Tina Schuster

After having had to cancel our last judging “promise” due to snow, we finally manged to make good and judge a trial for Marianne in Brogborough. With shade for the competitors and a paddling pool for the dogs, we were well prepared for the weather and started the L1 outside searches on the car (before it (the car) got too hot). Some of the dogs struggled “going to source” with the scent being “whirled around” in the breeze and by the time we did the competitors’ second dogs, it was so hot that Sam’s Kipper decided to lie in the shade of the car and refused to move (or search)! We then moved to the exterior search, where all competitors took advantage of the “3 potential items” help. It was lovely to see how all of them managed to keep their dogs working – despite the noise (bottle bank and barking dogs), heat and other distractions – especially Christine and Soul! Thanks to yet another lovely lunch provided by Sue and Geoff, we started the L5 replenished and I judged the outside search, while Nigel conducted Interior 1 in the hall. It was great seeing the work ethic of all the L5 dogs and the pairs truly working as “teams”. I certainly learned a lot from their handling – I am not sure “we” (Timon and I) would have worked that well! It was quite daunting judging my peers, thank you all for being so kind to me and well done to all!

Nigel Wilkes

It was an early start for Tina and I as we were judging the Level 1 and 5 trials for Marianne and on top of that we had to go close to Silverstone where the GP was on so we knew the traffic would be heavy.

On getting to the Village Hall Marianne and Nicki were busy getting everything ready and quite a few of the competitors were already there and waiting to start. Tina and I discussed with Marianne what was happening and Tina would judge both outside searches and I would do the inside.

There were 23 teams so we knew it was going to be a hard morning. Tina and I gave a quick brief of what was going to happen and we got under way. I hid the scent on the chair towards the front and the first three teams that came in all failed as they indicated on the chair next to where the scent was. I was very pleased when the next team found it very quickly. I do think that some of the handlers jumped in to quickly when their dog was only investigating and not indicating. You could see that some of the teams were experienced whilst others were only doing their first trial.

There was a very good mixture of breeds and it was fascinating to see them work. We then went onto the boxes and Luggage and the hide this time was at the back in a small case.  Most of the dogs found the hide although again some handlers called the ‘Alert’ when their dogs were only  being inquisitive, but this will improve with experience.

Two dogs stood out for me in the morning session Muttley and Alf with Alf winning and it was well deserved. Also I have to mention Lorraine and Chester. Unfortunately prior to the start of the trial Chester was injured when he and another dog were trying to catch a ball and after 2 of the searches Chester seized up and did not want to put weight on his injured leg so Lorraine had know option but to withdraw him from the trial, which was a pity as she may have got her Excellent award if she had a good trial.

The Afternoon session started about 30 minutes late and we were to have 10 teams, but unfortunately 1 team did not arrive. Tina again did the exterior search so I did the interior and as  I have seen most of the dogs work before and I knew that the result would be close as they were all very good teams.

I set up the search in the hall with 3 hide’s one on the arm of a chair, another on a radiator and the third low to the ground by the double swing doors. The teams soon got into this and I thought maybe I had made them too easy. A few of the teams however, made the error of convincing the dog that the hide was on the small table next to the chair instead of waiting till their dog had actually found the scent.

The second interior search was a little harder as I thought we needed to set a tougher search as the teams were so evenly matched. The first hide was behind the bookcase, with the next hide in the kitchen door low to the bottom which did cause quite a few dogs to pick this up. The next hide was in the bucket with 2 in the Disabled toilet. This did prove to be a more difficult search with only a few teams finding all five.

The teams really worked well with Flossie and Becky being deserved winners but all teams should be proud of how their dogs worked on such a hot day.

I would like to thank Marianne as well as Nicki who was my scribe for the day and did such a wonderful job.