Thank you to Stacey for inviting me back to Judge and to Chloe and other helpers over the day. It was certainly cold out there yesterday but as always the teams were in high spirits and ready for anything.
Level 3 I was co-judging with Kym and covered the exterior and wall search, the wind was pushing from the start of the search area which drove the odour back and one hide was in the sun on the foot of a collapsible dog bed and one in the shade in a small black bottle carrier, all teams successfully navigated the search area in a calm and methodical manner with some nice line handling.
The wall search was all in the shade and once more all teams covered and cleared well.

Level 6
The split was 4 in each area and each area only contained a sinle odour.
Interior 1 was in a small bar area with 4 gun oil soaks. One in the recess of the bar entrance past the bar stools and this is the one that posed most teams the most problems as the more accessible low hide in the exit doors was pulling the dogs over unless they were tasked to look up. Only 3 teams managed to work this area thoroughly enough to make all 4 finds.
Exterior was all clove hides and it was so interesting to watch the odour moving as the teams honed in. The wind made this a challenge for the teams as it was pulling the dogs down from the first hide to the last but great area coverage from all.
Interior 2 was the last challenge of the day with 4 truffle oil soaks in a blank space and a busy storage cupboard, one in the first tight corner, one in the floor between 2 cold radiators, one in the storage room in a stack of tables that was pulling the dogs in but past the hide and one in the pillar. Although we were inside it was cold and the cold had taken it’s toll on some of the dogs who were clearly tiring of the high frequency sniffing. Some lovely handling here in such a tight space of the storage area.
Well done to all the teams that took part.