L2
We started the trial with Tables and Chairs, with the scent hidden on a box on the perimeter. The scent on the chair quickly expanded, and 2 competitors called the wrong chair (next to the scented chair).
We then moved on to the Vehicle/Wall search, which had one scent on Heather’s van (front wheel) and one on the wall (near the fire door). All teams found both items, with some dogs finding the environment challenging to work in (a lot of distractions and smells).
On Boxes and Luggage, all teams found both finds again. On the Exterior search, a pipe was too interesting for Bonnie, so Fiona called a wrong alert and a bag was too exciting for Frankie, leading Michael to calling an incorrect find.
Thank you Yaz for being a great scribe and support.

L7
After briefing the competitors and walking Interior 1 and Exterior, we scented the area and ran the white dog.
Interior 1
There were 6 hides in the bottom half of the hall and committee room, for which we gave the competitors 3.5 minutes to search. Clove and a decoy were on the kid’s kitchen (placed by the patio doors), TO on the radiator, 3 scents in the committee room (silver filing cabinet (GO), wooden filing cabinet (TO) and clove under the table corner). We had expected the table to be the easiest find, however, a lot of dogs struggled with it. Another TO was on the dado rail at the beginning of the search area and as expected, a lot of dogs rushed past it. Alison and Ellie were the only team that found all hides, but didn’t call the area clear. Yaz and Banjo found 5, and called clear (wrongly)
Exterior
Using the back of the hall, I placed 4 hides, cloves in a plug by the air vent, TO in a plug behind the bin and 2 GO in 2 adjacent vents. The white dog found all but the second vent and strangely no dog found the vent the white dog had found. A fabric decoy was in the bricks and Rio was adamant (to the point of nearly dislodging the bricks) that this was a live hide! The outside search proved very difficult for a lot of teams, with Dolly not searching at all and a number of dogs showing interest in the drain pipe (presumably doggy odour).
Interior 2
We used the top end of the hall and kitchen for the last search, with 2 hides by the kitchen exit door (bottom right GO, under counter cloves). The dado rail had a velcro decoy with a number of dogs alerting on it.
It was a privilege watching some very experienced handlers and thank you Heather for asking me to judge. Thank you Liz for being a great scribe!