I had a pleasant drive to Wellingborough and arrived in time to see Marianne opening the gate to the car park. Teams for the Level 1 soon started to arrive and Stacy the other judge and myself gave a quick briefing after Marianne welcomed everyone and we were ready to start. Marianne was my scribe and I was judging both outside searches. The first was Judges Items, but unfortunately the white dog had fouled in the search area, so we moved the items and placed cones over the area as well as hot water to wash away any smell. The teams were ready but you could tell that some were nervous as this was their very first trial. There were some very good searches and good handling, however, some handlers did not notice their dogs indicating on the water container and unfortunately we still had a further 3 dogs who fouled in the area, but the winner was Kate and Thomas on 100 points the same as the points, closely followed by Lyn and Flokie and Emma and Bailey. well done to everybody that qualified!
Our next Level was level 4 and this started and the teams were ready after our briefing. This time Stacy judged the first area as I scribed and then I judged the remainder with Marianne as my scribe. these teams were more experienced and got off to a good start. but there was one dog that stood out in all the searches I saw and that was Jane and Jessie, nicely handled in a quiet manner, but knew what they were doing It was no surprise to me that Jane and Jessie won on 90 points, hotly followed by Rita and Elliott. Quite a few dogs fell for the distraction scents that were used. Which was shampoo, tea bags and toothpaste. Again well done to all that qualified and I hope that you enjoyed your day and I look forward to seeing you all progress through the levels art SWUK. I would also like to thank Marianne for asking me to Judge and also for her help as scribe.