Autumn Dog Weekend 2009

Autumn arrived, and brought with it yellow leafs, a grey sky and the autumn dog camp organised by family Sojkovi (Queen Elsa – a breeding kennel of Bernese Mountain Dogs), the place were Merlin has went for his puppy school and were he still joins the training and socialisation. The camp started on 28.9.2009, a Wednesday, which was a public holiday in the Czech Republic and lasted for 4 1/2 days until Sunday midday. Sojkovi have chosen camp Brněnka in about 20 km northwest of Brno, a specialised kynological camp place that has large grass areas for training as well as a number of special equipment for Agility training. It is located at very calm place at a beautiful (because natural) stretch of the river Svratka (Danube River basin). A small footpath leads along the river and in the right light offers marvellous sights of the river framed with autumn forest and eventually some mist layer. See some impressions in the gallery at the end of the text.

We arrived on Tuesday evening after several shouts on and laughing about ‘Mrs Superclever’, our navigation system, and mainly with help of a paper map. We got accommodation in one of the little wooden huts equipped with two two-stage beds, where we occupied the two high beds for ourselves, one lower bed for the luggage and one for Merlin. We know how much he loves to be allowed in a bed, because at home he very rarely is. So we covered his bed with a blanket we brought and he was happy about this luxury and elative place.

On Wednesday morning, about 40 dogs with their owners met on the central place of the camp. About 50% were Bernese Mountain dogs, which is usual since Queen Elsa Kennel is a breeding station for these dogs and many of the people who buy their puppy stay in contact with Sojkovi. A number of Appenzell dogs, the second breed of Queen Elsa, were present as well as some border collies, Australian shepards and others. We missed several people and dogs we had hoped to see, this was probably due to the long distance to the camp (in former times the weekend took place not far away from Prague) and the fact that not everybody could get free days. This time, Merlin was the only Hovawart and had to hold the flag proudly. The dogs were separated into four training groups: (1) one for the puppies and beginners, (2) one for the advanced preparing for exams, (3) one for socialisation and behaviour in common situations and (4) one for agility. We do not know weather Sojkovi knew about Merlin’s recent lessons of Agility, but when Marketa heard that he had passed the the ZPU-1 examination already, she hushed us to the agility group.

So we had agility lessons twice a day in a group of 5 to 7 dogs, and Merlin seemed to enjoy it. The trainer started with simple exercises and short combination of them and gave many helpful explanations and suggestions how to do the different sections best. Best if you go through the pictures in the gallery to get an impression of the training lessons, which included concentrated work with the dogs as well as chatting among people and everything in a relaxed atmosphere. We enjoyed the lessons very much.

Since the equipment for Agility was present in the camp, a tournament was organised which was open to all dogs, not only those from the agility training group. In the puppy-class started very young dogs (as you may have guessed from the name) or very young dog-leaders (usually with more experienced dogs), so the kids had some fun in it also. Besides, there were categories for beginners in agility, slightly experienced as well as a category for highly experienced dogs. Merlin and Vendula started in the category of slightly experienced (L – large). We were the fastest in this class, but two mistakes happened, so we ended up on a third place. After the tournament, all people gathered in the pub for the ceremony where the results were released and the prices were given.

The pub anyhow was a central point in the camp, since it was the place for lunch and dinner as well as for sitting in the evening. After dinner, many people stayed in the pub and sat together for social chatting or because the hut was a little cool or for playing games etc. Many happy hours in a relaxed way were spent here. It was also a place for theoretical lectures about dog breeding, dog handling on exhibitions and training with use of clicker.

Between the morning and the afternoon training, we usually took some time to drive in the surrounding for walks in nice places or to find geocaches. Especially the search for caches brought us to nice places we would have never visited without the caches, for instance the marvellous caste of Veveří, which turned out to be surprisingly large. See pictures.

Altogether we had a very nice time and enjoyed the camp much. Thanks to Sojkovi for a great time!

   Photogallery of the whole action - unsorted

            Agility training

            Classical kynological training

            Portrais and dog fun

            Agility tournament

            Walks and surrounding

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