Sun 12th Jan 2020, Grendon Underwood

Levels 1 & 5: Level 1 – Laura Ward & Annette Leslie. Level 5 – Jeni Piri

T&C - A/FT&C - HT&C - TES - A/FES - HES - TVS - A/FVS - HVS - TB&L - A/FB&L - HB&L - TMarksTime
A/F = Alert FindH = HandlingT = Time (seconds)
Tables & ChairsExterior SearchVehicle SearchBoxes & LuggageTotals
Level 1A/FHTA/FHTA/FHTA/FHTMarksTime
1Jill Thorpe - Meg2052020521205212052710089
2Andrew Holliman - Murphy20549205282053520561100173
3Linda Hams - Sonic20528204.948205632053899.9177
4Helen Cottrell - Pippin20537204.752720547205999.75120
5Janice Holliman - Scrumpy04.84020517205162053379.8106
6Mel Davis - Asa20514204.956404.763205879.65149
7Kate Skirrow - Dixie04.537204.954420524204.759279.2197
8Caroline Nicholson - Gus204.9520204.57804.61422053879.05278

WAPBDTWAPBDTWAPBDTWAPBDP+B+DTime
WA = Wrong Alerts (4 = elimination)P = Points (articles found X 10)
B = Bonus (10 if all items found)D = DeductionsT = time (seconds)
Interior Search 1Interior Search 2Exterior SearchTotals
Level 5WAPBDTWAPBDTWAPBDTWAPBDP+B-DTime
1Emma Conlisk - 78050100213140100194030100541120300150461
2Melanie Goble - 78050100276040100215030100840120300150575
3Kym Salisbury - 7804000.530014010016702000.21801100100.7109.3647
4Kathy Killick - 780400030003000240110001801800080720
5Jill Spurr - 78030003000300023702000.518008000.579.5717
6Collette Guy - 780300530013000240020001801800575720
7Julie Thomas - 780300030023000240010001802700070720
8Marie Poole - 7814000.23001200018026000.259.8480
NFCKate Osborn - 7805010027713000240030105541110205125571

Trial Manager and Judges Reports

Level 1:
I judged the exterior and the boxes and luggage.

Thank you to Annete for being a great co-judge, Nikki for organising a lovely relaxed trial, Amy for being my scribe and Helen and Belinda for running.
Well done to all the competitors. It is so nerve racking and us judges can certainly relate to your jitters – so well done for soldiering on.

The exterior search was particularly tricky due to the wind, but in this case I feel it helped and many dogs knocked the scent and had no trouble. It may have made it trickier due to sounds and gusts providing a distracting, particularly to the nervous dogs. So I feel they did great.
The boxes and luggage search was generally successful.

Hopefully you all know what you need to work on, and you are on the right track for future successes 🙂

Annette Leslie, Level 1 judge alongside Laura
I judged the tables and chairs and the vehicle.
Firstly what a lovely mix of dogs at this trial, all well trained and ready to compete at Level One.
Inexperience fooled a few handlers not taking the blowing gale into account. Even inside the hall, with the door opening and closing between each competitor, the scent spread across the chairs and under the table to the chairs opposite, showing that the difference between investigation and indication is a skill that more experience will solve. The vehicle search again became more difficult as the wind swirled, those who worked their dog to source were successful. Thanks to the competitors who took my comments in the spirit they were intended, and to Nikki for running a very well organised trial.

Firstly I would like to thank Nikki for having me to judge at the lovely Grendon Underwood venue. Thank you to my scribes Helen and Belinda, a very reliable pair who allowed me to do perform my role without distraction. Thank you also to Belinda’s husband for running.

I really love the flexibility of this venue, it’s so wonderful at these higher levels to be able to enjoy the range of options the venues afford us and Grendon Underwood is certainly no exception the dogs and handlers were asked all the appropriate questions and they absolutely rose to the challenge – well done!
We started our day with the Exterior search, which ran along the back of the building and included wall, railway sleeper edging and a delightful looking bin. The hides were placed on an early corner of the wall, on the corner of the wooden sleepers and in a green fixing on the wall. This area provided challenges in the variety of substrates available for the dogs, the bin and for the handlers the draw of a pair of fine looking doors which were free from hides.
Emma and Smartie stormed through this, a very speedy and accurate run showing fabulous ability to work through exterior distraction. Wonderful independent working and absolutely smashing passive alerts, no doubt on when to call with Smartie.
Jill’s Drama needed a little more time to ‘warm up’ to the area but worked nicely with some very certain alerts. Really good work around the bin where Drama showed strong interest but Jill held it together to recognise it as interest and chose her moments well to move on. A shame to miss that early corner but a lovely start to their first level 5.
Kym became convinced about the two doors in the corner, Max seemed to have realised this was the way in to the warm interior and seemed to be trying to convince Kym to let him inside. Max kept himself bang on the source once located.
Melanie showed her understanding of hide placement and used this to Rowan’s advantage finding all 3 hides through direction. As Rowan’s confidence grew in the area she offered some lovely independent work, teamwork is all about knowing when to help and when to back off. A lovely demonstration of this.

We then moved into the interior 1 which was held in the main hall and made use of the bar seating area this venue offers. The hides were split to 3 in the bar area including; cupboard door, 4 feet away behind an unused fixed wall radiator and on some beading on a corner near the entrance. Then in the main hall on the skirting board to the right and on the fire exit door near the floor.
Kathy and Star showed what following the scent cone was all about and worked back up from a hanging voile on the perimeter to work back to the skirting board, I love watching this best watching how the physiology of the dogs nose and body work in tandem to find a source, finished up with a beautiful alert. This was repeated again tracking the fire exit hide from a table around 8 feet away. Nicely worked!
Melanie walked in with a very keen Rowan this time, who was clearly awake to her job. She worked the area methodically and offered areas to Rowan that she might like to search a lovely balanced search with a fabulous result. The sit passive caused Melanie a little confusion but Rowan was right there to back it up with a show me cue making no bones about the source. A well thought out run.

Max was overjoyed at being inside and made a lovely environmental sweep before getting to work. Max made a pickle at the fire door having found something to play with which meant that Kym didn’t call the alert to us, but registered it in her head. An interesting moment for all involved after Kym found all the other hides in quick succession but couldn’t clock that hide again in time. Max showed his physical flexibility in getting to the radiator hide by not taking the easy route. Lovely drive and teamwork.
Emma and Smartie showed that lovely independent working again and gave us some premack to enjoy with the sausages left (well) outside the search area but accessibly to Smartie. This showed us just how much drive Smartie has to find the odours. The area was worked very well with Emma constantly aware of any areas Smartie may need to revisit, resulting in a clean sweep again in this area in a timely fashion.
We ended our day in the Interior 2
In this area we had the remaining 4 hides, two hidden in holes in an interior stone wall approx. 3 ½ feet apart, one in the centre of a double door and the final one hidden under a chair.
Julie and Betty had a fabulous search here, a little jolted to start but as soon as Betty was let off lead she found 3 in the last 30 seconds. Really impressive to watch.
Marie and Rowan worked in a fashion we had become used to at this stage, however Rowan really kept us on our toes on the last hide finding it in the final few seconds, phew!
Max really got into the zone in this search, he worked fluently and methodically, Kym’s trust in him seemed to build in the course of today’s trial. Your first level 5 is always a teamwork test and showing this progression so quickly promises great things for this pair.

Emma had to do a little more work in this search. Smartie cleared a large area quickly calling 3 of the 4 in quick succession, the last was a little more elusive and Emma’s change of pace to support Smartie was really lovely, not a one trick pair.

Absolutely every dog and handler in today’s trial made me smile for a different reason. So with aching-from-smiling cheeks I thank you all so much! Well done and the best of luck in your next trials!

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