Karen Denton

Many thanks to Anne for inviting me to judge at her lovely venue at Walcote. Luckily, although it was hot, it wasn’t the 30 degrees it had been the day before!

I had the pleasure of Janet Wykes’s company as my co judge for this Level 1 and Level 3 Trial. We got our scents sorted and then I took the Vehicle search first and then the Boxes & Bags.

A white dog was run before every search.

I saw some very nice handling from these Level 1 dog/handler teams with most dogs finding the scent in the light housing at the front of the car with ease and some in super speedy times: Joanne & Megan in 5 seconds! Peter & Kalypso in 10 seconds! Of course, there is an element of luck in this depending on which way round handlers choose to go!

The Bags & Boxes search proved much more of a problem for these teams. I placed the scent in a small black bag in the middle of the search area and a lot of dogs would have benefitted from help from their handlers with a more directed search approach. A few dogs were left to their own devices and circled the outside of the area and didn’t go into the middle. This is where the team work comes in – handlers have to help their dogs and suggest where they might look and take them into the middle because inexperienced dogs won’t necessarily do this on their own. Good performances in this search were Lyddie & Merlot, Phil & Koda, Helen & Hazel and Jan & Gemma.

Congratulations to all the qualifiers and especially well done to Jan & Gemma who came 1st, Lyddie & Merlot 2nd, Peter & Kalypso 3rd and Phil & Koda 4th.

After a lovely lunch I started with our Level 3 dog/handler teams. The Vehicle search proved tricky for some of the teams with the dogs finding the clove scent on the light housing very straightforward but the gun oil on the seam of the other car less so. The wind was quite swirly and taking the scent over to the middle car so a lot of folks concentrated too much on the blank car and not enough on the scented one. Again, some more directed searching would have helped some dogs who were left to their own devices a little bit. Also some dogs were knocking the scent but the handlers were not reading their dogs. This comes with experience however, and in a trial situation, sometimes nerves take over. Jo & Milo did this very efficiently as did Collette & Lola so well done for reading yours dogs so well ladies.

The competitors found the Tables and Chairs and Perimeter search much easier in many cases with Zak working really hard for Harry, Lorraine’s Chester working enthusiastically and Sandra’s Lexi worked beautifully for her owner. Emma’s Smartie was a joy to watch and covered the area like a professional. One or two folk called too early without giving their dog the opportunity to search everything and, as a consequence, unfortunately missed it.

Overall all the teams did well and it was a pleasure to judge them. Congratulations to all who qualified with Emma & Smartie who came 1st, Harry & Zak 2nd, Charles & Misty 3rd and Jan & Mattie who were 4th.

Many thanks go to my scribes for the Trial who were Roz and Kieran.

I hope you enjoyed the Trial and look forward to seeing you all again on your Scent work journey through the ranks.

Janet Wykes

Many thanks to Anne Tucker for inviting me to co-judge the level 1 and 3 trials with Karen Denton at Walcote. Thankfully the weather was a little cooler than the previous day and although still quite warm there was a bit of a breeze to help keep all our competitors and dogs a little cooler. A huge thanks to Laura who was my scribe for the day and did an absolutely fantastic job. Special thanks also to Ros, Kieran, Barbara and Joan who helped out during the day with everything from scribing through to support in the kitchen. We wouldn’t be able to hold these trials without such help and as a judge it makes it so much easier to have such a great team of helpers around you. Thanks also to Karen for providing Zelda as the ‘white’ dog.

Level 1
The level 1 trial ran first in the morning with thirteen teams competing. I started with the table and chairs search, and nine of the teams were successful in locating the cloves that were hidden under the seat of the chair that was positioned at the furthest point on the right-hand side of the table. A special mention here to Jan and Gemma who completed a lovely search with Gemma searching systematically around the chairs; Zoe and Swift who made this look completely effortless and alerted on the find with a lovely freeze in only 9 seconds; Vicky and Brady who gave a clear indication with Brady remaining firmly at source whilst Vicky dropped the lead and moved away; Lyddie and Merlot who gave a lovely indication within 14 seconds; and Peter and Kalypso who again were another quick team taking only 23 seconds to locate the find. All of these teams received full handling marks in this search.
A few dogs were rather excited coming into this new environment and it was interesting to watch how different teams handled this. It is worth remembering that you can work your dog on or off lead, and you won’t be penalized for putting your dog on or taking them off lead during the test. If the dog is rather excited and not focused on searching, it can sometimes be helpful to put them back on lead and take a moment to try to refocus them.
In the exterior search, we had twelve of the teams locating the scent that was hidden in the wheel of a scooter. This search area was a little more distracting for your dogs but we had fantastic searches from Jan and Gemma, and Helen and Sam who both scored full handling marks.
Congratulations to everyone who took part in this level one, there was some lovely teamwork being displayed. Overall, we had four clean sweeps and these teams also took the placings:
Jan and Gemma – 1st Place. This was a lovely team that understood one another perfectly and this papillon had a beautiful, exuberant nature, clearly loving her work. This team received full marks at the trial and gained their Excellent rosette for level one. Well done
Lyddie and Merlot – 2nd Place. This was a super-fast team and Merlot provided a lovely indication on the finds.
Peter and Kalypso – 3rd Place. Lovely systematic searching from this team and again a great focus on the source of the finds.
Phil and Koda – 4th Place. Nice teamwork here between dog and handler. Koda loves her searching and Phil reads her very well when sometimes she knocks the scent early but wants to investigate the other items before indicating.
Level 3
Our level three trial had twelve competitors, and I began with the boxes and luggage search. Both the cloves and gun oil were hidden in the exterior pockets of bags. We had some lovely searches here from Nicky and Zak, Harold and Zack, Emma and Smartie, Lorraine and Chester, and Charles and Misty who all gained full handling marks with a nice systematic coverage of the area and clear indications. It was lovely to see Zack (Harold) and Misty (Charles) carry out some lovely independent searching away from their handlers. Mary and Alfie also showed some nice distance handling in this search.
Some of the teams in this search struggled when their dogs showed increased interest in a box or a bag, and they made a false call. The teams that identified both finds correctly had often managed to avoid a false call by recognizing the individual characteristics of their dog when it was on odour (rather than investigating / playing).
In the exterior search, we had cloves hidden in a hard hat and gun oil in the spout of a kettle. Seven of the twelve competitors found both finds, with Emma and Smartie finding both scents within 33 seconds and providing beautiful down indications. It was extremely rewarding to watch the handling between Charles and Misty. Misty was very sensitive to her surroundings outside but Charles worked with her beautifully to give her the confidence to search and enable him to read the changes in her body language that enabled him to pinpoint both finds correctly.
Several of the dogs indicated quite exuberantly on the hard hat, pushing it around the search area. This sometimes made the search very difficult and there has to be a special mention here to Jan and Mattie who managed to locate both finds despite appearing to make it incredibly difficult for themselves (as both scented articles ended up next to one another!).
Congratulations to:
Emma and Smartie – 1st Place. This is a super team and Smartie is an absolute joy to watch providing a lovely clear indication. Emma and Smartie also gained their Excellent at level 3 at this trial. Well done.
Harold and Zack – 2nd Place. Some lovely independent searching from Zack, and Harold’s attention to detail in the areas Zack had missed provided some lovely systematic searching. A lovely team to watch
Charles and Misty – 3rd Place. What a fantastic partnership and such a joy to watch. Charles handled this girl beautifully and this was a very well deserved placing.
Jan and Mattie – 4th Place. Jan handles Mattie’s sensitivity beautifully and it was great to be able to see this team not only be in the places, but also gain their Excellent at level 3. A lovely team, well done.

This was a really enjoyable trial to co-judge. Well done to everyone that took part and I look forward to seeing you all continue to progress on your Scentwork journey.