On the 6th of May at the ŠKD Mirna will be held the Mirna Skyhoundz 2012 European World Championship Qualifier, Slovenia. The judges are: Diego Marchetti (Ita),Jozsef Arkosi (Hun),Aleš Colja (Slo) and Aleš Horvat (Slo). competitions: Freestyle novice Freestyle youth Freestyle micro dog Freestyle open expert Freestyle pairs Distance novice Distance open expert + no qualifier 4fun disciplines Dogdartbee Time trial
From the 18 to the 22nd of April in Germany was held the FCI IPO world championship for tracking dogs , here are the results.The competition was held in Velten, the green city north, not far from Berlin and was organized by the FCI, VDH, SGSV and the dogsportclub Velten e.V. . The judges were Urs Meyer (SWI) as the supervisor , Judge group A Juan José Pérez López (SPA) ,Judge group B Aad Broekhuizen (NED).
This month you will discover a special interview...something different from the others interview...An interview with a Microsoft Excel “master“ Charles Shultz. Chuck is a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer and the author of the Rally Obedience course map design program . An excel program that will be used for Rally-O judges for designing the courses. He's from the USA and he's involved in Obedience , tracking and Rally Obedience .Read this special interview :D
Can you introduce yourself and tell a little bit about your background? I live in central New Jersey, USA. I've owned Labrador Retrievers since 1990, when I started Obedience training. I began Tracking in 2003 and have been breeding since 2005. I've titled my Labs in Tracking, Obedience and Rally in both the USA and Canada. I have Engineering degrees from Penn State and Stanford Universities and I am a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD).
Tell as about your start in Rally Obedience Back in 2002, I got my first Rally title. I thought the concept was great-a very interesting variation on what we already were doing in Obedience. At my first Rally trial (offered by the APDT here in the U.S.), the map I was handed by the judge was just horrible. Hand-drawn and barely readable. As I went to more trials, the maps improved. But right away, I knew that this had to change. Not only was it unfair to make the competitors try to read illegible course maps, but there was no way a judge could look at their map and be sure they didn't miss a rule about course set-up.
From where comes the idea of creating Rally-O courses map in Excel? I had done a lot of work with Microsoft Excel, so around 2003, I put together an Excel program that did a pretty good job at creating course maps, along with score sheets. It used the AKC 2001 rules and signs. It even created VRML files that would allow someone to take a "virtual walkthrough" of their course. Then 2005 came along and the AKC changed some of the signs and rules. At that point, I got emails from people asking me if I was going to update Excel to work with the new signs. And the same thing happened in 2008. When it happened again in of 2012, I knew I had to fix the whole mess. Each time the rules or signs changed, it was too much work to update and test the program. Plus, I was only able to program one registry/one set of rules at a time. A couple of other people created Windows programs for building AKC rally courses and they ran into exactly the same problems. Others used Microsoft WORD or PowerPoint, which was fine for drawing the course map, but it couldn't automatically create a list of signs.
So at the beginning of 2012, I wrote down the data elements I thought were needed by the Excel program to understand a set of Rally rules and signs. I had worked with XML files - they allow you to organize and store data-and I knew they would be the right approach to solving this problem. So, I created a file format - I call them Rally Rule Set, or RRS files - and I documented that at www.sinisterlabs.com/rally_rule_set_definitions.html . I then set out to create an RRS file for the AKC 2012 rules. Right now, there are a handful of RRS files, located on www.sinisterlabs.com/rally_o_resources.php along with the signs for those registries and Excel files. With the help of some others, we've got signs for a few more registries and I'll soon be working on RRS files for those.
And the beauty of this approach is that just about any programming language supports XML. That means that anybody can build a course design program using these RRS files. Programs are needed for the Mac and for mobile devices like the iPad and Android. I am making the RRS files available to anyone who wants to build with them. I also created an XML format for saving a course that's been created. If each of these programs adhere to that standard, then it would be possible to create a course on a PC and email it to a Mac or an Android, or whatever. That's where we need to be.
What state is this development in? I've never trained in agility, but I "think" the Excel program could be made to create agility courses, too. The signs would be much different than in Rally, but since the program can read in any set of signs, that shouldn't be a problem.
Meanwhile, the Excel program is not quite done yet. There are a few more features to add and plenty of software bugs to find. Even so, it should be possible to build AKC 2012 courses right now. Right now, there are only English-speaking registries involved. But, I'd like to recruit all registries that offer Rally, so I've been thinking about how to make the text that you see on the worksheets and the pop-up forms change to another language. I can do that with a web form. Allow someone to enter translated text, press a few buttons, then your Excel course builder works in your language. Something like that will take a while, but it certainly is a possibility.
what I must do If I want to use this program? Anyone who is interested in this topic can join our Yahoo list at pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Rally-Course-Design-Excel/ . If you are an official at a registry, a judge, an instructor or even a competitor and you'd like to help create a version of this Excel program that works with your set of rules and signs, you probably want to join this group, There, we also talk about features we'd like to see in the program and problems we find in the programming or the RRS files. It's an English-speaking list and it would help if your registry has a rule book in English.
What's your vision of Rally-0? Here's my vision of Rally in the not-so-distant future: I show up to a Rally trial and I set up my chair and supplies, then I crate my Labrador Retriever. I sit down and pull out my mobile device - a full-sized, touch-screen tablet. I press a buton to check in with the stewards, then I watch an early class for a while. A half hour before my walk-through, my device tells me that my track map is available. So, I bring that up and I start looking it over. I might play a slide show of all the signs. I might look up an exercise description or maybe a rule. Then, I decide to watch an avatar and his dog walk through this course. That clarifies how to do a couple of the exercises, so my Lab and I go off to practice.
As we stand outside the ring waiting for our turn to go in, the steward scans my ID pin (something that replaced arm bands a while back) and the microchip in my dog. As I enter the ring, the jump heights are automatically adjusted for my dog. I see the judge is using a similar hand-held mobile device to score the event. We make our run and the score appears on the big screen above us. I don't see it, but all of this info-our score and our IDs- are sent to the registry, who verifies that this qualifying run completes our title. When it comes time to pin the class, titles are presented right along with the placement ribbons and other prizes.
From the 18th to the 20th of May at the Equestrian Centre De Warre in Belgium will be held the WAO 2012. The second edition of this new Agility World Championship.
The International Dobermann Club organize the 17th IDC World Cup on the 26th and 27th May . The event will be held in Hungary.This will be the 17th World Championship of the IDC .The event will be organized by the Hungarian Dobermann Klub and will be held in Budapest-Halásztelek .The IDC WC is dedicated only for the IPO discipline. The judges are selected and are: for the tracking Leif Harder from Denmark. The Obedience judge will be the German Wolfgang Hecker and for the Protection the Italian Silvia Marocchi.
Our Friends Dog Rescue, Romania CRISIS APPEAL TO SAVE OUR DOGS FROM THE KILLING POUND
Our Friends Dog Rescue, 'Prietenii Nostri' is in Slatina, Romania. The shelter was founded in 2005 by Teodroa Ristea and her daughter Gratiela. They have fought against a climate of total indifference to ensure they save as many dogs as possible.All of the dogs at the shelter have been rescued from the Kill Pound, the streets, the dog catchers and from abusive situations. We also operate a spay and release programme for stray and owned dogs, an animal therapy programme for children with special needs and an education programme within local schools to promote animal welfare.All of the dogs in our care are neutered, vaccinated, fed daily and have veterniary treatment when it is required. Sadly, in February 2012 Teodora Ristea died in tragic circumstances. Teodora was the most amazing lady with the biggest heart, she cared so much about everybody and her beloved dogs. She had so little, gave so much and saved so many - this has to be her legacy.The Mayor owns theland that Our Friends is currently built on. Heâ??s cut the water and electricitysupplies off and wants us off the land ASAP. He has the power to kill our dogsoutright if he wants. We cannot evenbegin to imagine this. We are in urgent needto move the dogs to new land by June 2012. If we fail to do this the DogCatchers will enter our shelter and kill the dogs by rounding them up with anoose. Humane euthanasia is not anoption as the dogs would be transferred to the public killing pound. Here theywill have no food, water or comfort of any kind, this leads to many fights andultimately the slow, painful death of the dogs. The dogs that resist being caught willbe bludgeoned to death or drenched in water and taken to the electric fence. Ihave visited the Killing Pound which was absolutely heart-breaking. I alsofound a dog eating her own dead puppies. We canâ??t save all the dogs, we donâ??thave the capacity or money to but to see sad eyes stare at you as their onlychance of survival and have to walk away is terrible. We are now facing theharsh reality that this could happen to our dogs. I will not show you a videoof the dog catchers or killing pound as it is highly distressing. Please watchthe short video clips of some of the dogs that we filmed last week
Can you really watch these videos, looking at those beautiful dogs and ignore them? If you choose to ignore them you are contributing to their death sentence.We would be extremely grateful if people can please consider a small contribution to help our dogs. The smallest of donations will make the biggest difference to the lives of so many. Please help us to save them. They need YOU now more than ever.Please visit our website www.prieteniinostri.com and/or our Facebook group
On the 21st and 22nd of april was held the Skyhoundz "Classic" World Championship Qualifier 2012 at the Vecsés Dog Center/Vecsési Kutyaiskola ,Hungary. Here are the results , photo gallery and videos.
name: Chris Jolink sport: Disc Dog country: Netherlands www.canipicture.nl
Top 5 movies? I don’t think I have an absolute top 5. Plenty of favorites though. Lord of the Rings trilogy for sure. Harry Potter too. Other films I like are ‘The Pianist’, ‘The Shining’, ‘The Green Mile’, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, ‘Forrest Gump’, ‘Scarface’ and ‘Bridge to Terabithia’. And a lot more, but it wouldn’t fit top 5 anymore ;)
Last thing that you do before you go to bed Wishing others a good night
The last thing you did that made you happy Cuddling my dogs
Are you a vegan? No. My dogs are carnivores and I feed them meat. I’d feel hypocritical if I would be a vegan.
Last time you took a train / where? Today, home. I travel 4 hours a day by train, between home and university.
video USDDN EC2009 Verden/Germany Chris Jolink & Makani 2.Kür by BorderWG
Here you have the results and videos of the 1st round of the JAHRESMEISTER/ CHAMPION 2012 that was held at the ÖGV Felixdorf in Austria on the 14th and 15th April 2012. The 2nd round will be held at the SVÖ Pinkafeld-Nord
On the 28th and 29th of April you can join the canicross event at the Braceland Adventure Centre, in Christchurch, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire . Categories: canicross, bikejoring,scooter
On the 13th and 14th of October you can join the CSJ CanineMax Dog Games 2012 CSJ CanineMax will cater for all dog sports.The events will be held at the Cirencester Park in GLOUCESTERSHIRE ,UK
DOG SPORTS: - AGILITY - CANIX - CANIX HALF MARATHON - DISC DOG - FLYBALL - HEELWORK TO MUSIC - OBEDIENCE - SHEEPDOG TRIALS - TREIBBALL - WORKING TRIALS and many more sports....
On the 21st of April the ŠKD Krim have organized an agility competition in Ljubljana, valid for the European Open Qualifications and for the Agility Slovenian Cup. Here you have the results and videos
This month the PRO that I have interviewed is an amazing trainer and handler from Slovakia , now she lives in Belgium. Helena Potfajova is an animal physiotherapist and with Geert (the husband) they have the Tanaina Lika , a vet. practise and fysiotherapy ,specialised in sportdogs and horses . Helena dog sport carrer starts in the year 2000 . Today after 12 years she the winner of the Crufts Large International 2012 .At the Crufts 2012 she also finished 9th at the International Freestyle championship. In her sport carrer she was present many times at the Agility World Championships , European Open and many more high level competition. A very powerful person. Read this superb interview!
Helena and the warm up questions...
Do you smoke ? no
Have you ever tried Kiteboarding? no
What do you think : Is there a time limit on fortune cookie predictions? Everybody is responsible for his own fortune. Some cookie prediction should not be something that mess it up.
The Interview... Could you tell our readers a little about yourself I come from Slovakia, now I live already 4 years in Belgium. I work as a sport vet and animal physiotherapist. We live together with 9 dogs, but not all of them are active in agility sport. We have 5 border collies, 1 mixbreed, 2 smooth fox terriers and 1 golden retriever. Tell me a little bit about your start in dog sports? It started very innocent with buying a border collie. He needed to be busy, I was interested in agility sport, and slowly my interest grew over to addiction, I took another dog, and than one more, and one more... Of course they all needed to by busy and I could not stop sporting with them. I also never thought about to do so, there is nothing so nice as a tired dog sleeping in front of the fireplace.
Do you remember your first agility competition? Ooh yes, it was in the summer 2001. Fortunately I had a great dog to run with, my great Benny. He was than just 15 months old, of course we did not win, but later on I did participate on many AWCs and other big events with him. He was active in sport until his 10, now he is retired and enjoying being old.
At the 2012 CRUFTS you won the Agility International Championship with Eggoray and finished 9th in the International Freestyle championship with DJ Te Pito O Te Henua . What's the first thing that comes to your mind thinking about this event? It went so smoothly. I was in good mood, dogs were relaxed and listening, there was nothing that could bring me out of my balance. Easy bussines, nothing to worry about. This is it, this is what you need, if you want to win.
The most beautiful and the worst competition ever made ? The one that I will never forget is the AWC 2005 in Spain, I was than alone there to represent Slovakia. The atmosphere was so great, unforgetable. I think this gave me a big push in my sport carrier. And the worst one? Did not happen yet. My nightmare is that my dog will get serious injured on the course.
Who was behind you at the beginning? My parents of course. They have bought our first dog, they helped me to feed him, they were bringing me to the trainings and supported me on the competitions. Who is behind you nowadays? Absolutely my husband Geert. Thanks to him I started to train the dogs in much more possitive way than I did before. He teached me how to use clicker in the training and also to be patient ant take it easy if something is not going good in the training. He supports me in the trainings and on the competitions.
You are competitive in agility and dog dance and both in high level competition . How much time you devote to training during the week? Describe your typical training day? I don´t train with my dogs that much as people would think. With Egor I spend maybe 2 times 30 minutes in te whole week on the agility course, sometimes even not that, depends how busy I´m at work. With DJ in dog dance it is even less. Important is to keep the dogs fit and relaxed and to create a trusful relationship with them. My typical training day doesn´t exist. Becouse of my job, I never know what I will have to face that day and how much free time I will have. Every morning I take a good walk with the dogs and then we see what the day brings.
In what does you have focused more in training during the 2011, in what does you have given more importance? I was mostly focused on growing up my new puppy, the doughter of our Egorray. With himself it was mostly condition and muscle training and on the course just repetition of the basics, as 2011 was for him the first season to run after his cruciate ligament injury.
You are active in dog sports for over 10 years , how much has changed your way of view during the competitions from the early years to nowadays? Of course I made lot of experience during these years. I actively worked with about 12 dogs of all ages and breeds, I followed lots of workshops and trainings, I gave hours and hours of lessons and seminars. I learned how to comunicate with dogs, how to read their mind, how to teach them new things and how to keep them motivated and concentrated. Now, more I know about dog behaviour and dog training, more I realise how much I still don´t know... What I try to do is to craete comfortabe surrounding for he dogs, respect their needs and understand their wills, Create a trustful relationship so we can go through the life together.
Plans for the future? I have some dreams and ideas, but as we don´t know what tomorrow brings, my only real plan is to be happy and make people arround me at least as happy as I am.
Do you think that a good pair of running shoes can do a bit of difference during a run? Your shoes are very important when you are running. If they don´t fit, if they are to heavy, if they slip over the groud, you cannot move smoothly, you cannot concentrate on your handling, you cannot give good signals to the dog and your run is a disaster. Unfortunately, most of the handlers blame the dog of making faults, instead of stepping into a good shoe shop and spending money on something worthy.
Tell us on what is based your workout / agility training.Does it changes before a big event ? There is only one good workout, doesn´t matter if it is a big or small event or training. Concentration, conseqence, clear signals to the dog and having good fun. Are you superstitious? Have you ever try something like a beg / conjure before a race? On the course I trust only myself and my dog.
Which is the favorite toy for your dogs? All our dogs play with everything what you say it´s a good toy.
Before the end , do you have any advice for a beginner at his first competition? I would say "dont´t be nervous", but I know he would be anyway. So, just enjoy it, thats why you do this amazing sport. Not to bite of your nails, but to have fun, so go for it!
On the 15th April was held the 1st round of the Rally Obedience 2012 Slovenian Championship.The event was held at the KD Barje in Ljubljana . Here are some videos.
videos BABL RO-II Competition, KD Barje, 15.04.2012 Babl (Elaeth Bubbles Blown Away) RO-II score 160/170 of points, 1st place by GayatriBhargo
On the 14th and 15th April was held the CHAMPIONNAT D'ALSACE , MODIORING competition that was held at the ACD VENDENHEIM , France,Below are the results
Here you have the results of the agility competition ,valid for the Italian World Championship selection , that was held in Ala di Trento (TN) on the 14th and 15th April. The event was organized by the La Volpe Rossa culb.
The Flyingdogs Disc Dog Team & Dog Specialist organize the 2012 HYPERFLITE- the Italian 2012 World Championship Skyhoundz International Qualifiers .On the 28th and 29th of April you can go Pavia ( 10 min from Milan) at the Floria Dog Centre field and be a part of this fantastic event.
The Categories are: OPEN DIVISION (Youth, Novice, Expert, Micro dog, Pairs, Master ) SPORT DIVISION(Youth, Novice, Expert, Micro dog, Pairs, Master )
The judges : Mark Muir from the USA , Sven Van Driessche from Belgium and Vicent Martinez from Spain.
Here you have the results of the 1st round of the 1st round of the canicross Hill´s Cup 2012 the Děčín Maxičky round that was held on the 14th and 15th April 2012.
On the 19th and 20th of May you can join the Cassovia CUP 2012. Also this year the Anička Košice Kennel Club will organize the Cassovia Cup. This event is one of the most popular Slovakian agility competition .The KK Anička Košice is an open interest group, professional, social organization, which includes breeders, trainers and owners of various breeds of dogs .A club with more than 60 years of history is the oldest cynological club in Slovakia .The activities of the club consist of basic obedience training, attack and tracks training, various dog sports like agility, obedience and rescue dog training.
The judges for the event are Pappné Fejes Zsuzsanna ( Hungary) and Peter Sorger ( Slovakia).
On the 5th and 6th May the ZKO Trmice in Trmice , Czech Rep. will organize the EAGER'S CUP 2012. The Czech Rep. Flyball Championship will start at the end of the month with an unofficial competition on the 28th April in Trmice .The even is called O KOSATČÍ PLOUTEV and is an unofficial flyball tournament pairs of beginners and veterans ,deadline 18th April.
Agility with Philipp Müller Schnick
by 