Level 1
1 Anita Scott – Meadow – 99.7
2 Christine Whitehead – China – 79.75
3 Sue Ellis – Minnie – 79.55
4 Jenny Gibson – Nelson – 79.5
5 Lisa Finney – Brew – 79.45
6 Kate Wilkes – Skye – 79.45
7 Elizabeth Beaumont – Ceri – 79.25
8 Fiona Powell – Murphy – 78.65
9 Jackie Hodge – Kona – 78.5
Level 2
1 Joanne Andrews – Cora – 99.9
2 Julia Bodsworth – Spot – 99.5
3 Julie Bytheway – Jess – 99.2
4 Mandy Wade – Fred – 79
The weekend before the trial on the 25th July, it looked as though we would be in for a warm 24C but with plenty of showers, and a reasonable amount of cloud… by Tuesday it was very clear this would not be the case, and we were in fact looking at potentially the hottest ever day.
Level 6 had to be cancelled, but with a lot of planning and preparation we felt we could just about manage to run the morning levels. A HUGE thank you to Janet Wykes and Christine Gregory who both stepped in at the 11th hour as additional judge and scribe to allow us to run three consecutive searches, making sure all outside searches were done as early as we could possibly manage.
Also a big thank you to Marianne Tembey for doing all the internal searches and Karen Denton for managing the car searches with amazing consideration to dogs and competitors. Many thanks also to both Dolores Palmer and James Lindley for scribing and post-trial clean up, to Chris Bennett and Jane Page for running and Brenda Ward for tea-lady duties. A big thank you to everyone who packed something away as almost everyone chipped in. It was an incredible effort.
What was particularly pleasing was how many people qualified despite the conditions.
In hind sight I’m not sure I’d go ahead under such conditions again – while we managed the situation it was difficult on all of us – but seeing how everyone pulled together and made the most of it really made me feel blessed to be part of Scentwork UK.
Thank you everyone for making the most of it.
And may the odour be ever in your direction.
Marianne Tembey
Thank you to Ellen Ward Lindley for asking me to judge at her trial in Sutton Coldfield. This was my first time at this venue and I found it to be a very pleasing, quiet, calm place.
It was an extremely hot day – but as I was inside I did not get to experience this. (Thankfully). Ellen had worked hard to ensure all dogs were comfortable and along with Karen Denton and Janet Wykes we soon whizzed through all the searches.
I was tasked with both the interior searches for both levels and we started with the tables and chairs.
A white dog was used in all the searches.
Level 1 – Tables & Chairs
Lisa Finney and Brew were outstanding in this search as Brew went straight to the scented chair. Lisa trusted him and called it correctly in 22 seconds.
Sue Ellis certainly held her nerve whilst Millie investigated the adjacent chair for ages. Millie finally moved to the correct chair and Sue’s patience paid off. Very well done Sue.
Anita Scott and Meadow were a joy to watch as Meadow did some lovely methodical searching.
Jenny Gibson & Nelson plus Christine Whitehead & China both did a fabulous search.
Lynda White with Torin had a false alert but they came out with a bit more experienceand hopefully on their next trial the weather will be a bit kinder to them.
Elizabeth Beaumont & Ceri, Fiona Powell & Murphy, Kate Wilkes & Skye all did some lovely searching as well.
Jackie Hodge did well to call the correct chair as Kona was rather enthusiastic.
Level 1 – Boxes & Luggage
By this time the dogs were getting tired and probably a bit warm…
Out of ten competi tors only three teams correctly called the alert. This was Jenny Gibson with Nelson, Anita Scott with Meadow and Kate Wilkes with Skye.
All of these teams produced lovely methodical searching.
Level 2 – tables & Chairs
We only had 6 competitors – two of them called false alerts both of them by talking the dog into it. The other four Mandy Wade & Fred, Julie Bytheway & Jess, Joanne Andrews & Cora and Julia Bodsworth & Spot all did some lovely searching.
Level 2 – Boxes & Luggage
This time it was the turn of Mandy Wade with Fred and Pam Butcher with Willow to call a false alert. By now everyone was getting hot and tired.
Helen Hankins with Sam showed some really lovely calm searching.
Julie Bytheway with Jess and Julis Bodsworth with Spot both dis some fabulous searching.
Once again Joanne Andrews and Cora made me smile. Cora is such a happy little dog and looks like she is having great fun whilst in the search area.
It was a really good day and I would also like to say thank you to Dolores Palmer for being a brilliant scribe.
It was also lovely to meet lots of new people and their fabulous dogs.
Thank you once again to Ellen for inviting me to judge at her trial and I look forward to seeing you all again.
Karen Denton
It was a sweltering day for this Level 1 & 2 Trial in Sutton Coldfield. My admiration goes to Ellen Lindley who justifiably cancelled the Trial to be run in the afternoon due to it being the hottest day on record. Ellen made the Trial as bearable as possible offering paddling pools for the dogs and cool water and soft drinks for the competitors.
I judged the L1&2 vehicle search alongside Janet who was judging the Exterior before the heat of the day really kicked in. Marianne was judging the inside searches.
Although I’d placed the cars in as much shade as possible and made sure the scents were also in the shade, quite a lot of the dogs seemed to lack focus and struggled with this search possibly due to the heat. Notables for a good performance in Level 1 were Anita & Meadow, Christine & China and Lynda & Torin. In level 2 Jo & Cora were impressive but most of the other dogs were pulled off the scent by their owners.
I’m sorry I couldn’t hang on for the summing up and presentation but I know that Marianne and Janet will have given a good overview. I had to check on my puppy who was at home in a crate and visit my 101 year old Aunt. I just had to see that she was ok in the heat.
I look forward to seeing the results on Facebook to see the final scores.
Well done everyone for your efforts.
Janet Wykes
Many thanks to Ellen Lindley for yet another well run trial. Ellen had invited me along to this trial as an additional judge so that the external searches could be completed early in the morning before the temperature became unbearable. I was asked to judge the external searches for level 1 and 2, and as the temperature was already beginning to rise quite steadily we positioned this search on a grassy area away from the hot tarmac of the car park. Ellen had also provided a tent/marque that allowed us to position the external objects in the shade and out of the direct sunlight.
A huge thanks to James who scribed for me, and Chris who did a fantastic job ensuring there was a steady stream of competitors – so much so that we had completed both levels for this search by 10:30am.
A white dog was used in all searches
Level 1- Exterior Search
The scented article (a small crate) was positioned towards the centre of the search area and eight out of the ten competitors managed to locate the find with their dogs working beautifully to the actual source of the scent before indicating. Well done to Anita and Meadow (with a super-fast time of just 13 seconds), Christine and China, Elizabeth and Ceri, Fiona and Murphy, Lynda and Torin, and Jackie and Kona who all managed to locate the scent and handled the search beautifully gaining full marks. Whilst a few of the dogs were a little distracted by the environment everyone handled the search in such extreme conditions very well and it was great to see Lisa and Brew, and Sue and Millie encourage their dogs to work through the distractions to locate the find. A special mention must also go to Torin (with Lynda) who provided some beautiful parkour poses on some of the objects and made us all smile.
Level 2 – Exterior Search
After adding a further additional scented item (child’s skateboard) and running the white dog again, we moved straight onto the second level of searches (both levels 1 and 2 were being run together for each search area).
Five out of the seven competitors found both items in this search with Joanne and Cora, Julie and Jess, and Julia and Spot, receiving full handling marks. Helen and Sam, and Pam and Willow also carried out some lovely searching and coped extremely well with the distractions. Mandy and Fred found the distractions difficult in this search but it was great to see them overcome these in the other searches and go on to achieve fourth place.
Despite the temperatures, this was an 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.
| T&C - A/F | T&C - H | T&C - T | ES - A/F | ES - H | ES - T | VS - A/F | VS - H | VS - T | B&L - A/F | B&L - H | B&L - T | Marks | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A/F = Alert Find | H = Handling | T = Time (seconds) | |||||||||||||
| Tables & Chairs | Exterior Search | Vehicle Search | Boxes & Luggage | Totals | |||||||||||
| Level 2 | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | Marks | Time | |
| 1 | Anita Scott – Meadow | 20 | 4.95 | 116 | 20 | 5 | 13 | 20 | 4.75 | 16 | 20 | 5 | 56 | 99.7 | 201 |
| 2 | Christine Whitehead – China | 20 | 5 | 28 | 20 | 5 | 41 | 20 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 4.75 | 56 | 79.75 | 139 |
| 3 | Sue Ellis – Minnie | 20 | 5 | 111 | 20 | 4.9 | 118 | 20 | 4.75 | 40 | 0 | 4.9 | 180 | 79.55 | 449 |
| 4 | Jenny Gibson – Nelson | 20 | 5 | 48 | 0 | 5 | 18 | 20 | 4.5 | 110 | 20 | 5 | 24 | 79.5 | 200 |
| 5 | Lisa Finney – Brew | 20 | 5 | 22 | 20 | 4.95 | 61 | 20 | 5 | 46 | 0 | 4.5 | 180 | 79.45 | 309 |
| 6 | Kate Wilkes – Skye | 20 | 4.75 | 114 | 0 | 4.95 | 40 | 20 | 4.75 | 70 | 20 | 5 | 146 | 79.45 | 370 |
| 7 | Elizabeth Beaumont – Ceri | 20 | 5 | 37 | 20 | 5 | 41 | 20 | 4.75 | 68 | 0 | 4.5 | 180 | 79.25 | 326 |
| 8 | Fiona Powell – Murphy | 20 | 4.9 | 29 | 20 | 5 | 86 | 20 | 4.5 | 66 | 0 | 4.25 | 153 | 78.65 | 334 |
| 9 | Jackie Hodge – Kona | 20 | 4.75 | 30 | 20 | 5 | 32 | 20 | 4.5 | 81 | 0 | 4.25 | 152 | 78.5 | 295 |
| Level 3 | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | Joanne Andrews – Cora | 20 | 4.9 | 132 | 20 | 5 | 38 | 20 | 5 | 67 | 20 | 5 | 57 | 99.9 | 294 |
| 2 | Julia Bodsworth – Spot | 20 | 5 | 46 | 20 | 5 | 35 | 20 | 4.5 | 88 | 20 | 5 | 128 | 99.5 | 297 |
| 3 | Julie Bytheway – Jess | 20 | 4.95 | 55 | 20 | 5 | 48 | 20 | 4.5 | 61 | 20 | 4.75 | 133 | 99.2 | 297 |
| 4 | Mandy Wade – Fred | 20 | 4.95 | 152 | 10 | 4.8 | 202 | 20 | 4.75 | 110 | 10 | 4.5 | 96 | 79 | 560 |
St Chad’s Anglican Church, Hollyfield Road, Sutton Coldfield. B75 7SN.
Start time: 9.30am
Entry Fees: £22 per dog. Entries caped at 10 per level. I cannot accept 1 handler and 2 dogs across levels 1 & 2 at this trial
Contact: Ellen Lindley, Tel 07413 111 921
Online entries are available Level 1, Level 2, Level 6 Levels 1 & 2 are fully booked
Anyone wanting to submit by post needs to call first so the slot can be reserved in the online booking system