Thanks so much to Lisa Prynn for judging our Level 2 today and to Andrew for scribing. We were lucky with the weather, just a tiny bit of drizzle and not too much of a breeze. Huge well done to everyone for qualifying. A great win for Sue and Pepper, also gaining their Excellent Title.
I loved the fact that we had so many different breeds today – 4 collies, a Curly-coated Retriever, Standard Poodle, Sheltie, Cocker Spaniel, Irish Doodle and a Cavalier. It just goes to show that scentwork is great for any breed!

Judges Report

Thank you so much to Jackie for asking me to judge and to Andrew for being such an amazing scribe.

TCPI- I placed 2 large tables in the middle of the room with 2 chairs each side. There were 7 items along the left side and back wall. The finds were on left chair in front of the start area and on a toy car in the corner. Half the handlers worked on lead and half worked off lead. In general the dogs that were off lead were all much quicker (bar Iona who hasn’t done many trials but is really experienced). When dogs were on lead it was really interesting that a few handlers started by the right hand front chair walked around the table as far as chair 7 then turned around and walked the other way, completely missing the scented chair. Also if you choose to work the table and chairs on lead please be very careful how high you lift your arms, to stop your lead becoming tangled, so it doesn’t get mistaken for an indication, I would be much stricter on the higher levels. Special mention must be given to Pip and Maple who found both finds in 15 secs! 9/10 found both.

Exterior – I placed 10 items and put the finds in a crate near the start cones and on another crate on the right hand side. It was quite breezy and all the dogs did brilliantly. Most dogs were exactly on source which was very impressive. Also it was an exact 50:50 split with which find was found first. Also all the dogs were really quick the fastest at 15 seconds being Wendi and Ajax. Special mention must be given to Lynn and Tansy, little Tansy does not like walls and was very unhappy inside. She loved it outside and found both really speedily. 10/10 found both.

BBC’s – I used 5 boxes and 5 bags. The finds were put in the lip of a bag at the front on the left hand side and on a box at the back on the left hand side. I think the BBC’s is a tricky search but all the dogs did really well. Special mention must be given to Les and Zennor who gave a perfect indication on the box without touching it. There were some really speedy dogs today the fastest being Ann and Teddy in 19 seconds! All 10 found the Box (most dogs found this first) and 8/10 found both.

Wall – This consisted of a 10 metre fence on the left hand side and a 10 metre section of building wall on the right hand side. I placed a find approx 1 metre from the start on the fence approx 15cm up on a post and about 4 metres further on I placed a find on a window sill on the right hand side. This search didn’t really cause any problems but unfortunately some people got a bit stuck on the fence. It is important to remember at level 2 if a wall is used the finds must be more than 3 metres from each other. Louisa and Iona were amazing on this search and found both finds in 14 seconds! 8/10 found both.

Well done everyone you all qualified. I have seen you all before and every one had improved in some way. Super well done to everyone who was placed. The top 2 were very close but Sue and Pepper were brilliant not only getting 1st place but their Excellent as well.