BSD World Championships - Belgium 8-11 May 2003

11 May 2003 - FINALS DAY!  Finals day was a very early start - with course walking from 7:30-7:45 (and I thought our 8:30 starts were bad!)  Blitz continued his form of the Championships with a 'clear round' in the jumping, but with 2.13 time faults, putting him in 22nd place out of 40 finalists.  Considering that all the finalists were the best from each country's best over the four previous runs he did we were thrilled with that run.  In the afternoon he missed two contacts in the agility and went down to 31st place over all - still an exceptional run for a novice dog (which never won out of starters himself) on courses that the judge later described as at least senior standard:  In particular the weave entry in the jumping was at the edge of the arena and from 180 degrees about 5 metres after a pipe tunnel!  Unfortunately we didn't do so well in the team event, but then we weren't even expecting to be able to enter it with only two handlers.  The organisers kindly allowed us to enter, but only if we ran all four dogs consecutively!  We managed the first two runs with only a few faults, but rushed the last two getting Storm eliminated after I almost fell over her in the tunnel mouth, and Frost was clear until he came out of the 10th weave pole when he heard a gunshot from the IPO ring - causing him to go over the maximum time when Amanda did the sensible thing and took him back to the start of the weaves (the last, but one, obstacle on the course).  So with the best 3 of 4 runs counting we had no chance.

Click here for full results on the Official website  

10 May 2003 - Second day of competition:  We sort of improved today, with 47th, 51st and 61st places for Cloud, Frost and Blitz respectively in the agility this morning:  Both of Amanda's runs were clear, but with a few time-faults (they have a different system for time-faults here - as both would have been well within the course time in the UK).   In Europe there are two course times:  a 'Standard' Time - over which you get one time fault per second (calculated to two decimal places) - and a maximum time - after which you are told to leave the ring!  This is very significant, as a slow clear round will often put you lower down the placings than a fast round with 5 or 10 jumping/contact faults:  For example, Cloud's 47th place was clear, but with 6.95 time-faults, yet 12 dogs above her had 5 faults (mostly for missed contacts).  So most handlers run the contacts, hoping they get them, rather than stop their dogs - in fact, under FCI rules you can even be eliminated for stopping your dog on the course!  Storm was her usual mad self and was eliminated in both runs today - lack of control in the agility and pilot error in the jumping! We both went for broke in the jumping this afternoon, being reasonably pleased with our efforts so far we decided to speed up and go for a higher placing in the last individual runs.  It worked with Blitz, getting 43rd place with a clear and no time-faults, but Storm, Frost and Cloud all got much faster eliminations!  Blitz's last run was just enough to get him a place in the individual finals tomorrow, so we will report on that later (but don't hold your breath, as he hasn't got an A-Frame or dog walk contact all week!)

Just returned from the Gala Dinner, so no time to write much today...    

9 May 2003 - First day of competition:  The bad news is that we didn't win anything, but the good news is that neither of us are last at the end of day one.  Agility was first - with a very fast flowing course, won in an incredible time of 28.62 seconds (Guy Blancke - Belgium) and we got 68th, 70th, and 72nd out of 83 dogs, with Blitz, Frost and Storm respectively.  Amanda might have done much better with Cloud who had cleared all the contacts and tricky bits before suffering brain-fade and sending Cloud onto the A-Frame for a second attempt!  We did slightly better in the jumping this afternoon, with placings of 59th, 62nd, 67th and 69th (again out of 83) with Frost, Blitz, Storm and Cloud respectively.  It was Ian that suffered brain-fade with Storm this time - getting in her way not once, but twice, resulting in 10 faults.  So far Frost is marginally in the lead to qualify for the Individual finals on Sunday, with two more rounds to go tomorrow, Not bad for a dog that's still in Starters!!!  Considering that nearly all the other competitors have been selected for being the very best in their country (which we certainly are not) we are quite chuffed with our first efforts!  Just imagine how our senior handlers might have done...

There is a huge difference between these courses and our own in the UK...  I have seen more complicated courses in Starters than the agility course this morning, but with lower jumps and tyre, 6 metre spacing between obstacles, and bigger weave pole spacings, the dogs are so much faster.  We really are at a disadvantage having trained to be closer to the dogs for pull-throughs and traps, whereas the top handlers here run a completely different course to the dog!  For example, only a few have stayed alongside their dogs in the weaves - most run straight to the end and get in the optimum position for the next obstacle - thus saving about 2 seconds!  They also allow 'combinations' here:  In this afternoon's jumping course there were 19 numbered obstacles, but 21 for the dog to complete - as jump number 6 had an A, B, and C element!  Fortunately none of our dogs had a refusal here as we would have had to go back to the start of the whole combination to avoid getting eliminated.

The other major difference is the lack of queue at the ringside!  Instead there is just one dog waiting for the previous one at any time, as they always run in strict order.  Despite this all 83 dogs ran in under 1.5 hours - so not much slower than in the UK.  Our dogs were so much less stressed on the line as a result and it made the day so much more enjoyable - especially with Storm, who is a complete nightmare in the queue!

No new pictures today I'm afraid, as I forgot to bring the lead to capture stills from the video footage!  We'll add them when we get home...

Our Picture diary...

               Loading the car ready for the off...      A new experience for the dogs - on the Shuttle!

The UK Team ready for the Opening Ceremony Parade...    Back at our chalet after training

Training today was a revelation:  The French were blindingly fast and almost everyone seems to have fantastic contacts!  The lower jumps and wider spacing between obstacles (and between weave poles) really do make the dogs significantly faster and it appears to be a huge advantage for dogs that can work away from the handler.  In particular, watching a dog getting a right hand weave entry from right angles, with the handler half way across the arena, was seriously impressive!

We will do our best, but are both feeling somewhat inadequate at the minute!

Pictured from Left to Right:  Storm practicing her weaves at home, Blitz competing at Dogs in Need 2002 (picture courtesy of Vince de Lange - Nederlands), Frost at Dogs in Need 2002, Cloud at Suffolk Five Rivers 2002

Vapresto preparing for BSD World Championships - Belgium 8-11 May 2003

The UK agility team has collapsed...  For various reasons, all the other competitors are now unable to take part.  This leaves Vapresto as the sole representatives for the UK and probably means that we will not be able to enter a team, but just participating in the individual events.  We don't mind being 'Guinea Pigs' this year, but as Ian is only just out of Starters and Amanda is still in it you shouldn't expect too much of us!  We will be taking all our four currently competing Tervueren as follows:

We have had our first training session with Iain Fraser and have realised just how much we have to learn!  Maybe if we'd started training with him a year ago we might have been up to the challenge, but we shall do our best anyway.

The BSDA have very generously offered sufficient sponsorship to cover the cost of entries.  However, any additional offers of sponsorship or support  will be very welcome - as we will still need to pay for petrol, dog food, more vets bills, Eurotunnel tickets, accommodation, etc!

Click here to see the courses from the 2003 Individual Finals (as close as I can draw them from watching the video)

For more information on the event, please go to http://www.kucbh-urcbb.be/