Chris Bennett

Thank you to Ellen for asking me to judge alongside Marianne, despite a few hiccups this trial went ahead in a different venue. The outside was grass area and VERY smelly! Not ideal but hey, it went ahead. There was lots of nice handling in evidence and super dogs too. Well done to Helen Hepple and Marcus who competed NFC having actually gained their excellent at a previous trial but was presented with it today. A huge thank you to Brenda for doing a sterling job scribing for me. Ellen knows by now that Jaffa Cakes are a MUST at trials and there were plenty of them! Congratulations to those placed or gaining their qualifiers and, if you didn’t, don’t be disheartened , this wasn’t the easiest of venues and your dog just needs more experience.

I judged Bags and boxes (b&b) scent in rucksack and Vehicle (v) scent in number plate.

1st 99.98 Rachel Richards and Wispa ( Min Poodle) B&B off lead, good search pattern by handler and well handled. Huge sigh of relief as this was the first dog to find the odour! (V) nicely handled, helped the dog just enough. Dog pawed vehicle so points dropped.

2nd on 99.75 Fiona Vaughan and Dot (COLLIE) on long line, nice search but watch your line isn’t too tight. Good indication (V) Keen dog missed a lot of the car due to the distraction of the grass but picked up odour well at a distance and was straight to source.

3rd on 99.4 Debbie Goodwin and Fab (Papillion) (B&B) on lead steady search and handler let the dog work for himself. Well done. (V) Great handling with good use of voice over lead. Cracking indication

4th on 99.35 Sue Ellis and Poppy (Welsh Springer) Off lead, handler was patient and didn’t call an interest on the box, lovely freeze on odour. (V) good search, spent longer looking at the butterfly than she did to find the odour! again, good freeze on odour.

99.25 Lynne White and Torin (Hoverwart) (B&B)on lead. I don’t think I have ever seen a handler so stunned as Lynne was when her lovely black dog found this. He did a beautiful search and froze on odour. (V) steady search and a good indication.

98.95 Michelle Rodgers and Loki (Xbreed) (B&B) loki was very distracted and happy to be playing, this caused a few tight leads but he knew the odour when he found it. (V) Nice search, well handled, found the source well, was spot on.

79 Julie Nelson and Ricco (lagotto) (B&B) off lead Ricco was rather taken with one of the boxes and mum called wrongly. (V) good handling, correct use of line and clear indication.

78.9 Deb Atkins and Belle (Labradoodle) (B&B) off lead, another handler who was shocked by their dog, Belle went straight to source in 8 seconds! (V) Nice search and good indication by dog, mum needs to practice her positioning.

78.6 Kate Wilkes and Skye (Cocker) (B&B) off lead. Dog showed interest in an early box and handler called. (V) Dog caught the scent from by the front tyre and followed straight to source, slightly distracted by sniffs.

78.3 Fiona Powell and Murphy (kooikerhondje) (B&B) On lead, this pretty dog was very distracted and mum had to work hard to get him to look at the items, sadly not found. (V) Had settled by this time and mum was more worried than the dog, good indication. Tight lead at start dropped a few points.

78.2 Paula Warwicker and Ludo (collie) (B&B) mum was a bit quick and called on interest, (V) Ludo worked really hard to find the odour and mum helped him all she could. Nice partnership.

74.05 Linda and Jess (Collie) (B&B) steady search with good indication (V) Dog missed over half of the vehicle due to distractions and mum had to work hard to get her to search the front of the car but when she did the dog picked up and indicated well

73.85 Sarah Fortes Mayer and Bonnie, (Parson Russell) (B&B) on lead, searched well but false indication on Grey bag. (V) she did a lovely search until she found a rather nice stick. Once mum had persuaded her to relinquish it she settled and found what she was supposed to be searching for!

N/Q Tracy Ridgeway and Enzo (Golden Retriever) (B&B) on line and Enzo was straight into search mode, but mum called on interest . (V) slightly distracted by the environment but well -handled and a fantastic indication

N/Q Robert Sheppard and Bailey (XBreed) (B&B) off lead, very distracted and sort of indicated on the grey bag (V) started well by handler checking the wind direction, sadly the dog struggled to find it and handler called wrongly.

N/Q Karen Callender and Max ( Lab) (B&B) on lead, handler actually called the dog off the target and then Max didn’t go back to it. Called on Grey Suitcase. (V) Max didn’t seem up for it today but well handled by mum for not letting him pee in the search area.

NQ Lynne Evans and Dixie (labx)( b&B) worked off lead, sadly Dixie indicated on the first item they came across which was the red bag and handler called it. (V) really nice search, Dixie caught the odour early and followed it and then gave a good sound indication.

N/Q Julie Neale and Wren (Lab) B&B worked off lead, again another dog who showed a lot of interest in the first item it got to and again the handler called it wrongly. This time the big brown leather case. (V) Handler knew her job here and walked backwards helping to keep the dog focused on the car. Good Indication but dropped .1 for a paw scrape.

NFC Helen Hepple and Marcus (Xbreed) (B&B) on line steady search, handler didn’t rush and let him make sure, watch him getting his leg over the line. (V) searched well and good indication, congratulations on your Excellent award.

Marianne Tembey

Firstly thank you so much to Ellen Ward Lindley for inviting me to judge at her trial alongside Chris Bennett.

Thank you to James Lindley for scribing in the morning and Ellen in the afternoon. Also thank you to Lisa who kept the competitors coming through to the search areas.
Great job Lisa.

It was a great experience judging level 1 in the morning and then level 6 in the afternoon. It just reminds me of how far so many competitors have come.

It was really lovely to meet a lot of new competitors with their fabulous dogs.

Level 1 was really challenging (as due to the venue change we had to run the exterior search on long grass). I opted to do the exterior search and then the table and chairs.

We also had Helen Hepple running Marcus NFC (not for competition) – he did a fabulous job on the tables and chairs in just 24 seconds.

Tracy Ridgway and Enzo had the fastest time on tables and chairs with 12 seconds and a fabulous indication.

Robert Sheppard had a very excited Bailey but waited until the indication was on the correct chair.

Lynne White was so patient with Torin and did some really calm handling. Such a pleasure to watch.

Fabulous indication from Loki superbly handled by Michelle Rodgers.

Rachel Richards read her dog Wispa really well and went onto a very well deserved 1st place.

Fab handled by Debbie Goodwin really knows his job and had a great search.

Fiona Powell handled Murphy beautifully and when Murphy did not find the scent the first time around then Fiona quite rightly asked him to search in the opposite direction which then allowed Murphy to pick up the scent. Very well done.

Some fabulous handling from everyone and I look forward to you all moving up the levels and having FUN.

Level 6

We started with interior search 1 in the main room. 4 competitors found all five scents.
Chris Clements – QueevaDiva
Sarah Taylor – Hugo
Helen Byrne – Nellie
Jenie Pirie – Sullivan
Janet Wykes – Jess

Dolores Palmer with Gypsy found 4

Georgina Lucas – Nelson and Annette Leslie and Disney found 3.

Exterior Search

Sarah – Hugo, Dolores – Gypsy and Jenie Pirie – Sullivan found all three
The one hidden in the bench seemed to be the problem one. It was down at the foot of the bench and some dogs did not go down that far (also it was on the back leg – although access was easy).

Interior search 2

6 out of 7 dogs found all 4 hides in plenty of time.
The moral of this is:

keep your eye on your dog at all times

All in all I really enjoyed watching the level 6 dogs working as at this stage they all know what they are doing.

It was also a great pleasure to watch Sue Kirkham and Tilly and so pleased that they qualified as this was the last trial before Tilly retired. We did have some tears of happiness.

Thank you to everyone who attended and hope you all enjoyed the trial as much as I did.

		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 1		A/F	H	T	A/F	H	T	A/F	H	T	A/F	H	T	Marks	Time
1	Rachel Richards – Wispa	20	5	37	20	5	18	20	4.8	36	20	5	21	99.8	112
2	Fiona Vaughan – Dot	20	4.95	20	20	5	55	20	5	36	20	4.8	69	99.75	180
3	Debbie Goodwin – Fab	20	4.6	87	20	5	47	20	5	38	20	4.8	103	99.4	275
4	Sue Ellis – Poppy	20	4.8	28	20	4.75	99	20	4.8	65	20	5	65	99.35	257
5	Lynne White – Torin	20	4.75	38	20	5	31	20	4.5	55	20	5	20	99.25	144
6	Michelle Rogers – Loki	20	4.9	27	20	4.25	140	20	5	58	20	4.8	33	98.95	258
7	Julie Nelson – Ricco	20	5	37	20	4.5	122	20	5	55	0	4.5	21	79	235
8	Deb Atkins – Belle	20	4.85	33	0	4.75	30	20	4.3	36	20	5	8	78.9	107
9	Kate Wilkes – Skye	20	4	68	20	5	56	20	4.8	46	0	4.8	30	78.6	200
10	Fiona Powell – Murphy	20	4.5	60	20	5	17	20	4.8	71	0	4	166	78.3	314
11	Paula Warwicker – Ludo	20	4	31	20	4.5	86	20	4.7	158	0	5	20	78.2	295
12	Linda – Jess	20	4.25	43	0	0	180	20	4.8	48	20	5	233	74.05	504
13	Sarah Fortes-Mayer – Bonnie	20	4.85	19	20	0	85	20	4.5	88	0	4.5	44	73.85	236

		WA	P	B	D	T	WA	P	B	D	T	WA	P	B	D	T	WA	P	B	D	P+B+D	Time
						WA = Wrong Alerts ( 4 = elimination )							P = Points (articles found X 10)
						B = Bonus (10 if all items found)							D = Deductions				T = time (seconds)
		Interior Search 1					Interior Search 2					Exterior Search					Totals
		No of items		Time allowed			No of items		Time allowed			No of items		Time allowed			P+B-D = Points + Bonus - Deductions
		WA	P	B	D	T	WA	P	B	D	T	WA	P	B	D	T	WA	P	B	D	P+B-D	Time
1	Sarah Taylor – Hugo	0	50	10	0	216	0	40	10	0	188	0	30	10	0	83	0	120	30	0	150	487
2	Janet Wykes – Jess	1	50	10	0	223	0	40	10	0	94	1	20	0	0	180	2	110	20	0	130	497
3	Helen Byrne – Nellie	0	50	10	0	290	0	40	10	0	79	1	20	0	0	180	1	110	20	0	130	549
4	Chris Clements – QueevaDiva	0	50	10	0	230	0	40	10	0	158	1	20	0	0	180	1	110	20	0	130	568
5	Jennifer Pirie – Sullivan	2	50	10	0	275	0	30	0	0	240	0	30	10	0	124	2	110	20	0	130	639
6	Dolores Palmer – Gypsy	0	40	0	2	300	0	40	10	0	157	0	30	10	0	128	0	110	20	2	128	585
7	Sue Kirkham – Tilly	0	30	0	0	300	0	40	10	0	124	0	20	0	0	180	0	90	10	0	100	604