Sunday morning, early start, Nigel had asked me to scribe at his trial, but with so many entries  he had asked Karen, who was booked to judge both Levels, if she would mind if I judged the Level 1’s, so I got up early and drove to Daglingworth in torrential rain and flooded roads, which luckily cleared as I approached, I popped into the garage to put the car through the car wash just in case!

Unfortunately the car park had developed a flood over night so we had to have a quick rethink on the site of the outside search area. Initally the gravel area looked like a good spot but as the Level 2’s had a few issues we moved to the tarmac drive, with any possible cars likely to cause interference fielded by the ever helpful Sally.

We started on the car searches and the exterior searches as both Karen {the Level 2 judge} and I had listened to the weather forecast which had predicted bands of rain, luckily it held off quite well. With the Level 1 car searches we had some lovely quick finds and some accurate working from both dogs and handlers. The exterior search area on the tarmac proved to be as accurate with only a couple of distractions near the builders equipment. The teams were all settling their nerves quickly, mind you I am not sure who was the most nervous the teams, Nigel or myself? I remember all to well my first trial and I am looking forward to my next dog taking Level 1. I tried to give as much encouraging feedback as possible.

After a short break for lunch for the competitors, Karen, Nigel and myself set up the inside areas, this group are extremely lucky in that their main hall and training space can be divided with a nearly solid wall, so although making 2 slightly smaller areas, it meant we could crack on and run both the inside sections simultaneously. All the Level 1 teams were now nicely settled in their rhythm and found the scents necessary with more confidence than the morning searches.

All the Level 1 teams qualified, I felt it was a great experience to have so many different types of dog with patient handlers, all enjoying this new sport. I feel a special mention should go to Maria and Flo {the labradoodle} who had definitely got her air head on, well done for your quiet perseverance. Also a special mention to Lynne with Wotton {one of the Jack Russells} who tried to find distractions in everything but once working on the job found every scent asked of him. And lastly to Alison and Peppa who completed all their accurate searches in a total time of 39 seconds to take the trophy and first place!

I really must thank Nigel and Karen for having faith in me to ask me to judge, once the nerves settled I really enjoyed it, and also a thank you to the competitors for making my job easy with your keenness and enthusiasm. Look forward to seeing you at the next level.

One of the nice things about being asked to judge a Trial is getting to visit places that I’ve never been to before and today I went to the lovely village of Daglingworth in Gloucestershire.

The Trial had attracted the full complement of competitors so Nigel had asked Nikki Inglis to judge the Level 1 folk.  It was a great idea as it would have taken me much longer on my own and between us we were able to complete the judging and presentations by 3.30pm allowing those who had travelled long distances to get home in the light.

The weather forecast was not good with heavy rain promised for the afternoon so we started with the Outside Article search first followed by the Vehicle Search.  The Outside Article search, which was on a gravel square, proved difficult as it’s a public place with a big tree in the middle and some wooden seating scattered around.  Some of the dogs found it necessary to mark their presence here which unfortunately resulted in their handlers losing valuable marks.  Berit handled her dog, Saphie, beautifully and good teamwork saw very quick finds in both exercises. Nikan gave his handler, David, a work-out as he ran at full pelt and with such enthusiasm to find the odours whereas Pippa’s Collie, Becky, does it all very slowly and surely!  Pippa’s, collie, Billie gave us lovely indications on both of the outside searches.

It was very chilly being outside all morning, especially, for my scribe, Tina who has to stand still!  At least during the Vehicle Search, I could follow the handlers around!  As it turned out some periods during the afternoon were sunnier and warmer than the morning but that’s the way our weather goes. Annoying at times!

After lunch Nigel was able to separate the hall into two by the use of a rigid floor to ceiling divider. This allowed Nikki and me to work the Boxes and Luggage search and the Table and Chairs search simultaneously and then swap over.  Although the searching area became smaller none of the dogs or handlers seemed fazed and managed well.   Lindsay’s excellent handling of Hector enabled him to search methodically and successfully and Ian’s, Ruby, whizzed round the Tables and Chairs/Perimeter search to produce two very quick finds.

As a competitor, I have wondered in the past why there is so much waiting around but having managed a Trial and been a judge, I know how much organising is involved and I would like to thank Sally Marshall for being our runner for the day.  Her help was invaluable.

I would like to thank Nigel, the Trial organiser, for inviting me to judge this Trial, Tina my very able scribe and Nikki for judging the Level 1 participants.

Well done to all those who entered the Trial which is a particularly hard job for those working two dogs and for those dogs who had never been to the hall before.  There was a lovely selection of dogs, big and small, once again proving that this is a sport for every size and breed.

Karen Denton