| T&C - A/F | T&C - H | T&C - T | ES - A/F | ES - H | ES - T | VS - A/F | VS - H | VS - T | B&L - A/F | B&L - H | B&L - T | Marks | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A/F = Alert Find | H = Handling | T = Time (seconds) | |||||||||||||
| Tables & Chairs | Exterior Search | Vehicle Search | Boxes & Luggage | Totals | |||||||||||
| Level 1 | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | Marks | Time | |
| 1 | Jules Clapham - Noodle | 20 | 5 | 66 | 20 | 5 | 26 | 20 | 4.5 | 66 | 20 | 5 | 15 | 99.5 | 173 |
| 2 | Janice Holliman – Scrumpy | 20 | 5 | 11 | 20 | 5 | 18 | 20 | 4 | 55 | 20 | 5 | 9 | 99 | 93 |
| 3 | Rita Banfather – Elliot | 20 | 5 | 46 | 20 | 5 | 54 | 20 | 4 | 37 | 20 | 5 | 14 | 99 | 151 |
| 4 | Linda Hams – Sonic | 20 | 5 | 57 | 20 | 5 | 16 | 20 | 3 | 15 | 20 | 5 | 21 | 98 | 109 |
| 5 | Mel Jones - Patch | 20 | 5 | 30 | 20 | 5 | 35 | 20 | 5 | 25 | 0 | 5 | 43 | 80 | 133 |
| 6 | Helen Cottrell - Pippin | 20 | 5 | 60 | 20 | 5 | 15 | 20 | 4.5 | 30 | 0 | 5 | 41 | 79.5 | 146 |
| 7 | Kym Salisbury - Rolo | 20 | 5 | 20 | 0 | 4.9 | 229 | 20 | 4 | 148 | 20 | 4 | 170 | 77.9 | 567 |
| 8 | Val Isherwood – Trio | 20 | 4.95 | 42 | 0 | 4.8 | 55 | 20 | 3.5 | 77 | 20 | 4.5 | 53 | 77.75 | 227 |
| 9 | Caroline Nicholson – Gus | 20 | 4.9 | 77 | 20 | 5 | 118 | 0 | 2.5 | 180 | 20 | 4.5 | 47 | 76.9 | 422 |
| 10 | Lyn Church - Pudding | 20 | 4.8 | 105 | 20 | 4.9 | 163 | 0 | 2 | 180 | 20 | 4.5 | 76 | 76.2 | 524 |
| 11 | Carina Shergold - Snowball | 20 | 5 | 74 | 20 | 5 | 19 | 0 | 2.5 | 136 | 0 | 4.5 | 44 | 57 | 273 |
| WA | P | B | D | T | WA | P | B | D | T | WA | P | B | D | T | WA | P | B | D | P+B+D | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WA = Wrong Alerts (4 = elimination) | P = Points (articles found X 10) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| B = Bonus (10 if all items found) | D = Deductions | T = time (seconds) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Interior Search 1 | Interior Search 2 | Exterior Search | Totals | |||||||||||||||||||
| No of items | Time allowed | No of items | Time allowed | No of items | Time allowed | P+B-D = Points + Bonus - Deductions | ||||||||||||||||
| Level 8 | WA | P | B | D | T | WA | P | B | D | T | WA | P | B | D | T | WA | P | B | D | P+B-D | Time | |
| 1 | Alison Williamson – Peppa | 1 | 32 | 0 | 2 | 250 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 240 | 1 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 300 | 2 | 96 | 0 | 2 | 94 | 790 |
| NQ | Nigel Wilkes – Breezer | 2 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 300 | 0 | 40 | 10 | 0 | 239 | 1 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 300 | 3 | 80 | 10 | 2 | 88 | 839 |
| NQ | Ali Brannen – Chase | 3 | 16 | 0 | 1.5 | 300 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 240 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 300 | 3 | 88 | 0 | 1.5 | 86.5 | 840 |
| NQ | Wendy Clay - Chilli | 2 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 300 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 190 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 300 | 2 | 80 | 0 | 0 | 80 | 790 |
| NQ | Tina Schuster – Timon | 1 | 24 | 0 | 1.5 | 300 | 1 | 32 | 0 | 0.5 | 240 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0.5 | 300 | 2 | 80 | 0 | 2.5 | 77.5 | 840 |
| NQ | Susan Benson – Lyla | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 300 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 0.5 | 220 | 1 | 16 | 0 | 0.5 | 300 | 1 | 72 | 0 | 1 | 71 | 820 |
| NQ | Julia Edwards – Jade | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0.5 | 288 | 2 | 16 | 0 | 0.5 | 240 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 1 | 300 | 2 | 72 | 0 | 2 | 70 | 828 |
| NQ | Karen Denton – Zelda | 1 | 16 | 0 | 0.5 | 300 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 300 | 1 | 48 | 0 | 0.5 | 47.5 | 600 |
| NQ | Michelle Mahony – Myha | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 300 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 300 | 4 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 600 |
I was fortunate to have two very competent judges for 13 Level 1 competitors and 9 L8 competitors with this also being the first ever Level 8. So a big thanks to judges Neil Losada who judged the Level 8, who also shared the Level 1 judging duties with Kathy Killick who also scribed the Level 8. This meant a long day for both Neil & Kathy and all your hard work was much appreciated.
Also a thank you to Yaz Whitehall & Melanie Goble for scribing and also staying on and helping with other general duties. Claire Losada did the master scoreboard not only inputting the results but also managed to ‘sort’ the final positions successfully mastering the excel spreadsheet when I didn’t know how. And lastly to our brilliant ‘white dog’ Archie the eleven and a half year old poodle who took the L8 challenges all in his stride.
I hope that the L1 competitors enjoyed their day and didn’t mind my nagging them to run in order enabling me to keep a good competitor flow for both judges. I will leave the competitor comments to both the judges but we managed 11 out of the 13 qualifiers with no one on the same mark meaning that the placings didn’t have to be decided on time.
The Level 8 searches were well thought out and challenging as to be expected at this high level. I thought all the competitors took the results in good spirit with some competitors determined to come back even stronger in readiness for the next one. This Level was tough and so it should be as it consisted of the cream of the dog & handler teams. Well done to Alison & Peppa the winner and the one and only qualifier who were both surprised and delighted just proving that age doesn’t hold back a well trained talented scentwork dog.
Judge’s Report: Level One
A big thank you to Heather Donnelly for your invitation to judge Level One at Finmere alongside Neil Losada, and for looking after all of us so well. A very well organised trial which attracted some excellent teams. The weather was cold and breezy. Neil and I agreed to judge one indoor search and one outdoor search each. I judged Tables and Chairs and Exterior searches and was very glad to have the services of Melanie Goble as my scribe. So efficient and competent that I hardly knew you were there! Thank you so much.
In Tables and Chairs the hide was placed under the seat of the first chair on the right hand side of the table. This challenged the confidence of those handlers whose dogs alerted on what was an early find if the team searched counterclockwise. Due to the vicissitudes of airflow and other factors, the odour drifted on to the chairs at the front of the tables and many dogs ‘knocked’ the odour on the chair adjacent to the ‘hot’ one, diligently working their way to source if handler nerves permitted. I was impressed by the standard of handling overall in this search, only one handler succumbing to the temptation of calling the find on the adjacent chair.
We continued to the Exterior search. This search proved testing of handling skills and the dog’s focus on searching for target odour. Although I positioned the hide to minimise drifting of odour onto adjacent items as far as possible, the challenges of the wind and other distractions that come into play in outdoor searches took their toll on the teams. The work of those dogs that were fully committed to searching for target odour was a great pleasure to witness. I was particularly impressed by the work of some teams in which the handler declined the opportunity to know which of three possible items the hide might be on, having confidence in the dog’s ability to undertake the task in hand. Some of the less focussed teams could have benefited from the use of a line or other means of maintaining the dog’s commitment to the task in hand in a distracting area.
Congratulations to Jules and Noodle, who put in an outstanding performance in both of my searches and evidently did so in Neil’s as well, taking the red rosette and trophy home. Very well done to all who took part and best of luck in the future.
Kathy Killick