Tue 3rd Sep 2019, Chacombe

Level 3: Judge - Harry Latusek
Level 3

1 Deborah Palmer – Majic – 100
2 Nikki Inglis- Peppa – 99.9
3 Val Isherwood – Heike – 99.3
4 Gloria Bonnell – Jade – 90
5 Julia Bodsworth – Spot – 90
6 Sonia Pidhajeckyj – Ruby – 89.9
7 Elizabeth Beaumont – Chandra – 89.7
8 Julia Reeves – Dandy – 89.7
9 Martin Beason – Max – 89.4
10 Lynda Stangle – Magic – 79.9
11 Barry Cook – Ziva – 79.6
12 Chrissie McCrory -Paddy – 79.5
13 Maggie Loughran – Bran – 79.3

I really enjoyed the Trial morning. It felt like a relaxed and low-key event with a leisurely start at 10.30am, a great team of judges and helpers, and the friendly handlers and their enthusiastic dogs. Such a lovely change to do one level only, instead of trying to get through 2 or even 3 in a day. I was fortunate to be able to watch some of the searches and I was impressed by the standard of all the teams who worked.

My thanks to the two excellent judges for their challenging but fair searches, and kind feedback to teams. Thanks also to the two brilliant scribes, Sarah and Gill. Sarah managed to find time to bake homemade cookies and brought these with her (yummy, I confess to snaffling 2 of these), and also helped to enter the results into the trial results spreadsheet at the end, phew! Sarah put two additional columns in which automatically showed the clean sweeps and qualifiers, which was a great help when sorting rosettes. Thank you, Gill – who set up the exterior search area with Lynda Stangle and then did a cracking job as first time scribe. Gill said she learnt a lot watching the teams work the searches and learning how a judge’s mind works in setting out the hides! Thank you to Lynda Crossland and Teddy for being white dog (even though Teddy didn’t like the floor inside), and for kindly checking handlers in.

Congratulations to all teams who qualified, and well done Deborah with Majik on your first place and excellence rosette.

I look forward to seeing you at the next trial. Good luck and enjoy your training. Karen

I was very pleased to be asked by Karen to judge this level 3, alongside Harry.

We had a briefing with the teams, answered questions and then we were ready.

I started with tables and chairs, plus the perimeter. The tables and chairs went quite smoothly but the perimeter caused a few upsets. The scent was in the handle of Henry the hoover., Many of the dogs shot past the first few items and some handlers brought their dogs back. A wooden paper rack caused a distraction for a few dogs. Karen assured everyone afterwards that it had never had any scents on.

Next we moved onto the vehicle search. Three cars were placed end to end. Several of the dogs were allowed to get right under the car. Some of the handlers didn’t seem to know it was the direction of the odour. I commented to a few handlers who allowed their dogs to scratch the cars, even when they had called the alert. Think it was nerves.

Some really lovely work done and it was quite hard to differentiate the handling marks.

Well done to the winners Deborah Palmer and Majic, very well deserved.
Second place to Nikki Inglis and Peppa, some very nice work.
Third place to Val Isherwood and GHeike, nice quiet handling.
Fourth place to Gloria Bonnell and Jade super little girl.
Well done to all the teams. It was a pleasure to see you all and I am looking forward to watching you all go up through the levels.

Thankyou to my super scribe, Sarah. Good work. To all the runners, coffee/tea makers. Lynda for keeping them coming and to Karen for a happy, friendly and well run trial.+

Thankyou to Karen, for inviting me along to Judge the level 3 on the day,also a big Thankyou to my scribe,Jan Manners,who did an excellent job.My fellow Judge was my dear friend,Susan Benson.I was tasked with judging the exterior and boxes and luggage searches.A white dog was used prior to both of my searches commencing.

Exterior

I set up the exterior search,using 2 smoke alarms as the scented articles.I placed one immediately to the right of the start cones,the other,at the top right of the search area.There was a gentle breeze blowing towards the start line.This breeze, was to play a major role during the searches.I failed to observe any of the 15 handlers Take this breeze into account.
The furthest away smoke alarm,the cloves scent,caused no problem to the teams whatsoever,all finding it with ease.The other smoke alarm,containing the gun oil,proved more difficult.3 of the handlers actually pulling thier dogs away from this scent,3 of the other dogs,on approaching the scented article,were distracted by the nearby grass verge and hedgerow.This caused the handlers to turn and direct thier dogs back up the search area,away from the scent.This resulted in only 9 of the 15 teams correctly identifying both scents.
Excellent handling by Linda and Magic,Maggie and Bran and Nikki and Pepper,proved fruitful,finding both in around 30 seconds.Lovely patient handling by Deborah and Majic,following on closely in 53 secs.

Boxes and luggage

I then moved inside,to everyone’s favourite,boxes and luggage.

I set up the gun oil scent immediately to the left,at the start of the search area,concealing the the scent in the buckle of a blue computer type bag.The cloves scent,I hid in the buckle of a black computer bag,placing it on the left hand side of the search area,at its furthest away point from the start line.The start cones were angled slightly to right,it was interesting to watch the majority of handlers directing thier dogs in that direction.Every team correctly identified the furthest away bag,contains the cloves.Some very patient and methodical searching by Gloria and Jade,Sonia and Ruby,Martin and Max,Val and Heidi and Deborah and Majic,paid dividends,all finding both scents in under a minute.Several of the handlers were totally oblivious to the other bag,near the start line.This resulted in only 8 of the teams correctly finding both scents.Perhaps a lesson to be learned,be aware of articles placed near the start line,which many dogs and handlers initially disregard.

All said and done,some lovely teamwork, and good patient and methodical searching by many.

My congratulations to the eventual rosette winners,1st,Deborah and Majic,100 points and gaining thier excellent rosette in level 3.2nd.Nikki and Pepper,On 99.9.3rd.Val and Hieki on 99.3.4th.Gloria and Jade on 90.

I wish all of you,every success in your future trials, and hope to meet up again with some of you,if not all at…

T&C - A/FT&C - HT&C - TES - A/FES - HES - TVS - A/FVS - HVS - TB&L - A/FB&L - HB&L - TMarksTime
A/F = Alert FindH = HandlingT = Time (seconds)
Tables & ChairsExterior SearchVehicle SearchBoxes & LuggageTotals
Level 3A/FHTA/FHTA/FHTA/FHTMarksTime
1Deborah Palmer – Majic20555205732058920553100270
2Nikki Inglis- Peppa2051292053220554204.99599.9310
3Val Isherwood – Heike204.5163204.81192051202053599.3437
4Gloria Bonnell – Jade205102105602051042054490310
5Julia Bodsworth – Spot20591205882051281057590382
6Sonia Pidhajeckyj – Ruby20546104.993205842058789.9310
7Elizabeth Beaumont – Chandra2056820550204.9153104.811989.7390
8Julia Reeves – Dandy204.9250104.82372051802055589.7722
9Martin Beason – Max20535204.973104.5772055889.4243
10Lynda Stangle – Magic104.911720530205881055379.9288
11Barry Cook – Ziva104.952104.83720577204.94679.6212
12Chrissie McCrory -Paddy20577104.7560205121104.754279.5300
13Maggie Loughran – Bran104.51092053120567104.83579.3242

Chacombe Village Hall, Thorpe Road, Chacombe, OX17 2JW

Start:- 10.30am
Entry Fees: £22 per dog.
Contact: Karen Kendall 07966 847153
Download Entry Form to book a place.