SCENT OPS BRONZE TRIAL BRECKENHILL

Sunday 12 January 2025

Judges: Lesley Clements and Elizabeth Mitchell

1st Laura Kirk and Munchie 89 points

2nd Antoinette Traynor and Tiggie 88 points

3rd Debbie Goligher and Stella 86 points

4th Louise Boomer and Charlie 78 points

5th Joanne Manson and Buddy 77.5 points

6th Karen Crawford and Tillie 77 points

Other qualifiers, some just narrowly missing on the ribbons, in no particular order were:

Andrea Neuhold and Silver

Carrie Haveron and Buzz

Eileen Toye and Buddy

Jemma Elliott and Arlo

Jillian Marshall and Edna

Sandra Haveron and Woody

It was a cold morning with ice and snow still lying in the yard. It was not windy. The search area was in a converted barn using the whole of a large room which is used for archery practice and is through an arch with curtains, but no doors or screen. The arch marked the start of the search area with two busy corner areas (with stacked chairs, stands for trestle tables, 3 metal arrow holders, a work bench/platform) to the left and right as the teams entered. At the back of the hall there were archery target boards on easels, plus the surrounding walls were ‘dressed’ with voile pooled curtains.

The only windows are at high level but there is a door, which was closed, to the outside at the far end of the room and a couple of internal doors which were also closed. Within the search area there were also a trestle table and chairs in the centre of the room and a step ladder along one of the periphery walls.

Both hides were accessible to all dogs. A threshold hide was placed on a work bench/platform between the top of one of the legs and the platform and the second hide was on a wall in a gap behind the skirting board.

Most handlers allowed their dogs to free search or started on a line and then freed the dog

for the rest of the search. Some handlers opted to keep the dog on a line for the whole search. Six teams worked with gun oil and seven with clove. 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.

All dogs located at least one hide. Seven dogs found both hides. 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 showing learning from their previous trial experience.

Well done everyone, lovely teamwork!

Thanks to Lynda Crozier for acting as runner and helping the morning to flow more smoothly.

SILVER LEVEL TRIAL BRECKENHILL SUN 12th JANUARY 2025

JUDGES REPORT

Judges: Laura Kirk and Patrice Kerrigan

The search area for silver consisted of a mainly rectangular shaped indoor room with a small seating and bar/kitchen area offset at the start of the search. There were several long trestle tables along the length of the room with a stone wall at the back alongside a large barrel and large foliage covered metal ring. This had the heavy based stand for it sitting just behind the ring. The seating area had 4 sofas which had chairs placed on them to prevent muddy paws on the seating along with some smaller wicker seats and 3 coffee tables.

An accessible hide was placed at the base of the heavy stand behind the foliage ring with most dogs either hitting on it the first time or on their 2nd pass. All found this hide with variable scores for the indication.

An inaccessible hide was placed between the wall and the back of one of the sofas at the right hand edge so odour was able to escape. A wicker chair was placed in front of the hide location which meant dogs would need to work either through the gaps in the chair or from underneath to get as close as possible to source. Judges observed variable changes of behaviour to the location with a couple of dogs and handlers being so close to calling the alert. More training and confidence building with inaccessible hides was the main feedback here acknowledging that this was the first time handlers had encountered this type of hide in a trial situation.

All dogs searched beautifully throughout so generally the dog scores where high. Congratulations to all who took part in the first silver trial in Northern Ireland!

Results as follows:

1st Lesley Clements and Tejo

2nd Jillian Marshall and Humphrey

3rd Antoinette Traynor and Buddy

4th Eileen Toye and Buddy

5th Christine Murphy and Milo

6th Debbie Goligher and Holly

Also taking part and in no particular order were:

Linda Storey and Inca

Ronnie McAleese and Flora

Karen Crawford and Tillie