Heather Donnelly

Thank you for Marianne for asking me to judge the L1 & 5 trial held at Brogborough nr Milton Keynes which is very conveniently located just off the M1 motorway.

I was initially concerned  about the weather as snow followed by heavy rain was forecast but after the rather large snowflakes stopped around lunchtime, the rain that followed, fortunately was fairly light and in no way impeded the outdoor searches.

I had the luxury of second judge, Annette Leslie for the L1 and we shared the indoor and outdoor searches and both finished around the same time. I started with the ‘Table & Chair’ search and witnessed some very good handling. Those that stood out to me were Tracey & Bo, who did a very fast search with a lovely ‘freeze’ indication in only 8 secs, Lorraine & Alf the rather talented Whippet, and Wendy and her Clumber Spaniel Stiegl, doing a very confident search and Christine with Soul who was terrified of the flooring but with Christine’s amazing calm and persistent encouragement managed two successful ‘alerts’ both in this search and again in the ‘Box’s & Luggage’

So the snow had started to settle for the outside search which was on grass and unfortunately became rather alluring for a lot of dogs who decided to foul the area. But again some really nice searching from a lovely Tibetan Terrier who wasn’t bothered by the wet, nice calm handling from Steve & Elsa and the ultra busy little Betty whose indication seemed to be rapid stamping with all four legs which was lovely to watch.

So after just a half hour break the L5’s duly arrived and I started with the first interior search which was in the main hall. I arranged the room placing items such as ladders, tables/chairs, Hoovers etc around the perimeter and made a small office like area in the corner to see if the handlers directed their dogs into the corner. I witnessed some very good systematic and thorough searching from Laura with Ollie and Susan & Lyla. Laura showed excellent distance control  testing Ollie’s odour obedience whilst Susan illustrated a very detailed search whilst maintaining the correct speed for Lyla.

Unfortunately the outside search proved quite difficult for most of the dogs although Jennie & Mischief did an excellent search illustration good team work and was the only team to get full marks. Sue and Halle kept us both in suspense as at half time, this team hadn’t  yet found any of the scented articles. Sue certainly didn’t show any of her concerns as she kept her cool finding two just before the end of time. Well done.

Back inside for the final interior search which involved two toilet areas and the lobby area and 5 hidden scented articles. First up was Tina and Timon who had to pull out all the stops and find all 5 so the pressure was really on. Timon did a brilliant search finding all 5 before half time gaining a well deserved qualification for this team. Also impressive was Geoff’s Bug who showed what a competent search dog he truly is who was just abit unlucky on the day as the bad weather didn’t suit him.  Caroline & Stanley also flourished in both the indoor searches and was particularly thorough in this second search also finding all 5 in a very quick time, well done.

So many thanks to Kathy Killick who was my very competent L1 scribe, Nigel & Marianne for sharing the L5 scribing and not forgetting Nicky for organising the kitchen as well as the  competitor flow in her usual efficient manner.

Annette Leslie

Thanks Marianne for inviting me to judge, lovely to meet all the Level 1 handlers. All dogs trained to a good level meaning all capable of working and achieving success.

Vehicle search.
Most dogs quickly snapped into working mode with a high level of concentration, some needed more practice and confidence. Handling the dogs on lead or line needs more thought as to where best to see what the dog is doing.

Boxes and Luggage.
High quality of work, for the unlucky few I felt the need to differentiate between the dogs investigation and indication needs working on, perhaps using video footage to study body language cues from the dog .

Thanks to all for a sporting acceptance of my comments and marks.