 4.75 | 39 | 20 | 4.5 | 72 | 20 | 4.75 | 59 | 20 | 5 | 110 | 79 | 280 |
| 7 | Pat Wills – Lulu | 0 | 4.5 | 180 | 20 | 4.75 | 44 | 20 | 4.75 | 42 | 20 | 5 | 65 | 79 | 331 |
| 8 | Rachael Fox – Logan | 20 | 5 | 34 | 20 | 0 | 84 | 0 | 5 | 104 | 20 | 5 | 52 | 75 | 274 |
| 9 | Mandy Rigby – Reenie | 0 | 5 | 19 | 20 | 5 | 13 | 20 | 4.5 | 92 | 20 | 0 | 145 | 74.5 | 269 |
| 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 | Nikki Inglis – Elli | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0.25 | 180 | 0 | 40 | 10 | 0 | 136 | 1 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 360 | 1 | 90 | 10 | 0.25 | 99.75 | 676 |
| 2 | Tina Schuster – Timon | 0 | 30 | 10 | 0.25 | 171 | 2 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 240 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 0.25 | 360 | 2 | 90 | 10 | 0.5 | 99.5 | 771 |
| 3 | Goef Dixon – Bug | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0.25 | 180 | 0 | 40 | 10 | 0 | 144 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 0.5 | 360 | 0 | 90 | 10 | 0.75 | 99.25 | 684 |