FMBB 2008

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

This year's show season for Sambo began in May. I knew that after half a year I would have a big case of delirium tremens due to the show abstinence (our last show was Belgium in November), so I decided (around new year) to enter Sambo to the international show in Klagenfurt in May. Why not sooner? Because I worked on every single show this year, earning money for dog kibble, and there were no shows nearby with judges that would convince me (in order to meet my criteria the judge would have to have at least one live encounter with a BSD in his/her life). So when I saw that there was a show in Klagenfurt this year for the first time my alarm bell started to ring and when I saw that the judge was Štefan Šinko I definitely decided to go. Klagenfurt isn't far from Ljubljana, Šinko is a good judge and we'll probably have some competition too…

So on Sunday, May fourth, the standard team Živa & Uroš & Klark & Leia (ok, she's not a traditional member yet, but she will be) and Urša & Gregor & Sambo packed ourselves into the car and drove off, heading in search for new adventures. The showing ground was nice and quite big, we could smell the stands with reserve animal parts (Sambo's favourite being piggy noses and cow tongues) from a distance and the rings were medium big and with a very good carpet to run on – yep, we were definitely in Austria. I saw that it would soon be our turn so I dedicated the usual 1,7 minutes for Sambo's hairstyle. After the makeover we saw that we had still some minutes left, so Sambo and I went outside the hall and made good use of the green area outside. Nobody was outside, so I let him run off leash, we played and clicked for two minutes and thus returned to the hall with our spirits high. We entered the ring and Sambo was, as usually, floating in air, hopping around me and giving big smiles to anyone that would look at him. We were alone in the Champion class, presented ourselves well and got the CAC title. In a few minutes we returned to fight for the CACIB with the nice Austrian groen I met in April in the show in Celje, won the fight fair and square and got also the BOB. We happily returned to our camp and went to see what's going on with the Swissies. The answer was – nothing. And it satyed like that for a while. So we went to have a look around with Chuna the Kelpie and her human escort and came back just in time to cheer for Slovene Swissies Nuba and Klark that won both CACIBs and the BOB in an exclusively Austrian competition too.

We rewarded ourselves by setting out on a hunt for muzzles, tongues and… well, other animal parts and then let the dogs play in the almost empty hall whle waiting for the BIS. The judge for the shepherd group in the BIS was the Austrian judge Erwin Deutscher. The Black Death apparently charmed him too since Mr. Deutscher placed him among the best 9 dogs from the first FCI group, but this is as far as we got this time. Still, we had a wonderful time, made friends with the handler of the Czech wolfdog in the ring and entertained the audience with a few tricks while waiting (cause Sambo figured that he had to do something else other than simply stand for that last piece of treat I had left, so he tried with giving a bow, making a totem, and…). All in all, we left Austria in a very good mood and with nice memories of the show, and, of course, with a car that smelled like a pet cemetery. A big sack containing 100 piggy ears sat onto my head in every left turn, and on right turns this pleasure belonged to Gregor. Oh well, at least we weren't hungry :).

Neca and Nuba



Uroš and Klark







Running...

Evolution

A quick course or Evolution in a day. At the beginning there was

Homo sapiens. Today I watched the clips of Skinner and his pigeons for an inspiration before the agility training and an easier dealing with the eventual clumsiness of the students with the rewarding and marking the (good and bad) behaviours of their dogs. Skinner was a wise man.

Homo erectus. What can I do, even years of experience don't guarantee a correct functioning. Today I forgot that despite of my not exactly magnificent hight my head still reaches higher than the frame of the kennel door. I think that the stroke hurt even the neighbour that was crossing his backyard and waving hello...

Homo habilis. Ok, I can't hold it against them, after all - they're beginners, but I'd still like to know if there's a person that in the first few months of his or her agility training gets the direction of the turns right in at least 25% of the cases. I also admit them the aggravating circumstance that besides all the standard components (where's the dog, where are they, where's the obstacle, where are they heading) they also have to think about where's the mud patch where half of their classmates lost their fight with the laws of rotation and gravity and met the ground and the half that's left will face that soon. Anyhow, I have to admit that it's fun watching :), and I also know that they'll get better, we all know that practice makes perfect.

Homo moronis. I think that it happens with most people that their physical, cognitive and morally-social skills decrease towards the end of the day. But I still didn't expect such a decline from early in the morning to the evening. We went for a walk, 2 girls + 2 off leash dogs. We finished our round, chatted and ran around and for the end we got a special treat. Since I'm always on the lookout I sensed that there were two bikers approaching from behind. Both dogs were on the grass and the two of us were on the margin of the path, but we still called the dogs so that they wouldn't think of crossing the path right in the wrong moment. Subject A passes by, but subject B yells at us 'Two off leash dogs, and without a muzzle on them!' I answered, with a smile, that he doesn't have one either (and added in my mind that he could obviously use one more). Subject B, who was already past us, turned back, roared that he's also a hunter and that he could come and shoot both the dogs and the two of us (the fact that he almost ran over some of the passers-by since he was still driving forward while looking back at our 'threat to the surroundings' dogs is unimportant). He could, he could indeed. Just like I could remove his testicles in many inovative ways, but that doesn't mean it's legal (yeah, I know, I was disappointed too when I found out…).

Anyways, I sometimes think that the more progress we make with technological advances, the more we recede in evolution. But I didn't think that I would experience such a reverse proportion in a single day. And I'm not going to bed earlier than in a few hours, who knows how will this day end… I only hope that tomorrow I wake up with all my fingers and two opposable thumbs. Since I'm an optimist – type you later!

Twosome's good, threesome's the best!

Yesterday we finally managed to get a friend for our joint running adventures. The last few weeks the weather has been truly awful (my hip didn't contribute to my well-being either), so I could go running only once a week and my will to run fell in accordance to the decrease of the frequency. So when Sambek saw me getting dressed into my running gear his smile went not only from ear to ear but all around his head and he couldn't believe that we're really going running, and in a threesome way! Maybe he was a bit bewildered because once for a change the running adventure we were setting on wasn't of the vampire kind; you have to know that we usually go running late in the evening when it's (almost) dark outside and yesterday we went out in broad daylight. Having said that, there were many more people running and walking than we're used to. I even had a leash with me, just in case, but I used it only once, on the encounter with two girls with three dogs. We were approaching each other and when they saw us one of the girls started reaching out hastily to grab one of the dogs. I threw Sambo a lasso around his neck and passed by when one of the other two dogs placed himself in the middle of the path, his tail wagging. At that moment I remembered having met this group a few times before, so I let Sambo go and the scenario went like usually – he wagged his tail, the bitchy little bitch snapped at him a bit and we went our separate ways.

For a change we also met some dogs that were on leash even before we met. My best dog in the whole world dedicated a raised tail and a 3 metre bypass to a Bullmastiff; to the rest of the dogs, that had a less perilous look, he didn't dedicate neither a glance nor a single raised hair, he simply sailed by them with an unchanged tempo as if they didn't exist. It's nice to have a good dog :).

Singing in the rain

I have to say that this year April's weather was reaččy April-like after a long time. The last 2, 3 years we rarely had to cancel our training because of the rain (but we had to do so in June, July, September…), but this year April was true to itself and served us a great ammount of it already.

I had to cancel two trainings so far – and I rather don't even count how many mud-baths and prolonged braking distances we had on our soaked training place. At least I make good use of the bad weather and teach Sambo stuff and do some studying myself. One exam down, erm, well, 'n' to go (but it still feels good), and Sambo is mastering two new tricks.

During the week we go for walks, herd our friend Klark, click and the weekends are doggie style, what else. Gregor and I seized the opportunity and went to an exotic animal expo one weekend in April, where we made friends with a 3 m long python. One weekend we went for a short hike to the mountains and last weekend was really doggie style as there was an international show in Celje. There I worked as a ring steward the first day and showed my friend's Dobermann the second day. And again after a bunch of dogs I petted I returned to the most beautiful of all :).

The Black Death is feeling like a million bucks, the ants are flying off his pants and once again he's spending more time in the air than on the ground as he spends most of his waking hours skipping around like spring bucks, the gazelles that show off in front of the lions with spectacular jumps. Most of the time the thing is quite amusing, but the other day I didn't feel like smiling at all for a moment cause the little monster dedicated me a biiiiiiig smile 'up, close and personal' – he ran past me and thought it was a good idea if he made me a nice display of his smile right by my face, so that his teeth snapped a cm or two from my left cheek. I wonder what would the lions' reaction be if the spring bucks would start showing their teeth besides prancing around them…

New guidelines

Metrosexuality is a fassion guideline that embarks an increasingly bigger part of the human population. Now it's spreading to dogs too. A few days ago I noticed that Sambo's wooly undercoat began separating from the overcoat. His coat doesn't come off him by itself, but the grey coat in the middle of his otherwise shiny black coat bothers me so much that I decided to brush him to get the dead wool out (I know, I'm getting worse, it's only been two months since I've last brushed him…). But considering the fact that brushing his coat represents a reciprocal torture and cause I was already disappointed in myself since I was preparing to engage in such an unnecessary activity (to me) such as brushing my dog, I decided to go one step further and make things at least a bit easier for both of us. So I went to get my hair conditioner and sprayed him on the critical areas, rubbing the conditioner into his coat. After a few minutes I started to brush him and I have to admit that the conditioner was a wonderful idea. Those 8,5 minutes were noticeably less stressful and yapping from both sides than usually, so conditioner with shea oil – two thumbs up! And so it was that besides all other not exactly manly nicknames Sambo became a metrosexual too…

Spring pleasures

We took the opportunity a nice, sunny Sunday was offering and went to Kurešček for a walk. We expected to find some last remains of this year's snow, but we did not expect to trudge through snow for half an hour, realize this was too much, turn back and enjoyed the sun in the meadow. Yesterday was the first time this year I got back on the horse (or better said – mare). Except for some adrenalin, well known rodeo elements the ride was very pleasant, but my aching muscles today aren't that pleasant. Nevertheless, yesterday was great and I hope that Sambo and I can start getting around regularly on 10 feet again.

Is it a bird? No!



Is it a plane? No!



It's Sambo! :)





We practiced for the filming of Karate Kid again...



And for the Olympic games :)