Many thanks to Hannah Crook for stepping into the breach to judge this Level 8 at a fun new venue, Thanks also to Pip for scribing and Lynn for ATM – you all did a fabulous job!
Well done to all the competitors – it was a very distracting environment and definitely a step up from other venues! Huge congratulations to Pam and Wilma for a perfect score – nor mean feat at Level 8. So sorry I couldn’t be there today.

Judges Report

Fun new venue for Cornwall’s second Level 8 trial. We had 6 competing in the end and were lucky with the weather, although a few showers threatened they were very fleeting and not too serious.

Thank you to Karen at Roxys runaround for allowing us to play there.

Interior 1 = 5 finds – 5.5 mins
This can be seen as quite a busy area, and a fairly large room with quite a lot of stuff. I was tempted to put 6 in, but felt that might be a bit much as a first search area with such interesting bits to get lost in! The NGZ was situated at the back of the area and included a couple of pallets covered with artificial grass, as well as some hanging bits.

Working clockwise round the room –
Find 1 – GO, just inside the wall 30cm high 2/6
Find 2 – C , NGZ on a bit of soft play equipment – floor level 5/6
Find 3 – GO on the inside of a soft play tunnel – 50 cm 4/6
Find 4 – T on the underside of a dog walk plank, next to some steps – 60cm 5/6
Find 5 – C in a hole ad the end of the same dog walk plank as the one above, 20cm 6/6
I think this area was a bit mentally challenging for the human, but there was not too much to search. I took my own dog round and he hit everything in 2.5 mins, but he is pretty quick and I did know where they were! I also had a white dog who was working blind, and he also completed all the finds in nearly 4.5 mins before the handler called it. One WA but it did not cause issues for the competing dogs. The decoy was a white Velcro swatch placed on a white basket on the wall to the right of the start. Only one dog showed interest but dismissed well.
Beccy and Drift and Pam and Wilma both competed this area perfectly. Pam actually hit all the finds in order, working Wilma round the area as a perimeter with an interior article (just a bit of a big one!)
There were 2 WAs, one in the NGZ, with Wilma getting a bit over excited and knocking some stuff over, and one on a hanging item.

Exterior = 4 finds – 2.5 mins
This was a small outdoor area, very environmentally interesting to the dogs, but not really too much to search. Both white dogs went round in about 1.5 mins.
I felt putting 4 in this area was a challenge to ensure they had worked it all, the temptation might have been to stop having found the 3. 3 of the dogs hit the first fid in the area first – the others did recall to come back to the beginning… I think I was a bit kind giving 2.5 mins, maybe 2 would have challenged a bit more 😉
Clockwise round the area –
Find 1 – T – on a trug basket with some turf inside – 10 cm
Find 2 – C – on a pallet gate, about 40cm high
Find 3 – GO – in the corner of a door frame 30cm
Find 4 – T – the next door frame along in the wall next to 30 cm.
Everyone got every find nicely within the time. The decoy, a black Velcro swatch, was placed on the wall between find 1 and 2, I’m not sure I noticed any dogs showing interest.

Interior 2 = 3 finds, 3.5 mins
This was a barn with a horsebox and a 4 x 4 vehicle. This was again environmentally challenging as there as a lot of hay on the ground.
As people had done quite well, I decided to add a bit more of a challenge placing the 3 finds in a triangle formation towards the back of the area.
Again – clockwise round
Find 1 – C – in the tread of the tyre on the horsebox – floor find 4/6
Find 2 – T – in the hole of a ladder marking the perimeter of the area 50 cm– 4/6
Find 3 – GO – In the centre of a wheel propped up against the edge of the area – 30cm 6/6
This caused a few issues, the decoy, a bit of sock, was placed in the door frame of the 4×4, two dogs gave an indication on this. We also had one dog who thought it might be fun to mark on the hay, luckily the last dog and I think she was caught and stopped quick, but sadly had to give a small deduction.
3 dogs got all the finds, 2 calling within the time to get the area bonus.

Huge well done to Pam and Wilma, getting a perfect score and hitting almost all the finds in the order they were placed, a well deserved win.
There was some lovely searching today, Well done to Drift and Lyric on the first L8s and Q’ing. I was also impressed to see Jago coping well with such an environmental area with no peeing! I know this has been a concern and he did very well. Satch being so close to a perfect score, he did so good to ignore the balls in the first area! I was also really pleased to see Honey out and about having some fun today, sadly no Q but she has been looking so good, and for a nearly 12 year old rottie is really amazing – one of my all-time favourites – (Shh……. Don’t tell 😉 )