Thank you to Kate and Rick Burgess for inviting me to judge at their level 5 trial.

Thank you so much to Sue for being a brilliant scribe and to Peter for running.

It was a very long drive down on Saturday evening in torrential rain, but luckily the weather cleared up and we did not get too wet on Sunday.

The Scent Barn is a very interesting barn and just perfect for trials. Especially level 5.

We started with the first interior search which was the just half of the barn. Loads of interesting items (that are there all the time) with lots of brilliant places to hide the scented articles.

Just about all competitors found all four hides. We had some amazing searches.

We then ventured out into the wind and rain for the exterior search. Again a lovely area for searching. We had five hides out here. Only Amie and Bonnie found all five and went on to take 1st place.

Six teams found 4 but I think the very strong wind and the intermittent rain caused some problems here.

We then went back inside to do the second interior. This only had 3 hides and just about everyone found all three. Great work.

Annie Pendarves with Bonnie was outstanding from the very first search. I watched in awe as this little dog just got on with her job quietly and efficiently. Amie was a really great handler and knew when she needed to step in and just help Bonnie out. Great team work.

Another great team was Jan Martin with Amber My Little Gem. Such a great bond between them and Jan handled Amber so quietly and again just helped when it was needed.

Annie Martin with Maisie made a great start. Maisie was very enthusiastic and did some lovely searching.

Zoe Heritage with Teg was another lovely team with some very fast searches.

Hazel Kemble and Swift had a great day. Swift doing some amazing searching.

Felicity Veazey and Jet came into the room ready to search. Jet was a tad vocal whilst having a great time.

Shelley Stubbington and Whirligig are both full of energy. Whirligig lived up to her name and really enjoyed her searches. Just need to work on the paw being rather too enthusiastic.

Mick Hawkins and Cookie also had fun. Cookie worked really hard but sadly in the wrong places. She found enough hides to qualify but just need some work on letting Cookie tell you where it is!

Ren Glass and Dudley both looked like they were enjoying the searches.

Julie Greenough and Ben got better and better as the day went on, and they were awarded the dog of the trial certificate for improvement.

Amanda Murray and Thai came into the first search very quietly. Thai was not in the mood today for letting Amanda know where the hides were. She was very suttle. So when she actually indicated on the tree in the exterior search we were all ecstatic.

Margery Grant and Alfred brought made me smile whilst they were working as they were both so happy and enthusiastic. Lovely to watch.
Monique Moore and Chester were also lovely to watch as they have such a good bond between them . Everytime Monique called to Chester his expression said ‘yes I am here where do you want me to look?’ He whizzed about but was working beautifully.

Marie Poole and Roger were another lovely team to watch. Roger being still very young worked really hard. Did not quite find them all but worked very well and made Marie very proud.

Caroline O’Hare with Balian was lovely to watch, he did some super searches.

I had a great time and really enjoyed watching all the searches. I did admire the enthusiasm and motivation from most teams.

Also I really loved the quiet calm handling.

A white dog was used in each search area. (He enjoyed himself).

I look forward to meeting you all again soon and hope you enjoy your next level 5 (or 6).

Thank you for allowing me to watch your dogs. Marianne – judge for today.

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