• Our visiting judge was Rick Whiting from Nova Scotia. We received so many positive comments about his great courses.
• Teri and Cypher won top Snooker Dog AND top Masters Dog,
• Teri and Tylt won fastest Steeplechase dog
• Havoc and Maize took top team.
• Kirstin raised close to $600 for the 2012 FCI World Agility team. 
• Volunteer free trial entries went to Jill Eckert and Dave Steinman.
• See below for the results and AAC Titles that have been attained.
• We’ll let you know about our plans for the summer, plus see you at the Dynamo Dogsports: SEPTEMBER “SOOO CLOSE” TRIAL with visiting judge Gayle Avery from Ontario.

Gisela with Rick Whiting and Jesse looking up admiring the **GOLD**

Martin and Fly **BRONZE**

Allan and Jazz MJDC

Arlene and Kylie MSDC

Gail and Gus ADC

Dave with Blue’s MCDC

Lisa with Taryn’s AGDC

Big Smiles from Caelin and Annika as they Receive Ribbons Earned Previously.

Seanna and Marci celebrating Chance’s MJDC

A Cake for Seanna and Dart!

For Their Lifetime Achievement Award!

What a Great Team!

Kirstin’s on her way to FCI World’s with Team Canada… full steam ahead with the fundraising. 50/50 tickets for sale!

…also Agility Leashes for sale too! (short versions)

…also Agility Leashes for sale too! (long versions)

Lesley Howard-Stafford served up Beckham Burgers and Radical Rabbit Hotdogs to help with the Team Canada Fundraising.

And Rick Whiting got a Bag Full of Dynamo Dosports Goodies

Volunteer free trial entries went to Jill Eckert and Dave Steinman.

Lorraine and Murphy

Lori and Fiesty

Anna and Zora

Monika and Xavier

Steve and Jet (taking off like one)

Lesly and Rusty in a sunny spotlight.

21st Century Kids and their iPADs

Jill’s Jackpot

Chance and Marci and Rick

Kirstin and Radical

Donna and Swift

Linda Smith and Nova. They got both their ATChC and MGDC too!

Linda Werny and Capri

Seanna tried her hand at running Sketch

We had an event just for puppies (see how the bars are on the ground?) Here, Seanna’s Aspyn gets a turn.

Beckham and I can’t wait for this year’s Worlds to play on the biggest stage and represent our country doing what we both love. – Kirstin O’Neill

Radical Rabbit

What an Honour!!

We’re so proud of them.

Dynamo Dogsports very own Kirstin O’Neill and her Parson Russell Terrier, Beckham, have been chosen to represent Canada at the FCI World Agility Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic, October 3-7, 2012.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Radical Rabbit, her young Malinois, has also been chosen as an alternate!

Click here to see the whole 2012 Agility Team Canada listing.

Beckham recently attained both the Agility Trial Champion of Canada (ATChC) and the Masters Steeplechase Dog of Canada (MSCDC) titles.   Next, they are on their way to the 2012 Canadian National Agility Championships in Nanaimo in August.

Kirstin and Beckham must attend the 2012 World Agility Team Canada practices in Ontario this summer. Plus, of course, she and Beckham have to travel to Europe in October. As you can probably guess, in addition to requiring dedication, passion, and excellence, these are not inexpensive activities. Can you help? Any contribution you can make to support their tremendous efforts would be immensely helpful and appreciated.

P.S. Check back on this site for news and results!

After a clean Masters Standard run at the Dynamo Dogsports Trial on March 18, 2012, the beautiful sheltie, Dart, attained her AAC Lifetime Achievement status. It’s now official per the AAC records site .

• Our visiting judge was Holly Teahen from Ontario (she’s Irish too BTW!).
• See below for the results and AAC Titles that have been attained.
• Plus a veritable POT of GOLD was awarded in cash prizes too.
• See you at our next event, the Dynamo Dogsports: APRIL “ALL OR NOTHING” TRIAL with visiting judge Rick Whiting from Ontario.

Holly, Shadow and Denise

GOLD! for Linda and Caper

Holly, Leslie and Rusty

Donna with Epic’s ADC

Holly and Jennifer

Martin with Fly’s MSDC

Christina & Abbi go for some of that cash.

Dave and Blue had a great weekend.

Susan and Sassy

Gisela and Carrie won the volunteer prizes from the February trial. (The March Trial winners will be named at the April Trial.)

A happy bunch of folks!

With the spring weather, it got a bit muddy outside, didn’t it!

• Our visiting judge was Kiersten Lloyd. She did her usual great job.
• See below for the results and AAC Titles that have been attained.
• Plus several CASH PRIZES were awarded, too, for various notable agility achievements.
• See you at our next event, the Dynamo Dogs: “ST. PADDY’S DAY TRIAL” with visiting judge Holly Teahen from Ontario.

Kirstin O’Neill presented the ribbons

Linda, Bean and Kiersten. GOLD AWARD!

Kiersten, Marci, Seanna and Chance

Kiersten, Arlene and Kylie

Jill Furminger with Maize’s ribbon

Rebecca, Justine and Summit

Our visiting judge, Cathy Nesbitt came out from Kelowna, BC:

Special congratulations went to:

Kylie, Scottish Terrier, and handler Arlene Dutchak, for earning their Advanced Games title!

and FREE TRIAL entries were won in our VOLUNTEER draw:

Saturday:     Linda Smith
Sunday:       Martin Brown

Niki Anderson & Clifford collect a CASH PRIZE

and several CASH PRIZES were awarded, too, for various notable agility achievments.

Complete results are posted below. See you at our next event in Feb.

• Jan 2012 Challenge
• Jan 2012 Gamblers Starters
• Jan 2012 Gamblers Advanced
• Jan 2012 Gamblers Masters
• Jan 2012 Jumpers Starters
• Jan 2012 Jumpers Advanced
• Jan 2012 Jumpers Masters
• Jan 2012 Snooker Starters
• Jan 2012 Snooker Advanced
• Jan 2012 Snooker Masters
• Jan 2012 Standard1 Starters
• Jan 2012 Standard1 Advanced
• Jan 2012 Standard1 Masters
• Jan 2012 Standard2 Starters
• Jan 2012 Standard2 Advanced
• Jan 2012 Standard2 Masters
• Jan 2012 Standard3 Masters
• Jan 2012 Standard4 Masters
• Jan 2012 Steeplechase
• Jan 2012 Team

Congratulations to the following dog/handler teams for walking away with the trial awards…

• Top Team Award went to Suzi Q with Dick Rhodes, and Belle with Deb Rhodes.
• Top Masters Standard dog/handler went to Havoc and Seanna with 5.39 yps.
• Top Steeplechase dog/handler went to Cypher and Teri O’Neill at 5.59 yps.
• There were no double cleans in the Starters or Advanced category, so that prize went unattained, as did the 59 award in all three Snookers.

Special congratulations also go out to the following dogs for coming away with some big ribbons

• Jill Eckert and Jackpot (Miniature Poole) with a SILVER AWARD OF MERIT
• Linda Werny and Capri (Golden Retriever) with a EXPERT STANDARD GOLD & EXPERT GAMBLERS BRONZE
• Kirstin O’Neill and Euro (Berger Picard) with a EXPERT STEEPLECHASE SILVER
• Brenda Brown and Kalli (Portuguese Water Dog) with an ATCH
• Anja Neumann and Tug (Shetland Sheepdog) with an AADC
• Martin Brown and Fly (Border Collie) with an AADC

Complete results are posted below. See you at our next event.

• Dec 2011 Gamblers Starters
• Dec 2011 Snooker Starters
• Dec 2011 Jumpers Starters
• Dec 2011 Standard 1 Starters
• Dec 2011 Standard 2 Starters
• Dec 2011 Gamblers Advanced
• Dec 2011 Snooker Advanced
• Dec 2011 Jumpers Advanced
• Dec 2011 Standard 1 Advanced
• Dec 2011 Standard 2 Advanced
• Dec 2011 Gamblers Masters
• Dec 2011 Snooker Masters
• Dec 2011 Jumpers Masters
• Dec 2011 Challenge
• Dec 2011 Standard 1 Masters
• Dec 2011 Standard 2 Masters
• Dec 2011 Standard 3 Masters
• Dec 2011 Standard 4 Masters
• Dec 2011 Team
• Dec 2011 Steeplechase

Well. Guess. What? 

This ranks right up there with the day that I was whelped. 

I weaved. And not only did I weave, but I weaved INDEPENDENTLY in competition this past weekend at our AAC December “Do It Again” Trial. Now remember. I’m not a border collie. I am not a sheltie. I am a full blooded Springer Spaniel. Big feet, long ears. Super cute and cuddly, but not exactly a high ranking athlete in the dog agility world.

So it was an outstanding moment for me and my mum when the weave-o-magic happened. And even better all my Dynamo Dog friends let out a huge cheer as I rounded that last weave pole, completing my 12 weaves in a row. They were celebrating SO LOUD right there in the middle of my run, my mum wanted to go over there and hug them. They are so awesome and supportive. So even though I didn’t qualify during that run (pesky knocked bar near the end -note to self… groom back end before big competition), I did all the weaves and my friends were there to celebrate my personal moment in history.

Thanks for all the support   – Finnegan

It was almost too close to call, but as this video clearly shows the Dynamo Dogs PINK TEAM (Rusty, Audi, Rage and Euro) beats the GREEN TEAM (Dart, Meme, JetPACK and OD) before crowds of onlookers at the November 2011 Dogapolooza at West Edmonton Mall.

THEN …. Havoc used all her death defying skills:

THEN… our Dynamo Dogsport event at Dogapolooza was CRASHED!

       …. THEN Meme barked at the intruders and even went to guard the door after they left!

The Dynamo Dog troupe got in there tonight to bring in our equipment and establish all the placements that will need to be done for our shows this weekend.  There are seven shows in all and they are different set ups for each one!  And within the shows the equipment has to move too.  

We got it all figured out and it’s going to be fun Fun FUN!    Hope to see you there.

P.S. You can bring your own pet to WEM this weekend too, if you wish. More info at bottom of this page.  

A special congratulations to Linda Werny and Capri. They attained their AAC Silver Award of Merit at this trial!

Complete results are posted below.
See you at our next event.

Nov 2011 Gamblers Starters
Nov 2011 Snooker Starters
Nov 2011 Jumpers Starters
Nov 2011 Standard 1 Starters
Nov 2011 Standard 2 Starters

Nov 2011 Gamblers Advanced
Nov 2011 Snooker Advanced
Nov 2011 Jumpers Advanced
Nov 2011 Standard 1 Advanced
Nov 2011 Standard 2 Advanced

Nov 2011 Gamblers Masters
Nov 2011 Snooker Masters
Nov 2011 Jumpers Masters
Nov 2011 Challenge
Nov 2011 Standard 1 Masters
Nov 2011 Standard 2 Masters
Nov 2011 Standard 3 Masters
Nov 2011 Standard 4 Masters

Nov 2011 Team
Nov 2011 Steeplechase

The final round of Individual Runs were today, and Canada was still the running with a couple of dogs, while others were just running for single round honours.

First up were the Medium dogs , and once again the handlers were faced with a tight technical course.  After the first run Scud was sitting in 73^rd, Cypher was in 57^th, and Ninja was 31^st. 

Scud was up first for Canada, sitting 73rd after the first round.  Scud started off strong, but was called on a frame contact, then had a flyoff on the teeter, and finally went a little wide on a turn and took an off course jump for an E.

Cyphe, coming into the round in 57th place, ended the suspense pretty quickly with a wrong direction on the 2^nd jump (it was a back side jump and the dogs could only see the front side, so Cypher decided that was the side to take).  But the rest of the course was flowy and fast, in spite of the early E.

Next up was Ninja and Nikki, who managed to hold on throughout the tough course to pull out another clean round.  Even though she came into the round in 31^st there were quite a few other handlers who succumbed to the challenges of the course, so she ended up 13^th overall.

1^st in Medium went to USA with Luka, a Pyreneen Shepherd; 2^nd went to France with Curly, another Pyreneen Shepherd; and 3^rd went to Slovakia’s La, also a Pyreneen Shepherd.

————————————————————–

Next up was the Final for the Small Individual dogs.  Suzanne was still on the injured list, so it was just Briggs and Dice running for Canada.  Briggs was up first, and he was sitting in 62 place coming into round 2.  AS soon as the first few dogs ran the course it was obvious that the course time would be almost impossible to run under, as dog after dog ran smooth clean lines and were over time. 

Briggs ran a nice course, but did get called on a dogwalk contact, and was one second over time.  His time held up well during the round, but the 5 fault contact was costly.

Finally it was time for the large dogs to take the stage.

Unlike the Jumpers round the Agility round was very tight, and very technical, and was frought with challenges and off course possibilities.

First up was Fred with Tanofon who was 95 after the first round.  Fred was off to a good start over the first two jumps, but then Tanafon slipped going into the right angled weaves, and could not recover to fix the weaves.  So he went through them incorrectly.  Fred had moved on to the next obstacle by the time he heard the crowd gasp, so he knew there was an issue but he was too late to go back and fix it.  So the rest of the course did not go as well as he undoubtedly had hoped, and he came away with an E.

Next up was Encore who ran a clean, fast, flowy course in 39.05 seconds,  which was a good time for the course (fastest dogs were 37 seconds so she was not far off the mark).  Unfortunately she had come into the round in 72 place, so it was not enough to move her up in the overall placings.

Third for Canada was Fizz and Adrian.  Adrian also ran a great smooth course with a time of 41.74, and would have been clean except for one contact on the dogwalk, which cost him 5 faults.

Last up were Susan and Feature.  Feature came into the round in 30 place, and Susan handled the run cautiously, attempting to run clean.  Unfortunately Feature picked up on that caution and second guessed a jump turning toward her to check that it was correct, and incurring a refusal. There was also a small matter of an up contact on the dogwalk, and .22 in time faults, which brought the fault total to 10.22 for the round.

So 1^st in Large was Finn, a Border Collie from the Netherlands; 2^nd was Punssi, a Border Collie from Finland; and 3^rd was Russia’s Border Collie, Wi Excellent.

Team placings were as follows:

Small 1^st - Russia; 2^nd – Slovania; 3^rd – Japan

Medium 1^st - France; 2^nd – Switzerland; 3^rd – Great Britain

Large 1^st – Spain; 2^nd – Italy; 3^rd – Czech Republic

Another great World Championship is now behind us, time to get back to training!

Today was the day of 5 runs at the FCI World Championships, so lots of opportunities for greatness, and an equal number of opportunities to crash and burn.

Up first for Canada was our Medium Team running the Team Agility course.  It was a very tight technical course, a far cry from the fast flowing courses that frequently grace the Medium Team ring, and the time was VERY tight.  Only a handful of the dogs were able to run under course time, even when they had no faults and a fairly flowy course, so it was evident that the course would be a challenge.

 First up were Nikki and Ninja.  They were on track for a great run and good time when Nikki got a little too up close and personal with a jump, knocked it down and earned an elimination.  When they say it is always the handler they were definitely right in this case J

Next up was Scud with Lucy.  At about the midpoint Scud came up to the teeter, run up to just past the mid point, and came off the side when the teeter started to tip.  Lucy put her back on and incurred an off course for repeating it.

Next up were the Large Team dogs for their Team Jumpers run.  This course was very different from the Medium course and looked more like a fast Steeplechase course with a couple of backside obstacles and no Frame.  There were going to be a lot of qualifiers on this course, so it was imperative that  the Canadians pour it on!

Adrian was up first, and did just that, with a great fast, smooth performance to run clean and fast.  Fred followed in his footsteps and also had great tight flowing lines, and was on the last flowing line of jumps when Fred backed right into a jump and knocked it over – like Nikki incurring an E.

Next up were our small dogs.  Suzanne had pulled a muscle on Friday, and our team was not in the running for any sort of team placement, so she pulled out of team on Saturday to rest herself for the Sunday individual run.  So our Small team was only two dogs in the Jumpers round.

Medium Team Jumping was up next.  Again Ninja was clean and quick, and this time Nikki left all the bars up too.

Large Team was also not in the running, but hoped to pull out another couple of cleans.  The course was quite technical, although there were places to pour it on as well.

First up was Fizz, who had a refusal on the 3^rd tunnel, missed a dogwalk contact, and came down on top of the double, costing him an additional 1.87 over time.

Today started off a little rough for teams trying to get to the World Championship, as the traffic around the site was backed up for blocks and blocks.  After waiting 1/2 hour in a completely stalled traffic jam, the bus unloaded team Canada, who had to walk a km to the site, and ended up getting there just before opening ceremonies.  Finally police arrived to try to clear up the traffic, but there was just not enough space for all the vehicles that were trying to get in. 

But finally we all got there and opening ceremonies was under way.  Lots of the regular officials greeting the athletes etc, and they gave away a guide dog; and then onto course building for the Large Individual Round.

The course was certainly a World class challenge, with lots of tight technical bits, and it took an early toll on the majority of dogs who tried to run it.  Our Canadian dogs also had a tough time of it.  Susan was up first with Feature, and she managed to pull out a clear round but it definitely wasn’t pretty!   Her time placed her 30+ after round 1.

Next up was Adrian and Fizz, and he also got a bit discombobulated, but managed to avoid an E and come away with only a bar and some time faults.

Fred and Tanafon did not fare so well, taking an early off course for an unfortunate E.

Susan was then up again, this time with Encore, who smashed through the wall right at the beginning of the run.  After that she put it together and ran the rest of the course well, but the wall crash earned her a costly 10 faults.

Coming out of round 1 Large Individual Jumping in the top 3 were…

1st – Czech Republic – Border Collie – Kralova Terza – Nice

2nd – Austria – Border Collie – Lisa Frick – Hoss

3rd – Italy – Border Collie – Sicignano Gervasio – Winky

——————————————————————–

Next up was the Small Individual Jumping event and again we came out with one clean for Team Canada, as Jessica and Dice ran into 5th place in the Jumping Round.  Suzanne & Copine, and Cathy & Briggs both took off courses for an E, in a course that caused the vast majority of competitors to have eithor an E or time faults with a Refusal. 

The biggest challenge of the small dog course was the placement of the weave poles directly into the chute, with only a few feet from the end of the weaves to the shiny side of the chute.  Dog after dog got caught by the reflection in the chute as they came up to the 8-12th pole, and popped out to earn a refusal.

——————————————————————-

In Medium Individual Jumping, Nicky Gurr ran clean but was out of the running for a top placement, with a somewhat slower time. Scud and Lucy were looking good all the way aroudn the course, but got caught by a backside jump on the last few obstacles (it wasn’t SUPPOSED to be a backside jump).  So she came out with an E.  Teri and Cypher were clean through the first part of the course, but Teri pulled a little early off the broad jump and Cypher sliced it.  Teri took him back to complete it, so they incurred only a refusal and time faults, rather than an E.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdMMKTrqHA0 Medium Team Video

—————————————————————

The last event was Small Team Agility and again a tough course proved the downfall of a lot of competitors, with NO countries able to run three clean dogs.  But there were a few countries with only a few time faults, or a refusal.   For Team Canada both Copine and Briggs had an off course on a tight section, where the dogs were able to bounce jump over a jump that they were not supposed to take.  Dice again ran without incurring an E, but she did have a non contact call on the dogwalk.

So the Small Team will be running their Team Jumpers event tomorrow just for fun, and the Medium and Large Team are up in both their Team Jumping and their Team Agility rounds tomorrow, so anything could happen there!

Team Canada was not up until almost 3:00 pm, but John, Justine, and I got there at 7:30 to watch the start of the warm-ups, and we watched all the countries throughout the day until the last country (France, as host country had this distinction) was saluted by the crowd at the end of their scheduled time.

It was interesting to note that there were a lot more good running contacts this year than two years ago (30% vs 5%).  I wish the catalogue would have mentioned the dogs’ age, because it would have been interesting to note how many of the stop or early release contacts were among the older dogs – vs the younger dogs being trained with straight running from the get go.   I don’t know that this is true, but it seemed to be the case in some of the countries. 

There also seemed to be a lot more handlers sending their dogs to the back-side of jumps in the warmup. In almost every sequence that the countries were using to practice, in their few minutes on the floor, there was at least one back-side element.

There are, as usual loads of Border Collies and Shelties.  There are also a number of Malinois and Poodles (Toy / Miniature) and Pyrean Shepherds, Mudis, Parson Russells, and a few Kelpies, along with a smattering of more unusual breeds playing for their respective  countries.

Canada had a good warm up, with the dogs looking great on the floor, except for a bit of slipping here and there.  Here is a link to a video of the team Canada warmup…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIInyCHZ2mY

Tomorrow is the big day, as we start with Large Individual Jumping and then move to Small Individual Jumping, Medium Individual Jumping, and finally Small Team Agility.

There were some worrisome moments when a couple of the dogs had tumbles into or off of equipment, and three of the handlers also hit the ground trying to run on the slightly slick grass, but luckily no one seemed much the worse for wear.

After the practice the canadian team posed for a few pics.

Once the practice was over John, Justine, Teri and I headed over Arras and had lunch in a small outdoor cafe.  We then looked around for something touristy to do, and someone suggested climbing up to the top of the town’s bellfry.  Seemed promising, so headed into the city hall, where the bellfry was located.  But when we into the area where the stairs were supposed to be we realized that a tour group was just going down the stairs, not up.  So we followed along and spent the next 40 minutes in a tour group, exploring the limestone tunnels and caverns undermeath the town of Arras.  (19 km of tunnels, where they quareyed limestone for statues, and where 45,000 armed soldiers resided before upcoming battles in the first world war.)

Then we went in the opposite direction and climbed to the very top of the town hall which looked out on the square and all of Arras and surrounding French countryside.

Tomorrow is the first day of the FCI World Championships.  No competition, but all the teams have their team warm up on the footing and the equipment. Justine, John and I will be headed out early from our hotel to catch the early teams practicing (it starts at 8:00 am, and the U.S. team had the first time slot).

While the competition itself is great fun to watch, the team practices can offer even more of an insight into what the other countries are doing in terms of training, and so can be invaluable in keeping up to date on where things are, and where they are going, in the sport of agility.  

Then we stopped by the arena, and those Canadian team members who came along on the bus were able to check out the space, the seating, the tunnel, the lighting, and the atmosphere.  It was still pretty empty, and the guys setting up were still putting lights up, but still, the excitment to come was almost palpable.

Next on to shoe shopping.  For this we grabbed Teri off the bus and headed to downtown Arras.  We looked around there for a while, but couldn’t find anything appropriate for competition (even though this time we recruited 6-7 teenagers to lead us to a sporting goods store).  But no luck so we came back to the mall beside our hotel, and luckily found and Interplay Sports store right beside the mall.  She found the right pair prety quickly, so she is ready for competition now!

Finally back to Teri’s hotel (team hotel) where we enjoyed an excellent supper with the team, and got a first hand look at their new shirts, with lots of Canadianism in the design, AND a graphic of every dog on the team, and the team members name on the back.  They were awesome and I am sure the team members will wear them with a lot of pride.

Tomorrow the dogs finally get to play, as we are off to an early Canadian team practice, then off to the Marketplace in Arras.  Should be fun!

After hours and hours (or was it days?) of planes, buses, and automobiles, we finally made it to France, and the Lievin area hotels.  Travelling to see the competition are myself (Seanna), John (Meme’s dad) and Justine Davenport (former member of the Canadian team with Bounder, Chase, and Riot).

We got to the airport on Sunday morning about 9:00 am.  Things were going smoothly until Teri realized she hadn’t brought any shoes, which could prove a bit problematic (flip flops work fine for travel and tourism, but might not be the best competition wear).  So we put in a call to Kirstin, still at home, to grab the shoes, pack Dominick up and run to the airport to meet us with the shoes.  After waiting for an hour inside, outside, inside, outside, it turned that Kirstin had grabbed the shoes, packed Dominick up, and and come to the airport; but couldn’t find us, and so had taken the shoes back home.

So it seems that some of our pre competition tourism will be shoe shopping!

We changed planes with a bit of a stopover in Toronto, where I found a couple of other Canadian t-shirts to show Canadian support for our incredible team (no place better than an airport for finding Canadianism and overspending!).  Met up with some more of the Canadians in the Toronto airport (the Quebec contingent flew from Montreal) and were of on the next leg to Paris.  (Battery is low, so trying to update quickly)

We had an incredibly easy time getting the rental can in Paris and after some false starts trying to figure out how to find reverse on the gear shift (it is NOT self evident and there are no “how to use the gear shift instructions in the glove box!) and after several trips around the tricky circuitous and sometimes downright scary (at least for those in the passeger and back seats :- ) ) airport roads, with some pretty scary Parisian airport drivers cutting in and out at breakneck speed, we finally found the team bus still sitting at the airport loading the team.  

So we were able to follow the team bus across France, and didn`t have to depend too much on John`s brand new gps, which will get get a work out later on in the trip when we only have our own navigational skills to get us through France, Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic. 

There was one notable stop at a little town along the way.  It was one of those towns that if you blink you might miss it entirely, but there was a restaurant on the side of the road, and by this time everyone was feeling the hunger, so we stopped for a bite to eat.  It was AWESOME.  The food was SO GOOD!  There were only a couple of other people in the place, so the Canadian team got the full attention of the only person there who seemed to be on staff.  Not sure if he was cooking too, but he seemed to be pretty much in charge of everything else.  We did manage to get a card from the place, and it is definately a stop I would recommend to anyone coming through that area of France.

After our lunch stop we headed back out, and with only one more stop for groceries, we all arrived at the team hotel.  (Because we booked late, John, Justine, and I are staying in a hotel about 1/2 hour away from the Canadian team hotel).  With still a couple of hours before we could reasonably call it a night, John Justine, Teri, and I decided to grab the car and head into nearby Arras.  the folks at the front desk said it was a right turn at the first lights, then another right after two lights and we would be there, so it seemed easy.

We started down the road they had indicated and we soon came to a dead end (no lights) with a do not enter in front, an alley to the right, and a road to the left.  So we went left, realizing that we were already way off track.  Only a couple of blocks away we came across a woman just leaving her car, who was obviously just getting home.  Since it seemed that she lived in, and so must know the area, we stopped to ask for directions.  Imagine our surprise when she not only gave us directions, but actually offered to hop in the car and show us the way!  So we squeezed her into the car and led us to the center of the beatiful town of Arras, through a maze of streets that the gps would have had difficulty making heads or tails of.  But we found our way, parked, and for the next two hours our new Parisian friend led us on a walking tour of the town with talking points about  particular points of interest.

The day was a really wonderful introduction to the wonderful country that is France, its people, its cuisine, its history and its rather suicidal drivers!

On to tomorrow!

(for those who wanted to set up live streaming from the Worlds, so they can watch the competition as it happens, the link is here… http://www.agilityworldchampionshiplievin2011.tv/mailing1/)

So I am looking for suggestions of things we should take time out to visit in France, Germany, Belgium, or Czech Republic on our way through.

We don’t have a lot of time, so we will have to stay fairly close to our route from Leivin to the Czech Republic, but we want to ensure that we don’t blast right through a town that has some huge historic significance that we didn’t know about.

So far our options include:

France:

• The Louvre
• The Eiffel Tower
• Lille Metropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art

Belgium:

• Tournai (the only city in Belgium that was once English) including the Cathedral and Belfry of Tournai
• Grand Place-Grote in Brussels

(depending on how much time we have some of the following…)

• Natural Sciences Museum of Belgium
• Musee Belvue
• Museum of Historical Art
• Royal Museum for Central Africa
• Autoworld

Germany:

• DB Museum
• Historischer Kunstbunker
• Kaiserburg-Museum
• The Germanisches Nationalmuseum
• Lochgefangnisse (Medieval Dungeons)
• Museum Tcuerschloss mit Hirsvogelsaal
• Henkerhaas (Executioner`s House)
• Dachau Concentration Camp

Czech Republic:

• Hluboka nad Vltavou Castle

So what else is there … and are any of these REALLY worth seeing?

So the first day of Nationals is done, and Alberta dogs are putting in a good showing!

OVERALL Standings FOR DAY 1 ONLY included these Alberta Dogs in the Top 10…

REGULAR

10″         4th            Pint                           Anneli Hilton

16″         1st             Cypher                    Teri O’Neill

22″         1st             Tylt                           Teri O’Neill

                2nd           Cool Hand Luke   Lynda Caughlin

26″         6th            Swift                        Kiersten Lloyd

SPECIAL

6″           5th            Aries                        Amanda Schmidt

22″         7th            The Dude               Darcy Bennett

VETERAN SINGLE DROP

6″           9th            Bailey                       Rose Baumgartner

16″         2nd           Elly Belly                 Darcy Bennett

                4th            Ceili                          Ainsley Sykes

                7th            Spice                        Jennifer Fraser

                10th          Moxie                      Leslie Dawson-North

22″         8th            Euro                         Kirstin O’Neill

                10th          Porter                      Anneli Hilton

VETERAN DOUBLE DROP

6″           1st             Dart                          Seanna O’Neill

16″         1st             Zoom                       Kiersten Lloyd

Class Standings FOR DAY 1 ONLY included these Alberta dogs in the Top 10…

STANDARD

Regular

10″         1st             Slice                          Anneli Hilton

                9th            Pint                           Anneli Hilton

16″         4th            Cypher                    Teri O’Neill

22″         1st             Tylt                           Teri O’Neill

               10th          Jesse                        Gisela Griesser

26″         4th            Rob Roy                  Dante Camacho

Special

6″           3rd            Aries                        Amanda Schmidt

16″         9th            Blue                          Dave Steinman

22″         7th            The Dude               Darcy Bennett

Veteran Single Drop

6″           5th            Bailey                       Rose Baumgartner

16″         2nd           Elly Belly                 Darcy Bennett

                9th            Ceili                          Ainsley Sykes

                10th          Cooper                    Alex Schwanke

22″         4th            Euro                         Kirstin O’Neill

                7th            Porter                      Anneli Hilton

Veteran Double Drop

6″           3rd            Dart                          Seanna O’Neill

10″         2nd           Crocket                   Lisa Bailey

                5th            Chelsea                   Stephan Henry

16″         2nd           Zoom                       Kiersten Lloyd

                3rd            Deuy                        Julie Delarue

                7th            Bogey                      Anneli Hilton

———————————————————————-

JUMPERS

Regular

22″         3rd            Cool Hand Luke   Lynda Caughlin

Special

6″           6th            Aries                        Amanda Schmidt

22″         9th            The Dude               Darcy Bennett

Veteran Single Drop

16″         4th            Ceili                          Ainsley Sykes              

                6th            Elly Belly                 Darcy Bennett

22″         10th          Euro                         Kirstin O’Neill

Veteran Double Drop

6″           2nd           Dart                          Seanna O’Neill

10″         4th            Chelsea                   Stephan Henry

16″         2nd           Zoom                       Kiersten Lloyd

———————————————————————-

GAMBLERS

Regular

10″         6th            Pint                           Anneli Hilton

16″         2nd           Cypher                    Teri O’Neill

22″         1st             Tylt                           Teri O’Neill

                5th            Britt                          Deb Rhodes

26″         4th            Swift                        Kierstin Lloyd

Special

6″           8th            Aries                        Amanda Schmidt

16″         10th          Hope                        Kathy Kimmel

22″         10th          The Dude               Darcy Bennett

Veteran Single Drop

10″         5th            Strider                     Kim Boyes

16″         2nd           Spice                        Jennifer Fraser

                3rd            Moxie                      Leslie Dawson-North

                4th            Elly Belly                 Darcy Bennett

               7th            Ceili                          Ainsley Sykes              

22″         8th            Euro                         Kirstin O’Neill

Veteran Double Drop

6″           1st             Dart                          Seanna O’Neill

10″         10th          Chelsea                   Stephan Henry

16″         1sty           Zoom                       Kiersten Lloyd

I have found that there is another dog out there that is a much better singer and pianist.

   Click here to watch the video.

Cheers
John & Meme

P.S.  I just had to post this.   And the jumping is at least somewhat on topic for agility and dogsports, isn’t it? 

Havoc and Fysti sharing a kennel on the plane

Teri followed on the next flight with Tylt and Cypher who are entered, and Pryme, who is also along for the ride, as he is not quite ready to play.  

Kirstin and I ended up getting to the Edmonton airport for our flight a little late, always takes longer than I think it will so it was a bit of a rush, but everything seemed to be in our favour; from no one having time to “weigh” any of our kennels or bags; to the security guard who pulled us from waaaayyyyy back in the security line all the way to the front, so she could “swab us”; to the person in security who let Kirstin keep her dog nail clippers because the security guard was also dog friendly; and onto the airplane, where we were so late that rather than making us go to the back, to our assigned seats in a crowded section, they let us sit up in the front in an empty section, so we had lots of leg room.  There was even a movie on the plane that we actually wanted to watch!

Our good fortune continued when we landed,  with incredibly helpful and nice folks at the Hamilton airport.  There is a reason we flew into Hamilton!  No trouble getting the van, or with any of our bags, or picking up Teri from the next flight coming in.

We did have a bit of trouble figuring out the map that we got from the person at the airport, so I have to admit we passed by Burlington, once, twice, three times on the 2 hour drive (well turned into 3 hour drive :- ) ) to Barrie, but it was a beautiful day for a drive, and we weren’t in a hurry anyway.

The hotel is great, with indoor AND outdoor pool, great grass area in the back, a restaurant right in the hotel, helpful staff, and we don’t have to navigate stairs or elevators to get to our room… the room even has a balcony. 

So here we are, tired but feeling pretty good about the trip so far… we just need to find some food for the dogs  tomorrow, and figure out exactly when we are supposed to be onsite at Nationals.

Teri and Kirstin were impressed with the pillow belts that outlined their relative comfort level.