Level 1
1st Nikki & ZigZag – 100
2nd Harold & Rosie – 100
3rd Sue & Lil – 100
4th Jan & Amber – 100
5th Yaz & Banjo – 100
6th Gillian & Kai – 100
7th Hazel & Noodles – 100
8th Kate & Lola – 99.75
9th Elizabeth & Thomas – 99.75
10th Pia & Kizzy – 99.5
11th Dolores & Gypsy – 98.75
12th Melanie & Rowan – 98.75
13th Abbie & George – 98.25
14th Amy & Luna – 79.5
15th Lou & Louka – 78.75
Well I wondered if running two trials one day after another would be abit too much but despite the very wintery weather, both days ran really smoothly. I can only contribute the super efficiency of running the trials down to straight forward judging, Becky Harris L2 & 3, Liz Ormerod L1 & Nikki Inglis ‘Pre-trial’ along with experienced helpers. I was really privileged to have Sue Abbott-Dixon & Lynn Bell as scribes and Geof Dixon and Karen Kendall as runners with Karen also staying on to scribe the ‘Pre-Trial’. Thank you all.
The weather didn’t seem to put off the competitors in fact on the first day, the worse of the snowy weather, one competitor came all the way from Warwickshire with another from Surrey who I am sure were glad they made the trip as they gained 1st & 2nd places. The first day also was a first as ‘Scentwork UK 2017 Dog of the Year’ was decided when Kathy Killick’s X/breed dog Star gained 4th place and 4 points clinching the title so a fabulous results, well done.
Becky Harris, first day judge, put out a challenging yet straight forward L2 & 3 test and the L2’s took this all in their stride with Karen & her 5 month old puppy BSD Barley winning it looking like she had been doing scentwork all her life, well done. Also another exciting result was when Donna and her W/Cocker Lucy came home 4th gaining enough points for their ‘L2 Excellent’ title, congratulations.
So up bright and early for day 2 to a really hard frost but again this didn’t seem to put of the competitors and we started with 17 runners. Watching many of the searches I was quite impressed by how quickly some of the L1’s were at calling the alert as they were so confident in their dogs. However Lou was abit too quick in the first search calling when her dog Louka was on her way to selecting the correct chair. However Lou managed to keep her head during the next three searches waiting that little bit longer with Louka finding all the scents gaining a credible pass for this team. Well done for keeping your nerve. Also a special mention to Yaz & Banjo, Liz & Thomas and Gillian & Kai for gaining ‘Clean Sweeps’ and only after 4/5 sessions. Even more impressive,Kai is a 13yr old springer spaniel who has taken up scentwork for his retirement. And not forgetting Kate & Lola who kept it together on the vehicle search gaining a ‘Clean Sweep’ and also did Hazel and her little terrier Noodles who is so subtle in her body language, but with Hazel’s hard work become a excellent team on the day. Well done.
A cold day of searching but the dogs didn’t seem to mind; the standard was high with great teamwork demonstrated and the results definitely reflect this.
First search was the Tables & Chairs – a little struggle for a couple of the handlers; mainly due to calling the alert a bit early, but for the others, a relief to get a ‘find’ on the first search done.
Then onto the Vehicle Search – again some lovely searches; little Rosie being exceptionally quick with a time of 13 secs , hardly time for Harold to get cold! Yaz & Banjo were also on form with a beautiful 17 secs find. The Vehicle Search resulted in 100% success for all the teams.
We were then back inside to do the Boxes & Luggage search. Some quick alerts called from Jan with Amber and Sue with Lil – these dogs love their Scentwork.
Lastly it was back into the cold for the Exterior Search. Hardly a mark was dropped by the handlers in this category – the dogs did what they are trained for and the handlers let them. Great teamwork guys!
Thank you Heather for inviting me to judge at this Level 1 trial, I really enjoyed it. Trials only go smoothly with the organisation behind them and Heather keeps the search areas prepped and ready to move on to. I’d also like to thank my trusted scribe Lynn and Karen for being such an efficient runner, keeping handlers moving.
| A/F = Alert Find | H = Handling | T = Time (seconds) | ||||||||||||||
| Tables & Chairs | Exterior Search | Vehicle Search | Boxes & Luggage | Totals | ||||||||||||
| Handler & Dog | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | A/F | H | T | Marks | Time | ||
| 1 | Nikki & ZigZag | 20 | 5 | 21 | 20 | 5 | 6 | 20 | 5 | 20 | 20 | 5 | 14 | 100 | 61 | |
| 2 | Harold & Rosie | 20 | 5 | 30 | 20 | 5 | 9 | 20 | 5 | 13 | 20 | 5 | 10 | 100 | 62 | |
| 3 | Sue & Lil | 20 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 5 | 24 | 20 | 5 | 25 | 20 | 5 | 8 | 100 | 67 | |
| 4 | Jan & Amber | 20 | 5 | 36 | 20 | 5 | 26 | 20 | 5 | 19 | 20 | 5 | 6 | 100 | 87 | |
| 5 | Yaz & Banjo | 20 | 5 | 22 | 20 | 5 | 55 | 20 | 5 | 17 | 20 | 5 | 42 | 100 | 136 | |
| 6 | Gillian & Kai | 20 | 5 | 51 | 20 | 5 | 21 | 20 | 5 | 50 | 20 | 5 | 25 | 100 | 147 | |
| 7 | Hazel & Noodles | 20 | 5 | 53 | 20 | 5 | 69 | 20 | 5 | 31 | 20 | 5 | 89 | 100 | 242 | |
| 8 | Kate & Lola | 20 | 4.75 | 35 | 20 | 5 | 18 | 20 | 5 | 21 | 20 | 5 | 19 | 99.75 | 93 | |
| 9 | Elizabeth & Thomas | 20 | 4.75 | 38 | 20 | 5 | 7 | 20 | 5 | 52 | 20 | 5 | 21 | 99.75 | 118 | |
| 10 | Pia & Kizzy | 20 | 4.5 | 68 | 20 | 5 | 60 | 20 | 5 | 64 | 20 | 5 | 12 | 99.5 | 204 | |
| 11 | Dolores & Gypsy | 20 | 4 | 52 | 20 | 5 | 27 | 20 | 5 | 36 | 20 | 4.75 | 48 | 98.75 | 163 | |
| 12 | Melanie & Rowan | 20 | 4 | 68 | 20 | 5 | 58 | 20 | 4.75 | 62 | 20 | 5 | 23 | 98.75 | 211 | |
| 13 | Abbie & George | 20 | 3.5 | 57 | 20 | 5 | 78 | 20 | 5 | 95 | 20 | 4.75 | 81 | 98.25 | 311 | |
| 14 | Amy & Luna | 0 | 4.75 | 21 | 20 | 5 | 31 | 20 | 5 | 46 | 20 | 4.75 | 136 | 79.5 | 234 | |
| 15 | Lou & Louka | 0 | 4.5 | 63 | 20 | 5 | 68 | 20 | 4.5 | 160 | 20 | 4.75 | 63 | 78.75 | 354 | |
| 16 | Ellen & Bamm-Bamm | 20 | 5 | 16 | 0 | 4 | 123 | 20 | 3.5 | 165 | 0 | 3.75 | 180 | 56.25 | 484 | |