The day started by waking up to a white covering of snow, thankfully the roads were clear enough to travel to Finmere. Well done to everyone who wrapped up warm and made it to the trial, you are all super keen.

We began the day with the Level 3 trial, the first search was the tables/chairs and perimeter, Christine and Dilly carried out a very tidy search finding both scents in less than a minute, working well together as a team. The dogs had to also search a side room to find a scent in the cupboard door, those that found this scent did a great job at tracking the scent to the source, however a couple of dogs struggled with finding the source of the scent that was placed on the chair and persuaded their handlers that the scent was on the chair next to it.

We then braved the snow and headed out for the vehicle searches, the teams had 3 cars to search, 2 of which had a scent on. They started off by searching a blank vehicle, Lynn and Passi did a great job, a cracking little Australian Terrier who effortlessly found both scents and was a pleasure to watch.

Back inside for the container search, Tracey guided the super keen Hardey around the search area, locating both scents with great enthusiasm, Hardey is now 10 years old and its lovely to watch a dog in its mature years having so much fun.

We finished on the exterior search, the wind had settled and it was lovely to see the dogs moving around the spacious area, after struggling on the container search we all celebrated when Lynda and Teddy the Rough Collie found both scents, he really does know the job, it was a super search. The first scent was in the article closest to where the dogs started, most handlers sent their dogs straight over it, help your dogs a little with where they need to start searching as they could have had a nice early find to give both dogs and handlers confidence.

It was refreshing to see Lesley enthusiastically praise Hetty, a stunning golden retriever, after each find, this really helped maintain her confidence, well done.

I must also mention Kathy and Star, another team who were in sync, Star is very thorough at covering the search area and clearly lets you know when she has found the scent. The points they gained from 4th place today lead them to win Dog of the Year, huge congratulations.

After a quick bite of lunch and a coffee to warm up we went straight into preparing the level 2 Trial. Overall I was really impressed with the teamwork in the level 2, the handlers were supporting their dogs around the searches and working them taking into account their individual needs, it was a pleasure to watch and I look forward to seeing these partnerships progressing through the levels. The exterior search saw 2 very enthusiastic cocker spaniels showing us some stylish searching, Tracey with her younger dog Boswell and Donna with Lucy, they were having such fun. Drama was handled beautifully by Jill to find both scents, great teamwork.

Onto the container search, Caroline with Wilson and Karen with Barley carried out thorough searches, the dogs clearly indicated where the scents were hidden by offering beautiful passive freeze indications, both confident in what they had been trained to do. Barley deservedly went on to win the trial which is fantastic as she is only 5 months old, huge congratulations Karen, she was up against some brilliant teams.

Our final outdoor search of the day was the vehicles, Wilson handled by Caroline gave a clear demonstration of tracking the scent to the source, there were a couple of early calls from other handlers which unfortunately didn’t allow the dogs to get close enough to the strongest part of the scent which was a shame. As our last dog started to work we had some very excitable children come and play on the park close by with their dog, Boswell did very well not to be distracted and continued to search beautifully finding both scents.

We finished the day with the table/chairs and perimeter search, despite the dogs starting to feel a little tired they all worked well. We had a slightly higher find on a computer table which didn’t phase Tracey’s little Billy at all, he was quite adamant that he had found the scent.

Thank you to Heather for inviting me to judge, I had a lovely day. I must also thank Sue and Geof for coming to help for the day, you really helped the trial run smoothly.