Sun 14 Nov 2021, Daglingworth

Levels 1 and 3: Judge - Helen Straszewska

Daglingworth, Cirencester, GL7 7AE

Start: 9.15 am
Entry Fees: £25.00 per dog.
Contact: Nigel Wilkes nigelawilkes@hotmail.com

Trial Manager and Judges Reports

Helen Straszewska

Helen Straszewska Judge
Many thanks to Tina and Nigel for asking me to judge for their L1 and L3 at Daglingworth.
I enjoyed watching all the different teams working. A great mix of breeds.
L1
Started with chairs & tables , most found fairly quickly with a few struggling to locate correct chair .
I decided I would use a car for next search. We used a Smart car on the halls’ driveway. All searched the vehicle well , although varied times for success.
Boxes & luggage, went well with only 1 unsuccessful.
Exterior search went well , with just one unsuccessful.
Well done to all those competing & especially to Helen & Tym for gaining their Excellence.
Ann & Zigi well done for having a good go and please do try again.
L3
Ran the L3 in same order as L1 .
Tables and chairs. One on chair on far side of table & 1 low in door frame. Nearly all went well here.
We used a Cotswold stone wall for this search. One low ,1 higher . Interesting to watch how dogs tackled this wall with some getting on top (wall about 2ft high) and walking along. No dogs jumped in water . All found here.
Boxes & luggage, one on green suitcase & other on black file bag . Varying success here for teams .
Exterior, one on foot of dog shaped black board & other in lid of plastic tool box. 4 teams found the 2 . Some dogs were tired for this search.
Well done to everyone, with all qualified.
Special well done to Jane & Skipper who have since gone on to win a L3 , fab .
A big thank you to all competitors for a good day.
Thank you to Yvette & Clare for scribing.

It was most certainly the day of car issues! After having rushed home to get a jump lead for Helen Hankins, Patrick helped her getting her battery started and with an hour delay (not due to the flat battery) we got going on the Level 3 searches that I was Trial Managing (as Nigel was running Brandy).
We ran the searches in the same order as L1, starting with Tables and Chairs. We then moved to a wall search and in both searches, I only saw “happy faces” coming back. I tried my best to keep things flowing and ran the white dog while the previous search was still ongoing, having pestered Helen, our lovely judge to set up the next search when there were only 2 more competitors to run the previous search.
Boxes and luggage and the exterior item searches proved more difficult for some, but it was great that everyone passed all the same.
The day ended with me helping a walker, who had parked his car in the village hall car park, “break into” his car – as the remote seemed to be dead (Skoda).
I would like to thank all competitors for making the day such a pleasant experience and being forgiving for the delay, Helen, our novice judge, and Yvette and Claire for helping during the day – we couldn’t have done it without you!

Nigel Wilkes TM

Its was going to be a busy day as Tina and I were running Levels 1 and 3. I was the TM for the Level 1 as Tina was running Rioja. I got to the hall early but was still beaten by Helen our judge for the day. This was her first trial since completing the Leve 1 – 4 Judges Course. We set up all the searches and the teams were arriving as we did so. I introduced Helen and her Scribe Yvette and we were ready to start. Breezer was the white dog for the day and even thought she quickly found the scent items we checked everything just in case. At least 4 of the teams were new to SWUK and it was good to see new faces as well as some of the older ones with their new dogs. Helen started with Tables and chairs and most teams found the scent with no problem, however a couple did find it difficult and did ‘False Alerts’. We then did the vehicle search and this again went well. However, as it was Remembrance Sunday and the Church car park was full so cars tried to park in the hall car park. Unfortunately there was no space and we had to turn them away. The next search was the Boxes and Luggage and I was making sure the teams were ready as well as providing tea to our Judge! Finally it was the exterior search and we were running a little late as the Level 3 teams were arriving, luckily Clare our scribe for the afternoon ensured that they parked outside so not to disturb the teams in their final search. I was entering the scores onto the laptop and by the time the last team had competed we were ready to hand out the prizes. Karen and Trouble were worthy winners but the first 5 teams all got 100 points so it was decided on time. We only had 1 non qualifier at this level. I would like to thank Helen Straszewska for Judging as well as Yvette Preston who stepped in at the last moment to scribe and to Tina who made sure in her German way that everybody was aware when they were the next team to go. I then handed the TM Job over to Tina for the Level 3 trial that was taking place next.

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