Sun 19 March 2017 at Sharnbrook Village Hall, Judge: Jennie Fairweather
Level 1
1 Alison – Poppi 97.2
2 Christine – Ralph 94.3
3 Louise – Buddy 79.8
4 Jeni – Sully 78.7
Level 2
1 David – Nikan 89.9
Sharnbrook 19th March 2017 – Level 1 & 2 Trial
Once more on a Sunday morning my car is packed and I am heading off to Sharnbrook to get set up ready for todays level 1 & 2 trial.
I had requested sunshine for today and I was not disappointed. We had a lovely day. Both myself and Heather Day arrived nice and early to set up ready for Judge Jennie. Heather was helping me today as my daughter who usually helps was not able to come today. Heather proved to be a fabulous asset and although she had never been to a trial before soon picked up what needed to be done and is now ready to start her dogs doing scentwork classes.
We got the tables and chairs set up and then the exterior search ready. The wind was starting to build a little, but so far no rain, no football match and no church bells.
We started with the exterior search and everyone was successful. Louise and Buddy finding the scent in a record 14 seconds!!!
Throughout the day Louise and Buddy did the fastest searches overall.
David and Nikan excelled themselves until the boxes and luggage when David did a false alert on the second find.
Overall it was a really good day with everything running very smoothly.
A huge thank you to Jennie Fairweather for judging and to Heather Day for helping out in all areas.
We could not run these trials without the helpers, the judge and of course the competitors, so from me I would like to say a very big thank you to you all.
I had a fabulous day, encouraging each and every team as they prepared to do their search and then really enjoyed watching them. Marianne
I was delighted to be invited to judge the Level 1 and 2 Scent trials on Sunday 19th March. The day was very good as far as the weather was concerned although a tad windy and I hoped this would not prove to be a problem for the dogs. Thank goodness it didn’t and it was lovely to see all the different breeds as well as the cross breeds all working so very well, all full of enthusiasm with tails that didn’t stop wagging the whole time they were working.
We started the day with the outside classes (exterior and vehicle searches) as I wanted to do these in the dry and before the football club started which in the past has been quite a distraction for the dogs!
I was so pleased that everyone passed their Level 1 test today!
There was just one handler and his dog taking the Level 2 test today and I was very pleased that they also passed their Level 2.
Exterior search
Level 1. I was very pleased all dogs passed this exercise today – well done to you all. For this class, the dogs had to find one scent (Cloves) which had been placed in one of 3 articles which were shown to the handlers. These 3 articles were then placed amongst 10 other articles and left for 10 minutes before the first dog ran. What I was looking for was the dog to methodically search all the articles to find the scent and for the handler to assist but not to influence the dog into making a wrong ‘alert’.
First to go was Louise & Buddy. He worked the area very methodically, giving a very nice indication when he found the scent. Buddy was the fastest dog to find the scent in 14 seconds. Well handled Louise!
The next to go was Christine and Ralph. Ralph is a Patterdale terrier cross and quite a difficult dog to work. I think he lacks confidence and is very difficult to read. To begin with he wasn’t very interested but with some very good handling by Christine she got him working to find the scent. He gave a very nice ‘Alert’ when he alerted on the correct article but Christine missed this alert, I guess Christine wanted him to tell her ‘properly’ and he alerted on the correct article the second time.
Third to run was Jenni and Sully. This too was a methodical search of the area by Sully who was not in any hurry to tell Jeni when he had found it. When he did find the scent he gave a very enthusiastic ‘alert’ losing points for trashing the flower pot which had the scent in it!
Last to go was Alison and Poppi. Poppi was not too keen to work and did leave the area several times for which she lost points. But she did find the scent in the end. I deducted handler points as Alison tried to talk Poppi into alerting on the wrong article.
Level 2. For Level 2 the dog has to find two scents (cloves) placed amongst 10-15 articles which I provided and left for 10 minutes before the first dog ran . After the dog had found the first article the clock was stopped whilst that article was removed and started again when the handler was ready to commence the search for the 2nd scent.
This was a very nice search by Nikan who worked the search area very well finding the scent in 51 seconds. David handled Nikan very well
Vehicle Search.
Level 1. For this exercise the dog had to find one scent placed on one car and left for 10 minutes before the first dog ran. The team had just 3 minutes to find the scent.
Fist to go was Jenni and Sully who searched the vehicle thoroughly. He did give an early ‘Alert’ which Jenni missed but Jeni correctly read him when he alerted the second time.
Second to go was Alison and Poppi. Another very good correct ‘Alert’. Unfortunately handler points were lost because she clawed the car several times as well as mouthing the article.
Louise and Buddy went next but unfortunately he failed to Alert in the right place. He alerted just down wind of the scent (and it was very windy that day). This is just due to inexperience by Buddy and as he progresses he will learn to focus on the centre of the scent rather than on the periphery of the source. Third was Christine and Ralph. Once again Ralph was reluctant to take any notice of the search and showed his feelings by ‘weeing’ on the car to start with thus Christine lost all her handler points. Thankfully, good handling by Christine, Ralph did show an interest and managed to find the scent so gaining all his points.
Level 2. For this Level the dog has to find two scents placed on two out of three vehicles. Today I thought David handled Nikan extremely well to find both scents. Lovely ‘alerts’ by Nikan read very well by David!
Tables and Chairs
Level 1: We then moved inside for the Tables and Chairs search. In this exercise the dog has to find one clove scent hidden on either one of 8 chairs or on 2 tables put together in a rectangle with the chairs placed around the tables. Once again the scent was placed 10 minutes before the first dog ran.
Alison and Poppi went first in this exercise. Poppi searched very nicely and gave a lovely, correct ‘Alert’ on the correct chair. Both working as a team and gained full marks for this search! Then we had Christine and Ralph who did ‘Alert’ quite quickly on the right place but again he made it very hard work for Christine to read him as he was quite distracted. Jeni and Sully were next to go and Sully seemed to lack concentration on this exercise. Very good handling by Jenni meant Sully found the scent so gained full marks for his Alert. Last to run was Louise and Buddy and he found this exercise caused him no problems at all finding the scent in 23 seconds! He was lovely to watch, so much concentration and enthusiasm!
Level 2. In this exercise the dog has to find two clove scents hidden, one hidden in either one of 8 chairs or on 2 tables put together in a rectangle with the chairs placed around the tables and one scent hidden in the perimeter of the room in one of several articles place in the perimeter. Once again the scent was placed 10 minutes before the first dog ran and each dog had 5 minutes to find the both scents. After the dog had found the first scent the clock was stopped whilst the first scent was removed and started again when the handler was ready to commence the search for the 2nd scent. Once again David handled Nikan very well and Nikan was able to do both ‘Alerts’ correctly.
Boxes and Luggage.
Level 1. In this exercise, there were several cardboard boxes and various pieces of luggage placed around the room for the dog to find one scent placed on one piece of luggage. Once again the scent was placed 10 minutes before the first dog ran and each dog had 3 minutes to find the one scent. There were 15 articles for the dog to search.
Again, Louise and Buddy worked so well in this exercise with Buddy finding the scent in record time of 23 seconds. He worked the articles very well. Then we had Jenni and Sully. Sully worked the room very well, concentrating on the job in hand! But unfortunately Jeni ‘talked’ him into alerting on the wrong article so losing all the alerting points. Alison and Poppi went next. I felt that Alison was leading the dog a lot in this exercise but Poppi managed to find the scent so gaining all her ‘alert’ points. Last to go was Christine and Ralph. He started slowly but once he got started, he managed to find the scent correctly. He kept looking at Christine for reassurance. I think this was because Christine was very static in this search, staying in one place too long so making Ralph think the scent was there!
Level 2. In this exercise, there were 15 articles, made up of cardboard boxes and various pieces of luggage, placed around the room for the dog to find two scents placed in either a piece of luggage or in a box.. There were 15 articles for the dog to search. Once again the scent was placed 10 minutes before the first dog ran and each dog had 5 minutes to find the both scents. As before, the clock was stopped when the dog found the first scent and this scent was removed. The clock was started again when the handler was ready to commence the search for the 2nd scent.
Although Nikan worked the room very well he was only able to alert correctly on one scent – such a shame but he had already done enough to pass this Level today – well done to you both.
So I was very pleased that all Level 1 dogs and handlers passed this test today. Alison and Poppi came first, Christine and Ralph were second, Louise and Buddy were third and Jeni and Scully fourth.
In the Level 2 test David and Nikan were first.
A very enjoyable day.
Jennie Fairweather. 1st April 2017
| Level 1 | A/F = Alert Find | H = Handling | T = Time (seconds) | ||||||||||||||
| Tables & Chairs | Exterior Search | Vehicle Search | Boxes & Luggage | Totals | |||||||||||||
| Name of Handler & Dog | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | Marks | Time | |||
| 1 | Alison – Poppi | 20 | 2.5 | 108 | 20 | 4.9 | 51 | 20 | 5 | 46 | 20 | 4.8 | 44 | 97.2 | 249 | ||
| 2 | Christine – Ralph | 20 | 4.5 | 35 | 20 | 0 | 88 | 20 | 4.9 | 38 | 20 | 4.9 | 28 | 94.3 | 189 | ||
| 3 | Louise – Buddy | 20 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 4.8 | 66 | 20 | 5 | 23 | 20 | 5 | 23 | 79.8 | 126 | ||
| 4 | Jeni – Sully | 20 | 4 | 52 | 20 | 4.9 | 60 | 20 | 4.8 | 94 | 0 | 5 | 28 | 78.7 | 234 | ||
| Level 2 | A/F = Alert Find | H = Handling | T = Time (seconds) | ||||||||||||||
| Tables & Chairs | Exterior Search | Vehicle Search | Boxes & Luggage | Totals | |||||||||||||
| Name of Handler & Dog | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | Marks | Time | |||
| 1 | David – Nikan | 20 | 4.9 | 51 | 20 | 5 | 67 | 20 | 5 | 168 | 10 | 5 | 60 | 89.9 | 346 | ||