Sun 12 Feb 2023, Finmere

Levels 1 & 6: Judges - L1 Lynda Stangle, L6 Marianne Tembey

Finmere Village Hall, Water Stratford Road, Finmere, Bucks MK18 4AT

Start: 9am – L1, L6 – 1.30pm
Entry Fees: £30 per dog.
Contact: Heather Donnelly heather.donnelly6@btinternet.com

Trial Manager and Judges Reports

Thank you to Heather Donnelly for asking me to judge L1 and to my very able scribe Yaz Whitehall.
There were 13 teams on the day and it was the first time for 4 of the teams. All the dogs worked enthusiastically with very nice handling from everyone.
The first search was Tables and Chairs with only 2 dogs not finding the Scent. Lovely searches from Gill Twigg with Monty and Lynsey Roderick with Suki.
Next up was the vehicle search with only one dog not finding the Scent. Good searches from Lisa Hunt and Jimmy and Karen Charman and Quin.
The Boxes and Luggage followed with only one dog not finding the Scent. Excellent searches from Sophie and Skylar in only 9s, closely followed by Karen and Quin in 10s
Last was the Exterior search in which all teams except one got the scent. Lovely searches from Madeleine and Mouse at their first trial and Ruth and Saatchi, Ruth did extremely well handling Saatchi on all the searches as Ruth was suffering from an injured leg. Hope it gets better soon
Congratulations to all the teams and hope they enjoyed their day. Very well done to our eventual winners Karen Charman and Quin 1st, Lynsey Roderick and Suki 2nd, Sophie Webb and Skylar 3rd, Madeleine Greening and Mouse 4th very well deserved
Well done to Lisa Hunt and Jimmy and Lynsey Roderick and Suki obtaining their Excellent Awards

Finmere level 6 judge Marianne Tembey

Thank you to Heather Donnelly for inviting me to judge. Also thank you to Julie Fletcher for scribing.

It was lovely to watch all the dogs working. We started with interior 1 which had 5 hidden odours.
The first one was a very early one attached just under the dado rail. Only 3 dogs found this. These three dogs then came 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
Archie, Chubey and Tym. Truffle was hidden in the middle of the double doors. 7 out of ten dogs found this no problem.
Next we had gun oil on the side of the filing cabinet in the small room. Again 7 dogs found this. Just further along on the radiator was truffle. This was down at the bottom. 4 dogs found this. Then gunoil on the end chair. Surprisingly the only dog not to find this was Chubey who came first overall.
Then we ran the exterior. Sadly we had 4 dogs pee on some bricks and up the actual wall. The search area started once you were through the gate and I told everyone that the gate was not included. Two people spent over a minute searching the gate which sadly was just a waste of time. All dogs found the odour by the drain pipe which was very encouraging. A hole in the wall by the wheelie bin odour was found by five dogs.
And seven dogs found the gun oil on the brick towards the end of the second side of the wall.
Interior 2 had 4 hides. The first one was on the second chair in the fist stack of chairs just inside the start of the search. Again this was an early find and 7 dogs did this beautifully. The truffle on the radiator behind the cupboard was found by 8 dogs. The clove on the little kitchen was found by all dogs. The dogs all loved this one. The last one was gunoil at the bottom of the large blue cupboards. This was missed by two dogs.
There were some fabulous searches overall the three areas. A special mention to Joanne who worked Cora with fabulous empathy, calmness and confidence building handling.
It was really lovely to watch these dogs working. The handling today was great. Level 6 is a really rewarding level.
Thank you to all competitors and their dogs. You all took the best dog home with you.
I look forward to meeting you again at other level 6 trials.

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