Congratulations to all those who competed at Bronze and Silver yesterday at IABTC
Bronze
1st. Fiona & Isla 91
2nd. Jan & Flora 89
3rd. Wendy & Wren 87
4th. Jo & Gilbert 87
5th. Jane & Candy 86
6th. Rik & Poppy 81
Silver
1st. Jane & Candy 90
2nd. Harriett & Willow 89
3rd. Sam & Blue 84
4th. Wendy & Moby 81
5th. Jan & Flora 80
6th. Sue & Bella 74
This was the first trail held at IABTC in Doncaster, Bronze and Silver were run.
For the majority of entries it was their first time at a Scent Ops trial and nerves certainly crept in.
Bronze search area was inside a large dog training hall.
There was plenty of distracting smells and a display selling dog treats and toys that all dogs managed to ignore.
Both hides were placed on the perimeter which had tables and chairs all round as well as some drawers. One hide was placed on the radiator pipes (that was switched off) to the right near the start of the search, and the second was located on the opposite wall further towards the back of the room, slightly higher up on a drawer.
The middle had some tables and chairs and a wheelchair.
Most dogs were successful in finding both hides, but there was an obvious scent flow into the centre of room from the hide placed on the drawers as a lot of the dogs were picking up the odour in the same location on some chairs convincing some handlers it must be there and some incorrect alerts were called. It was lovely to watch the success of the dogs that did manage to work the odour to the source and how the handlers allowed the dogs to do so.
Silver search area was outdoors in a grassed fenced in area around 2 sides of the training hall. The area was slightly overgrown in places and with some small bushes/trees. The sun had got out at this point and it was fairly hot.
One hide was placed mid way on a plastic electric fence post that was to the left of the start of the search area in a corner with the building wall and a metal shed. A lot of dogs missed this first time round, partly due to handlers not tasking their dogs soon enough so the corner was missed. Most dogs managed to pick this up once they got to the end of the building wall and turned and came back working it beautifully back to source.
The second hide was placed on the ground among some branches and an old tree guard that grass had grown over so it wasn't obvious.
Handlers struggled a bit more with this area regarding a search pattern, and some dogs found the heat too much. But it was lovely to see handlers supporting their dogs and having a good time.
Well done everyone on your first trial and I hope to see you all back for more!
A nice introduction to Scent Ops for everyone.
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