2008 World Agility Championships

AKC/USA World Agility Championship Team
Helsinki, Finland
Day Four - September 25, 2008

The sun rose on another perfect day here in Helsinki Finland. All 13 members of the AKC World Team, 13 dogs, and many supporters were out of the hotel before 7 am this morning headed off to the Ice Hall for the morning’s activities. Many walked the mile to the stadium and then helped to unload the van full of crates and other equipment that AKC Agility Director, Andy Hartman drove over for the team. The team got settled into what will be their home for the next 3 days.

First things first and all dogs had to go through the vet check and the measuring stations. All 13 of the AKC dogs were declared healthy to run and entered in their correct jump heights. With the formalities behind them the team was ready for their practice.

Coach, Nancy Gyes had spent an hour watching the other teams in front of us. She devising warm-up stations for each of our teams. When the buzzer went off at 9:12 am the AKC/USA Team moved quickly onto the floor with many volunteers to set the equipment in the 3 sections on the arena floor. The Small, Medium and Large dogs each had 6 minutes per section. When the whistle blew they moved quickly to the next section while our teams of volunteers reset the obstacles for the next height. We are very thankful for all the volunteers who got up early to help our team have a productive practice. No time is wasted due to our volunteer ring crew.

This year the electronic table is expected to be used again and our dogs had plenty of time to get use to it during the sections of practice. The electronic table does not require a specific position on it, jut that the dog stay on it for the 5 seconds before the buzzer goes off. We saw that the most common position is the stand.

After practice was over 18 minutes later the team went to relax and water their dogs. This is the last time to dogs will be on the floor until they step to the line for their competition runs.

Once everyone was all cooled off it was time to hit the souvenir stand. Team USA did their part to help the Finnish Kennel Club’s bottom line for this event. Many of the team, supporters and the coaches stayed for a few more hours to watch more teams practice. The variety of breeds, training methods and practice styles makes for good viewing.

Tomorrow the team will need to be in line for the Opening Ceremony by 7:15 am. We expect the Large dogs to finish running about 7:30 pm. At the end of tomorrow the Large Dog Team Winner will be crowned with the new running schedule for this year. Check back for updates during the day tomorrow.