Thank you so much to Lisa Prynn for judging our Level 5 today, to Andrew for scribing and Terry keeping everyone in order on a very tight schedule today! Many congratulations to everyone on their results, especially to Margaret and Gypsy Minstrel for their win, Liz and Poppy for 2nd place, Sue and Phoenix for 3rd and Hilary and Rosie for 4th.

Judges Report

Thank you so much to Jackie for asking me to judge the level 5 today at Stithians and to Andrew for being such an amazing scribe. Also thanks to Jackie and Carrick for white dogging duties.

Interior 1. I used the whole main hall of the village hall. I had also placed a stack of 2 chairs in the middle . Along the wall on the left hand side I placed a small table. On the long wall opposite the start area was a door to toilets. I then put another reward area by a hole that had been scented up a few weeks ago and when it was white dogged clear Carrick had indicated – so I took this out of the area by creating the reward zone. There was then a door to a large store cupboard which was set back in a recess. Another door which led to another room and right in the far corner another door which led to the same room. On the far right wall I had placed one chair with a pair of trainers on the floor by the chair. On the right hand wall I had placed a chair with a pair of sandals on the floor by the chair and about about 4 metres further on I placed another chair with a pair of boots on the floor by the the chair. There were 6 finds in total and for this I allowed 6 minutes. The first find was on the back left table leg of the table about 40 cm high(C). 7/9 found this. Next find was on the left hand side of the door frame that led to the toilet about 20 cm high( GO), this proved the trickiest hide which was not my intention when I set it and 2/9 found this. Another hide was put on the left hand side door frame that led to the store cupboard about 30 cm high(C), this was a tricky hide because you needed to make sure you pushed your dog in to search the recess however 7/9 found this. The next find was put at the bottom of the far door on the left hand side (C) 8/9 found this. The next find was put in the right hand trainer(GO) and 9/9 found this! The last find was at the top of the right hand boot (GO) 8/9 found this. Special mention to Sue and Phoenix and Margaret and Gypsy who found all 6! Gypsy tracking back to the find by the store cupboard was lovely to see and very impressive.

Exterior. I used a picnic area outside the hall. Which has a step down onto artificial grass. To the left hand side there were some stones that form part of a wall a small wall to the left, a building wall with window sill in front and a raised patio area with a couple of picnic benches and a raised table on the right. I had also placed a stack of crates on the artificial grass. There were 4 finds and I had allowed 4 1/2 minutes for this because the area was not huge but there was a lot to search. The first find was in the stones on the left hand side (C) 9/9 found this. I then left most the area blank and the next find was under the seat of the large bench (C) 9/9 found this. The next find was under the seat of the small bench (C) 9/9 found this. The last find was in the on the bottom of the crates (GO) 7/9 found this. I must give special mention to Denise and Cookie who were amazing and found all 4 finds in a super speedy time of 1 minute 36 secs!

Interior 2. I used 3/4 of the small entrance foyer . This consisted of a mobile bookcase, an artificial plant, a toilet door in front were double doors one was shut and this led to another small foyer with a door to a storage cupboard, another door to a room a few railings, a large electric battery pack on the wall and a fire extinguisher. There were also 3 steps down but this wasn’t part of the area. I placed 2 finds in here and allowed 2 minutes. The first find was in the seem of the closed double door about 8cm high(GO) placed the 2nd foyer side. 8/9 found this. The 2nd find was in the door frame of the store cupboard about 15cm up on the left hand side 8/9 found this. Special mention must go to Hilary and Rosie.. Rosie picked the scent of the find in the seem of the double door from the 1st foyer side and it was so impressive watching her track the door around to the find so she could get exactly on source.

Everyone did so well today you should all be super proud. I must say I was very impressed with the dog’s overall sniffing stamina. It is a big step up from 2 finds per area at level 4 to multiple finds per area at level 5. On that note I must say congratulations to Liz and Poppy who came 2nd at their first ever level 5 trial. Huge congratulations to the overall winner Margaret and Gypsy with a perfect score and 12/12 finds.