Marie Poole

Thank you to Kate and Rick for asking me to judge the Level 3 at their beautiful Barn. This is a cracking venue with all the search areas close to each other and nice exercise areas. I was co- judging with Pippa Bentham and I judged the exterior and vehicles. We started with the vehicle search and I had a very beautiful shiny beast of a Land Rover and 2 cars. These were in a straight line parked with rear of cars to the back of the search and bonnets to the front. At the rear was a grassy verge. I placed one hide on the second car in the line. This hide was on the wheel arch on the passenger side and on the lower edge. The second hide was on the Land Rover that was third in line and I placed it on the tow bar. Most of the dogs got both hides. It was great to watch some of the handlers reading their dog’s body language and whilst searching vehicle 1 recognising the interest in vehicle 2 and changing their plan and going with that interest. A plan of how to search is a great idea but must always be adapted if your dog shows that it has located a scent elsewhere. A few marks were lost where handlers didn’t react to the changes in the dog’s behaviour. The Land Rover tow bar also proved difficult as dogs were skimming across the back of the Land Rover and then winding it on the side meaning some teams got bogged down here but most worked it out well within the time. The majority of marks were deducted for dog’s being distracted, handlers not recognising the dog on odour and also continuing to search a vehicle once they had located the scent. Only 1 dog failed to find both scents and times ranged from 44 seconds to 300 seconds.

The exterior search was half on concrete and half on Astro turf. I placed the scent half way along an oar and on a vehicle suspension spring. Both of these items were towards the front of the search area and on the periphery. The oar was on the right hand side with one other item and it quickly became apparent that many handlers found a natural path between it and the other items and didn’t get the dog’s to search it. The spring was also odd in that the dog’s were sometimes getting into the scent plume some distance out but then struggled to source it. Some dog’s got it from halfway across the search and honed straight in. The whole search proved difficult with only 3 dog’s getting both finds. Often the handlers were calling wrong alerts before they had got to the scented items and these wrong alerts were distributed across the search items. The items used in the search had not had scent on them before so contamination wasn’t the issue. 2 of the dog’s didn’t find any items and 7 found 1 item.

The teams forward for this trial were a really varied group and all were very capable. Some teams were obviously ready to go onwards and upwards and some just starting to gain experience in the Level 3. I loved to see the diversity in the teams with some handlers very sensitively working steady, methodical dog’s and some working very busy dog’s and having to think about their own position in relation to where the dog was working. Being able to adapt your handling style to suit your dog is what creates a great team and I saw many great teams at this trial. As teams progress through the levels one of the hardest skills is to adapt your handling skills to react to what the dog’s body language is telling you. You will sometimes make mistakes whilst acquiring these skills but I do believe you learn more from your mistakes than from your successes.

Best wishes