A big thank you to Emma Conlisk for asking me to judge the L8 at her beautiful venue. Emma’s hospitality was second to none making my scribe, the competitors and myself feeling most welcome. Also a big thank you once again to my very competent scribe Yaz for keeping very accurate scoring so essential at this level and the talented Banjo for his ‘white’ dog duties.
I hid 15 hides throughout the three searches 3 in the interior 1 (kitchen/toilet area), 4 in the ‘Exterior Search’ and 8 in the Interior 2’ (classroom).
The first search was straight forward, the exterior search challenging for some of the dogs, and the final search I added a touch of competitor phycology. Most competitors had the confidence to call the ‘all clear’ in some of the search areas which did result in two teams qualifying so this does seem a good strategy. Some teams fell fowl to the scented article repetition on the four tables making the assumption that once they had located one scented article on a table there couldn’t possibility be another. Some competitors also thought they had called a found scented article when they in fact had not, it is better to a call a scented articles twice rather than thinking that one had already been called especially as there isn’t a penalty for doing so. I ended up with 4 qualifiers and well done to:
1st Chris Gregory & Dilly – what an amazing pairing this combination is. Dilly’s detailing is absolutely a joy to watch and Chris handling on the table search in the Interior 2 was spot on. Well done on gaining your ‘Ex’ which is a shame as I won’t be seeing this team again in L8.
2nd Dolores & Gypsy – A well deserved qualification particularly after searching the perimeter for over 2 minutes without finding a scented article and for keeping your nerve Dolores. Dolores line handing was fabulous, particularly impressive during the ‘Exterior Search’ when Dolores let out her line enabling Gypsy to find one of the scented articles whilst Dolores was thinking about tasking Gypsy to another area.
3rd Nikki & Ellie – A particularly well handled ‘exterior’ search with Nikki calling the ‘all clear’ and one of the best ‘exterior’ searches of the day. A nice coverage of the ‘Interior 1’ and although Ellie found 5 hides mum only called 4. However, a well-deserved qualification.
4th Julia & Jade – This team has gained in confidence since the last time I have seen them compete. Julia was confident to call the ‘all clear’ in both the ‘Interior 1’where she was correct, and the ‘Exterior’ search. This again was the difference between qualifying so well done for do so when there is nowhere else to search, rather than stressing the dog by continuous finding already found scented articles, call the ‘all clear’.