Breckenhill 9th March

Judge: Lesley Clements

1st Margaret Thompson and Alfie 79 points

2nd Jemma Elliott and Arlo 77 points

3rd Carrie Haveron and Buzz 76 points

4th Sandra Haveron and Woody 74 points

5th Joanne Cairns and Puck 73.5 points

6th Julia Patterson and Jasmine 73 points

Also taking part and in no particular order were:

Antoinette Traynor and Sonny

Eileen Toye and Buddy

Louise Boomer and Sally

Andrea Neuhold and Rolo

Anna Pickering and Finn

Joanne Maybin and Daisy

The club trial took place in the upstairs room of a converted barn. I divided part of the room down the middle using some tables, (the side of these were included in the search), to create an 'L' shaped search area. There was a table with 2 chairs placed against the wall near the start, a couple of unplugged heaters, and a PA system in the larger open area. The perimeter wall had 2 deep windowsills inset plus a fire exit doorway.

The hide was located just to the right off the fire exit door, towards the corner of room, hidden where the skirting board meets the wall. Most of the teams set off in an anticlockwise direction, working the perimeter wall around, they picked up the odour pool and worked the odour in beautifully to source.

Those teams that set off in the opposite direction passed over the location, before knocking the odour, and working back to source. Unfortunately, a few teams cut across the corner, drawn into searching the pa system in the open spaced area, and failed to pick up the odour.

Lovely combination of on line and free searching from the teams. I really enjoyed judging this trial.

Judge: Lesley Clements

1st Joanne Maybin and Kim 81 points

2nd Andrea Neuhold nd Silver 81 points

3rd Jillian Marshall and Edna 80 points

4th Jemma Elliott and Arlo 77 points

5th Amanda Lattimer and Thelma 76 points

6th Debbie Goligher and Stella 75 points

Also taking part and in no particular order were:

Julia Patterson and Jasmine

Nicky Rodgers and Kaboo

Antoinette Traynor and Tiggie

Margaret Thompson and Alfie

Eileen Toye and Buddy

Karen Crawford and Tillie

Tania Carron and Forest

A beautiful sunny spring morning with little to no breeze.

The search area was in a converted barn using a large area which is used for rustic wedding receptions during the summer months. The area had been set up with random coffee tables and assorted chairs. The back of the room had archery targets on large stands as the room is sometimes used for practice. Some work had obviously been carried out on the lights and a step ladder remained in situ by the side of the wall.

The only windows are at high level but there is an external fire door, which was closed, to the outside at the far end of the room. The roof is high, domed and not insulated. The floor is wooden. The general area was quite cold despite the warmth of the sun outside.

Both hides were accessible to all dogs. A threshold hide was placed on the step ladders underneath the second step and the second hide was on one of the legs of the archery targets at a low level.

Most teams worked on gun oil with only two on clove. The gun oil hide on the archery target

was heavily influenced by the fire door and it was interesting how many dogs picked up the odour from that area and how handlers became fixated by the door as their dogs showed lots of interest. Stepping back, allowing the dog to drop their head and track the odour back along the floor to source proved the most successful strategy.

There was a mixture of free searching with some handlers opting to keep the dog on a line for the whole search. Some handlers showed evidence of having a clear plan for the search which contributed to their success. The use of an overlap at the start of the search served some teams extremely well in allowing them to pick up the threshold hide quickly. Unfortunately, some handlers got sucked in to a tables and chairs search where there was no hide.

Most dogs located at least one hide. All teams worked really well and for several it was their first attempt at the Bronze level. It was nice to see teams that had competed in Bronze showing learning from their previous trial experience.

Well done everyone, lovely teamwork!

Judge: Patrice Kerrigan and Antoinette Traynor

1st Jilliian Marshall and Humphrey 82 points

2nd Debbie Goligher and Holly 75 points

3rd Lesley Clements and Tejo 72 points

4th Ronnie McAleese and Flora 67 points

5th Nicky Rodgers and Bobbi 64 points

6th Andrea Neuhold and Silver 61 points

Also taking part and in no particular order were:

Eileen Toye and Buddy

Tania Carron and Forest

Joanne Maybin and Cailie

Karen Crawford and Tillie

The Silver search was outdoors comprising a paved picnic area, raised patio area with a raised flower bed around two edges and beech hedging to the other two edges. Running parallel to this was a narrow gravel path with a low flower bed to one side and box hedging to the other side. As the path veered left for about another 4m there was a wooden gate facing the handler and dog.

There were ten teams with some having their first go at Silver. For most it was only their second time. All worked on gun oil.

One of the hides was located behind a small stone at the edge of the flowerbed in the raised patio area. Most of the teams were able to find the hide, although quite a few missed it in their first pass but caught it on their second pass with some nice head knocks.

The second hide was on the latch of the wooden gate (about one metre off the ground). None of the teams found this one.

Some teams actually managed to bypass most of that corner leaving the gate virtually unsearched. One dog showed a little interest initially but it the handler wasn’t convinced and the dog failed to commit so the team moved on. Two other dogs showed a definite interest in the gate but were not able to source the odour within the time.

A definite learning curve! Well done to all competitors!