I would like to thank Nigel for inviting me to judge the Daglingworth Trial. This was the first time I had been asked to judge Levels 1,2 and 3 on the same day, but Nigel had an excellent plan for the order of the exercises so I felt confident all would be well. In the event, I thoroughly enjoyed the day and my job was made easier by the excellent preparation and organisation by Nigel and team, which kept everything flowing nicely. Weather conditions were perfect, with a cool summer day, slight breeze and some sunshine.

First to arrive were the Level 3 Handlers and their dogs. We got underway with the vehicle search while the car park was fairly empty. Two scented articles (one cloves and the other gun oil) were hidden: one in the boot seam of a car and the other hidden behind a wheel cover on the car next door, with the decoy vehicle at one end. All dogs found the two articles in around 2 or 2.5 minutes, except for Ollie and Laura who steamed in with a time of well under one minute for both finds! Geoff and Bug worked nicely and methodically to finish in a good time. There were a few minor handling marks lost by nervous handlers through blocking the dog or moving the dog off the scent.

The exterior search caused a few problems for one or two, with interesting smells blowing in from the cow’s field next door. There were some wrong alerts but nothing the handlers could do as the dogs clearly alerted. Also, some handlers had difficulty calling their dog away from the first find, which unlike Level 2 was left in situ. Great finds from Ollie again, but Sue and Halle were quick too.

Inside now for tables, chairs and perimeter searches. There were interesting scent pictures in the room because of the drafts from the open door and the patio doors in the wall directly opposite. Berit and Saphie worked really well to get two very quick finds. David and Nikan worked methodically and found both scents very smartly. Then it was onto the last search, the one some handlers dread (but their dogs love), boxes and luggage. Sue was delighted with Halle who found both scents and didn’t so much as dent a box, and there was another quick search from Ollie and Laura. This was the last exercise, and there were a couple of false alerts, but some dogs seemed pretty tired by this point.

Congratulations to the well-deserved winners Ollie and Laura for their faultless work.

It was straight on with the level 2s, exercises done in the same order. Six out of the eight dogs successfully found both hides on the vehicles. Helen and Trek were just ahead of Pat and Arthur and  Lynne and Wotton with methodical and speedy searches and finds. Excellent work from these three. Well done to Chris who told me she realised she had started the clockwise search with her dog on the wrong side (her left side), but nerves had got the better of her at that point. However she got herself together and she and Buster went on to get both finds in a good time.

Exterior searches went well for most with both articles found easily. There was a nice breeze at this point which helped. Excellent focus from Timen handled by Tina with quick finds in 28 seconds. Lynne and Wotton were very close again with 2 excellent finds.

The inside searches caused a few problems with some dogs calling wrong alerts after repeated requests to search particular items by their handlers. There was a lot of air movement in this room and alerts were called on the chair next to the scent in some instances. Timen and Trek did some very quick, accurate searches with their handlers allowing them to work independently. A pleasure to watch these dogs. Most of the dogs were very tired by the time they did the last exercise, boxes and luggage.  Helen and Trek, Lyn and Chuby and Pippa and Billy all had plenty left in the tank and successfully found both hides in good times. Well deserved winners were Helen and Trek with an almost perfect performance.

Finally, it was the turn of the Level 1 dogs and handlers to see what they could do. I saw some fantastic work with clean sweeps for most, which made it very close between them all. Winners Yvette and Anna were well deserved with a faultless performance and very quick times on their first outing. Helen and little Sweep put in a great performance with some cracking times, as did Clive and Mitch with brilliant vehicle and boxes and luggage searches. Well done to all for qualifying and kindly accepting my decisions. I look forward to seeing you again before too long.

Karen Kendall