Many thanks to Heather for the invitation to judge a Level 5 at her new venue at Hethe.

Sue Maguire had judged earlier in the day and stayed on to scribe for me. Sue had a long day and I was very grateful for her help.

A nice group of competitors with a range of dogs made it a very interesting afternoon.

The search areas were on the whole very straightforward so I tightened the time allowed. This may have stressed the handlers a little but on the whole didn’t inconvenience their dogs at all. The only exception was Interior 2, just 3 hides to find but the search area included the loo. There was no hide but all the dogs searched the loo with intensity and probably because of this interest handlers found it difficult to drag themselves away. This resulted in teams that had waltzed through the earlier searches running out of time before the third hide was found. My own L8 dog recently showed the same intensity when searching a loo, is there something about toilets that mesmerises our dogs?

At the higher levels getting a clean sweep is no easy task but this is just what my winner did. Jane Ellis and Febe were great. Quiet subtle handling letting Febe get on with the job. Febe can be a little noisy but who cares when her change of behaviour as she touched odour was clear to see and her diligence at staying with odour and working to source was a joy to watch.

Second were Richard Purnell and Ziggy, also gaining their “excellent”. Another fabulous working dog, confident and enjoying the challenge. Nice to see Ziggy working off lead, independent but still responsive to his handler.

Third was Sue Mcauliffe and Tiva. Special thanks to Sue who despite a long journey ahead of her very kindly helped to pump up a badly deflated tyre on my car. With respect to the trial, despite Sue getting a little flustered at times Tiva was super. A very nice scent work dog who obviously understands the job and enjoys her work. One of only 3 teams to clear Interior 2.

Fourth place went to Paula Davis and Bonniejazz. In the Exterior search Bonniejazz was convinced that the inside of the marquee needed searching and we lost her for a bit as she squeezed through the flaps to check it out. Paula got her back on task although the time lost did cost her. A lovely working cocker, good luck in the higher levels.

Jan Martin and Mattie also qualified. Mattie may not be too comfortable around strangers but his enjoyment of the job allowed him to work the tight areas of Interior 2 and find all 3 hides. Well done Jan and Mattie, I really enjoyed watching you work.

The final qualifier was Lisa Hunt and McGee. Our smallest dog but a huge character. McGee got stuck into the searches and did a great job. Another lovely calm and quiet handler.