Judges Reports - Level 2
"Bo Peep is a very dog friendly caravan site and an excellent venue for Draught Tests. It was another excellent weekend with a very high number of entries in all levels. There were 61 entries overall
with the majority staying the weekend.
There were 11 entries at this level of which 3 passed. A number of dogs completed a good control section but lost too many points due to the lack of change of pace and breaking the down stay which,
coupled with the usual unnecessary use of the lead, meant they were unable to progress to the pull section.
The change to slow pace is an element of the test which prepares entrants for the next level which includes slow, normal and fast pace. At least six of the entrants showed no pronounced change of pace
at all even when asked to circle the ring after the control section. This was not an outright fail but points were deducted which, when combined with other points lost during the control section, meant
the dogs not exhibiting a change of pace did not go onto the pull section.
The down stay also led to a number of dogs not progressing to the pull section. The number of points deducted for a dog breaking the down stay will be in the new regulations and therefore from next
year this will not be open to the judges' interpretation. I am aware that this has caused confusion for years and even at this event, the scoring was different on each day. My approach has always been
to deduct 5 points every time the dog breaks the down stay. This means that assuming no other points had been deducted the dog could be reset 3 times and still progress to the pull section. At the next
level, it is an immediate fail if the dog breaks the down stay so any dog that breaks the stay more than 3 times is definitely not ready for the next level in my view.
There were four dogs that progressed to the pull section of which 3 passed. The one that failed did one of the best control sections but lacked control throughout the manoeuvring and haul. This resulted
in a number of obstacles being hit and excessive use of the lead and steward. The three that passed were excellent working well as a team to tackle the obstacles. The course was reasonably challenging
for level 2 especially as due to the large entry it was dark during the final stages of the haul. Congratulations to the teams that passed who are more than ready to progress to the next level.
Thank you to my co judge Keith Leybourne, our call steward Ben Mercer and to all those who helped make the weekend so successful. A special thanks to Angie, Test Manager who did a fantastic job especially
given the high number of entries."
Kevin Mercer
"Report to follow"
Keith Leybourne
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