Belgians of all shapes and sizes flooded Slovenija during the second week of May. The World championship for Belgian Shepherds was held in Kočevje from the 9th to the 11th of May with competitions in IPO, mondioring, agility and a show. So Sambo and I migrated to Kočevje from Thursday, when we had agility trainings, to Sunday afternoon when the closing ceremony was held. The Slovene agility team was composed by Vista the Groen, Pia the Mali, Vinny the Mali, Dancer the Terv and the longhaired Batman and Robin, Sambo and his friend Pan. All six of us ran in the individual competition, whereas only Vista, Pia, Sambo and Pan ran also in the team competition.
Thursday beagn early, as same as the days to come. We came to Kočevje in the morning crush and some of the more diligent members were already preparing the obstacles. We set the course and the trainings began. First it was our turn to train, the Croatian team followed, and then the rest of the teams in alphabetical order. I have to say that after a whole day of watching the trainings of almost twenty teams I can now send a dog to the tunnel, to the weave poles, and yes, to hell too :) in a variety of languages. It was a long day and when I came home in the evening the only thing I could do is shower and sleep. A very good investment…
I greeted Friday's morning much too early for my taste; Gregor and I packed our things and Sambek into the pick-up and drove off to Kočevje. This day the real action began – we had to perform three runs, first two individual and then one team run. Surprisingly, or maybe not, I was considerably less nervous during the whole event than on our regular competitions (and you couldn't say I'm a nervous wreck there either), I actually wasn't nervous at all. The judges were Zlatko Gorjan and Mirja Lapanja and I can honestly say that I liked all of the courses, they were medium demanding and very fluent, so it was a real pleasure to run them. Our first run was also the first Slovene run, we were number 14 (out of cca 130 competitors) and thus were the first Slovenes to engage in the bloody fight for fame and honour (I'm only kidding, of course). Zlatko set a nice and interesting jumping which we ran very very well – except for the disqualification mistake, of course. One would think that at his age Sambo could already tell the difference between Left and Right and turn in accordance to it and I, well, I could be a bit less of a moron and not stick with my decision but moved the dog right if he really didn't agree with me. You can see the result on the clip. Around one in the afternoon we had our first agility run, where Sambo obviously couldn't decide wether to jump over the contact as usually, use a geriatric excuse to knock off a bar or surprise me with something completely new, a refusal for example. So he decided for all three options, what else. But since the jumped over contact was the first on the seesaw instead of the second on the dogwalk (which was done nicely) and since he's actually already a year or two over puberty and I contributed myself to the refusal with a less than perfect handling, I forgive him. On Friday we also had the team agility run, which we did very well. So well even that Sambek was the best dog from the Slovene team – Pia and Pan unfortunately got disqualified, Vista got 10 penalty points and Sambo with his standard jumped over second dogwalk contact 5 points. By doing that he ruined my optimistical plan that I designed during the walking of the course, so I didn't have time to do a turn at the end of the dogwalk and lead him past the obstacle nicely into the tunnel. On account of his own iniciative and perspective on doing the contacts on the dogwalk I had to change that plan slightly and improvise on the course to get him over the obstacle and into the right hole in the tunnel. Luckily I'm a good improviser in general, so here's our team agility.
Friday's night was more interesting because we decided to skip the migration from Kočevje to Ljubljana and back and camp on the scene itself. Despite the powerful sun and the high daily temperatures the night came with a surprising cold. But we survived that too and even though we camped on the scene where the event was held (20m from the agility course) we didn't sleep any longer than we would if we'd be sleeping in Ljubljana. Maybe the serenades of a pack of Pintzers in the car next to us had to do something with it, I have the feeling that the frisbee morning workout of some dogs by our tent at 7 am could also have contributed to that, not sure though. Anywho, this day started early too. Saturday was even more variegated than Friday as we had also the show ahead of us. So in the morning I took Sambo for a walk and then ran to the place where the show was supposed to be held. There was nobody and nothing there. I returned to our camp with the intention to eat breakfast and then go and check again. I wasn't that successful with that plan because they recruted me to help the Spanish agility team with some problems with the organizers. Then I found out that there was something actually going on at the show, the same time they were setting the last obstacles for the first Saturday run, so I knew it was going to be quite intense and I wouldn't have much time for everything.
From that point on the next hour and a half was really full of adrenaline; while I was taking my usual two minutes for Sambo's coat Gregor went to enter us to the show. The three of us ran to the show scene where we came just in time to cheer for our friends from Maribor, Olga and her Yar, and then it was our turn already. The judge was Myrjam Vermeire from Belgium and Sambo, being the only mature male (in champion class), got a nice description, an excellent, CAC and BOS (Best of Sex). The BOB went to a Russian female bred in Finland, Je M'Appele Ilona. There were 5 Groenendaels altogether. After our show I rushed to walk the agility course, ran through the obstacles three times and ran back to the show ring where I showed Navajo, a Terv from our Italian-Dutch friend Sandra. We got exc. 1 and CAC, after which I hurried back to the agility course. Gregor had already taken care of Sambo's warm up, so we just exchanged leashes and Sambo and I were already on the course. When we were done I took two minutes to cool both of us down and then – yes, you know it!, I returned to the show, where Navajo and I got also CACIB, BOB and BIS 3
But let's get back to agility – Saturday's jumping was far from being perfect, we did a really nice job (and fast too), but unfortunately a bar fell three jumps before the finish. But we still got (and deserved) a big aplause from the audience for a really nice run ;). The agility at noon was nice, but not as good as morning's jumping. We could have had a better time and besides the standard jumped over contact on the dogwalk Sambo managed to somehow miss the entrance to the weaves, which isn't exactly typical for his repertoire. But then again it would be too dull if he woud get on my nerves only with the dogwalk, right? So here's our Saturday agility. in the afternoon we had the Team jumping, perhaps our best run. Unfortunately we did this one with points too, I probably didn't show clearly enough the entrance to the tunnel so he ended up in between the two holes, but otherwise it was a very fluent, quite fast run, all in all, a run we can be proud of.
I think we did well in the 6 runs in 2 days so I'm more than pleased with our performances. All four pairs in the team did very well, especially Vista and Pan who fought for our honour also in the Sunday's finals and came in 12th and 19th. Slovenija did even better in the IPO competition, where a Slovene competitor and her Mali bitch even won. Go, Slovenija, go!
As far as the agility is concerned I can say that all expectations were fulfilled, however, the show fell short of my (and I think that also other's) expectations at least looking at the organization. Regardless, we had a good time at the show too, met a few old friends, made some new ones and at large, Kočevje will remain in my nicest memories for the wonderful atmosphere at the event, an atmosphere only becoming of a Belgian event. If everything goes well, we will be able to enjoy a great Belgian atmosphere next year in the Czech Republic too, hopefully competing in the agility and show again…
Until the next time
Urša
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