Returning to Langley Burrell to take up my first judging appointment was a nostalgic journey for me. Having entered my very first trial at LB a couple of years ago, I became completely smitten with this new found and highly addictive dog sport. I now have three dogs all competing at different levels so, when asked to judge by Kate Kemp, I felt well enough equipped to accept the challenge. I do feel it’s important for people who regularly compete to give something back to the sport whether it be hosting a trial, judging, scribing, running or generally helping out in any capacity.

We had a large entry of 19 so Kate and Rick decided to split the searches between two judges and my co-pilot for the day was the lovely Pippa Bentham. I thought this was a great idea as it certainly reduced the ‘standing around’ time for the handlers and dogs. My two searches were to be the ‘outside area’ and ‘tables and chairs’. When we set up the outside area, the weather was fairly settled, however by the time we were ready to start with our first competitor, the wind at times was strong and gusting in changeable direction. This proved to be challenging for a lot of the dogs, however the handlers that were able to hold their nerve and wait for ‘duration’ were those that took the top spots. All teams found the indoor search of tables and chairs far more conducive to reading their dogs and this was reflected in the scores.

The outstanding team of the day were Mary Hyde and her Labrador, Bramble who took the red in style by achieving the maximum 100 points. Mary’s handling was a joy to watch, positive and confident which obviously brought out the best in Bramble. I was also impressed with the interaction during each reward session, it was an ‘event’ rather than just a quick feed and then back to work.

A very close second were Caroline O’Hare and her lovely Collie Balian. Having been a part of Caroline’s journey in scentwork, I was delighted to see them blossoming and they were just half a point behind the winner, a quarter of which I deducted for not trusting her dog but I know how difficult that first call can be!

In third place came Sue Lintern with the second of her two gorgeous Gordon Setters ‘Angus’. This team were fabulously entertaining and Sue’s no nonsense handling skills showed Angus off beautifully gaining the second fastest time on the exterior search in very difficult conditions.

Anni Martin’s fabulous little working cocker spaniel Maisie took fourth spot. This team had a very nice, controlled set-up and Anni took time to make sure Maisie was ‘in the zone’ right from the off. I just loved the attention from this ‘partnership’.

Pippa and I had no hesitation in electing Margery Grant be the recipient of the spectacular Judges Special rosette. Margery worked two fabulous Hungarian Vizslas and had both Pippa and I smiling the whole way round each search whilst working Alfred. The dogs had very different working styles and Margery’s tenacity and sense of humour were a joy to behold.

My next star of the day was Super Scribe Sue, how lucky I was to be gifted this lady to assist me, fantastically numerate, ultra efficient and extremely good company to boot.

To all those that entered the Trial, you were, without exception, a pleasure to judge. Congratulations to everyone that managed to qualify through Level 2 and good luck with your training for level 3. Commiserations to those that didn’t quite make it, but hey, that’s dogs for you 🙂

Finally a huge thank you to Kate and Rick for inviting me to judge, your club members epitomise team spirit and I thoroughly enjoyed my day with you all.

Karen Dunkason