Updates

We didn't get lost somewhere in Holland, we're back at the seaside and enjoying the Summer. European Open was a lot of fun and Xsara had some very nice runs. I'm specially proud of our team Fast Snails - we were placed 13th (among 87 teams) in jumping and 29th overall. Other competitors from Slovenia did very well too, and we were very proud to applaud them on the podium.


We're currently staying in our new appartment by the sea where I have a lot of time to work on my diploma. We are also working on many new tricks and hopefully will finally make a new video for Xsara - who is now a big swimmer, by the way. She never liked water too much, but now that we have Tani, Xsara likes to join us in the water as well. But sometimes she does get tired of the little hyper Tani, so she learned how to close herself in the crate. It took me days to figure out why the door was closed even when I left it opened, until one day I saw her closing it with her paw. She sure is one super smart little girl!

European Open 2009

We got accepted to European Open 2009 :) It's one of my favorite trials because it's an opportunity to run courses from judges we don't see every weekend and see so many excellent competitors from around the world. And it's also a lot of fun to camp with our friends and talk about agility and dogs until very very late every night.

Here are some Xsara's pictures from the trial in Ptuj.

Portoroz and EO 2008

We have just returned from EO and Xsara is sooooo happy to sleep in our bed. Camping was a fun adventure but with all the rain, mud and very cold temperatures we are extremely happy to be home.

Unfortunately, we didn't have any great results to brag with. Xsara bumped in a double jump after a flat tunnel in our first run, and limped after the last jump. Most courses included A-B-C combinations which are rarely seen in Slovenia (we've never had it in any of our courses before), so many competitors from Slovenia had problems with this, including the most experienced ones. In team trials we had a nice jumping run, but in the afternoon when we had the second run it was already so muddy that I couldn't run in my snickers at all. To put it another way: I'm really not proud of myself right now, but I do try to appreciate every new experience including this one, and I hope we will do better on our next big trial. We also discovered that Xsara likes frisbee (specially if there are any border collies watching her), so we will try it out and see how it goes.

Before EO we had a competition in Portoroz and didn't do too badly there (2nd place). I will post some pictures of both trials tomorrow, right now I just want to hug my dog until she starts snoring and rub her tummy until I fall asleep as well.

Agility Photos

Thanks to Srdan Mohorič for two beautiful new agility pictures of Xsara, taken in Ptuj!

Our club is helping with the organisation of Belgian Shepherds World Championship which is taking place in Slovenia this week, so we'll be kind of busy over the weekend. I will try to take some pictures of the event, but Xsara won't be going with me because she is terrified of big dogs and it would be really cruel to take her to such an event.

UPDATE: I just got the confirmation that Xsara was accepted to European Open 2008! She will compete both individually and in Slovenia 1 Team with a mix and a miniature pincher.

European Open 2007

Our first European Open is over! The first shock right away: the courses were in sand! Like running on the beach - I was moving my legs but wasn't going anywhere. Otherwise we had a lot of fun. The first run was OK, we only had some points on time. But the second run Xsara missed two contacts as if we hadn't been training only this for the last two weeks. Grrrrrrrrr! Otherwise I was glad she was running under such conditions (hordes of dogs, heat, chaos ...). We would finish on 67th place if both runs counted like in my country (and on World Championship). This year only the final run counted for the resulton European Open. We were also 66th in jumping which is not bad with this amount of dogs (all best dogs of Europe). But we could have performed a lot better - after all this was only our first such big trial and I was very neervous. Unfortunately I don't have any photos because I didn't have my camera :( Otherwise we are going to the sea this week and we won't be writing for two weeks. I hope this year we will convince Xsara to go swimming with us!

The Coolest Mistake

One little froggy was admitted to European Open! I don't even know who submitted her (not me because I was positive we wouldn't get accepted), but I really appreciate it. We will have to train a little more seriously now ...