Sun 19th Aug 2018, Finmere

Levels 3 & 6:- Judges - Marney Wells & Geoff Dixon
Level 3


1st Jeni Pirie – Solly :- 99.85
2nd Julie Thomas – Betty :- 98.65
3rd Kate Kemp – Paddy :- 98.4
4th Felicity Veazey – Jet :- 88.1
5th Dolores Palmer – Gypsy :- 88
6th Dana Brewis – Buckle :- 84.75
7th Linda Johnston – Tassle :- 78
8th Michelle Murray – Rio :- 77.8
9th Kate Chorley – Lola :- 76.6
10th Annette Leslie – Disney :- 75.5

Level 6


1st Becky Harris – Flossie :- 100

I was completely overwhelmed by the numerous offers of help making this one of my smoothest running trial so far. So a big thank you to Yaz Whitehall, who not only scribed and did running duties all day, Tracey Alker and Rodney Veazey for scribing the L3 searches, Liz Hodgson, Rick Burgess & Chris Clements for running duties and off course Marney Wells & Geof Dixon for being superb judges.

The L3 searches were shared by both judges, doing two elements each, and although this took a lot of organising it did mean that all the judging and presentation was over by 1pm. As with all trials there were some highs and lows but for those that didn’t qualify this time please remember that others have said that L3 is a big jump from L2. Although I didn’t see many of the searches what l did see was many handlers pushing their dog to search a box/bag or chair ‘again’ after their dog had already told them it wasn’t there.

The afternoon started well as Geof and Sue brought a fabulous picnic once again and the chocolate brownies which went down a treat, fired everyone’s enthusiasm for the afternoon’s entertainment. .

We had 10 runners in L6 and although Marney set a straight a forward test, most teams struggled particularly with the outside searches maybe because it was rather windy weather. So going into the last search we had just 3 teams that had a chance of qualifying providing they managed to get all 3 finds. Unfortunately this wasn’t to be for two of the teams which resulted in just one qualifier. So huge congratulations to Becky Harris and her lovely cocker ‘Flossie’ for qualifying and winning amidst what seemed to be a challenging L6 trial.           

Marney Wells

Thanks to Heather and her lovely team of helpers who made Sunday go so smoothly. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the teams work – they came in all shapes and sizes which is such a delight to see. It can be very stressful competing with our dogs as it means so much to us – and so it should! Or it would not be worth all the training we put in. I thought everyone coped very well even if things did not go quite as hoped for. You were a super lot of dogs and handlers. Thanks for entering under me and letting me watch your dogs work. I had two excellent scribes for the day, Tracy and Geof who both managed to keep me on the straight and narrow and were excellent company – thanks. (And for the lovely lunch, Geof). Geof was also my fellow judge in Level 3 where we had quite few qaulifiers the happiest of whom were, 1st. Jenni and Sollie. 2nd. Julie and Betty. 3rd. Kate and Paddy and 4th. Felicity and Jet. In Level 6 there was only one qualifier (I must be a beast!) but she was pretty impressive! 1st. Becky and Flossie. 2nd. Carolyn and Millie. 3rd. Sue and Halle. 4th. Laura and the gorgeous Ollie (Can’t help myself – he is so lovely!)

Geoff Dixon

I would like to thank all the people that stepped in and helped me on the day. Both Yaz and Rodney were a great support scribing for me. Thanks to Rick who made sure that there was always a team ready to start as one team was finishing. Also to Heather for inviting me to the trial and having the day organised and well run. Lastly Christine who despite not have her dogs working on the day, attended the trial to help, support and spectate. I hope that you got as much from the trial as you gave to us.

The first element to run was the cars with a scent on a wheel arch and one on the number plate. There were a varying variety of teams on the day. The best car search was from Dana and Buckle with a lovely search. Michelle and Rio also impressed with Rio knowing the task and showing lot of good attention to the search at hand. Annette and Disney had fun and it was Disney’s enthusiasm that really came across. It was fun to watch Hazel and Noodle’s lots of investigations, checking here and there. At the other side of energy was Kate and Lola. Lola was a nice gentle searcher. Harold and Rosie are a team that I have seen a number of times before and as before they had a good car search that I have come to appreciate from this team. Some of those who had mixed results over the day had some good searching in parts and have good foundations to build on. Both Pat and Arthur, Linda and Tassel I noted had good searches.

I went on to the exterior element with 2 early finds. One amongst some garden canes and one in some brick work. The best search here was from Jenni and Solly. It was a great watch and show how much of a difference having so much confidence in Solly makes. I thought that Kate and Paddy make a team that are great to watch working. Despite Paddy not being focused completely Kate does a very good job of handling Paddy and her commitment to him comes through. I thought on the car Kate with Kiwi had a nervous start and it was nice to see that she had put the nerves behind her for this search and Kiwi worked well. The most nail biting search was for Julie and Betty. They had searched as a team really well throughout the day. On this search, and we have all done this, they searched every article apart from the one with the scent hide. All was good in the end as they turned around and found the scent. Last to run on this element was Delores with Gypsy. Gypsy is another high energy searcher who was throwing in little bits of extra searching, she kindly cleared the door of the hall just to be certain that she had checked everything.

Thank you all for attending and sharing your teamwork with the judges.

A/F = Alert Find H = Handling T = Time (seconds)
  Tables & Chairs Exterior Search Vehicle Search Boxes & Luggage Totals
Level 3 A/F H T A/F H T A/F H T A/F H T Marks Time
1 Jeni Pirie – Solly 20 5 144 20 5 53 20 4.85 152 20 5 35 99.85 384
2 Julie Thomas – Betty 20 4.5 86 20 4.75 227 20 4.4 122 20 5 69 98.65 504
3 Kate Kemp – Paddy 20 5 169 20 4.3 156 20 4.1 243 20 5 125 98.4 693
4 Felicity Veazey – Jet 20 5 200 20 4.2 120 20 3.9 151 10 5 52 88.1 523
5 Dolores Palmer – Gypsy 20 5 66 20 3.8 267 10 4.2 111 20 5 52 88 496
6 Dana Brewis – Buckle 20 5 104 20 0 191 20 5 70 10 4.75 61 84.75 426
7 Linda Johnston – Tassle 20 5 110 10 3.9 124 20 4.6 200 10 4.5 38 78 472
8 Michelle Murray – Rio 20 5 106 10 3.8 74 20 4.5 101 10 4.5 82 77.8 363
9 Kate Chorley – Lola 10 3.5 102 20 4.2 97 10 3.9 165 20 5 90 76.6 454
10 Annette Leslie – Disney 10 4 148 20 4.5 176 10 4.5 166 20 2.5 150 75.5 640
L6 Scoresheet 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 4 Time allowed 240 No of items 3 Time allowed 180 No of items 5 Time allowed 300 P+B-D = Points + Bonus – Deductions
Handler & Dog WA P B D T WA P B D T WA P B D T WA P B D P+B-D Time
1 Becky Harris – Flossie 1 20 0 0 240 1 30 10 0 129 1 40 0 0 299 3 90 10 0 100 668

Finmere Village Hall, Water Statford Road, Finmere, Bucks. MK18 4AT

Start 10AM
Entry Fees: £20 per dog.
Contact: Heather Donnelly07952 589987
Download Entry Form to book a place.