o'cockaigne

A week's holiday for the EKC.

On Wednesday the 21st of June we left for Strotzbüsch, a small village in the Eifel, where we would stand for a week at a campsite before we would travel to the EKC in Lotzwil. After a four hour drive we arrived at the top of a small, narrow, steep road. On the site of the campsite we had already read that for very long combinations it was very difficult to come down and up, given the two hairpin bends. As we have already experienced something, we went into the adventure, or the abyss. The hairpin curves were only just to take, we didn't have to be 10 centimeters wider or longer but arrived downstairs it turned out that the bike rack had damaged the car something. We decided to take the rack with the bike and the gate of the caravan on the way back. The camp site was located in a stretched valley along a flowing stream, the Ueβbach. We chose a spot at the end of the campsite which seemed very quiet at first, but when the owners of the tipi who stood next to us came back, they turned out to have two small children who did not want to go to bed especially in the evening and then spent hours To Blèren in full. Fortunately they left on Saturday and returned the rest,…. Although. Friday afternoon there was a large group of friends with a dog and many children perched in the middle of the terrain and especially the children had a lot of fun. Until late in the evening they ran around the campsite with a lot of screams. Fortunately, Sunday morning they broke the tent camp again and around noon the weather was wonderfully quiet. Walking was a top sport, a mountain, a mountain, something we are not used to. There are a lot of hiking trails in this area and also very well signposted but there are also many paths in between, so you do not have to walk necessarily 35 kilometers. Certainly with Cytaugh's foot, which has undergone a fierce operation after her toe has been shot out of the bowl in mid-April, we still have to be a little cautious.

Also at this campsite we had the space to play with Chidish or to throw with his werpbal, he really can't do without his balls, that must be every day! And a round of cycling around the campsite he also found beautiful, much further could not, there the path was too steep!

On a regular basis Dolf ' The Camping Wolf ' came to the neighbourhoods. A treasure of a dog that suffers a life like a louse on a very head. All day stroll, a little playing with the kids and other guests, a little paw bathing in the water and regularly a walk with the boss, what more do you want as a dog?

On Tuesday the 27th of June we took our mess again and left for Freiburg where many other EKC visitors would spend the night at the racecourse, before we would travel further to Lotzwil. A quiet night was not there, around Tienen we saw it again in the distance and at midnight it finally arrived with us. With some huge popping and an incredible hoosbui thundered the thunderstorm over us. We again experienced the distress during the EKC to Pouch in a slightly smaller but just as fierce a degree.

The next day we were again early on the way to Lotzwil. Get there, find a spot, unpack it and set it up and run a nice piece with the Hounds = Coursingterreinen view. The weather was very difficult. The ' Red ' field was life-threatening, the ' yellow ' field was full of stones and holes and was far too small + bordered by corn and corn fields and the ' Blue ' field was oersaai. After several judges and other managers looked at the ' Red ' field, Simon, together with the team that turned here, made the field safer. And that it has worked turned out, because there are no deaths, even just a few minimal injuries. The opening on Thursday evening was boring and cold. Little party mood and halfway the majority of participants walked away. It gets less every year, apparently it's only about the title and no More fun.

There were 16 Deerhound bitches reported of which 14 are present. All 11 males were there including three that are absolutely untrustable in the reception or, very aggressive. We had agreed beforehand that if Chidish were to be classified with one of these etters, he would not walk. What was I happy when it appeared that he had been classified in the first circulation with the German male Islay's Kurt Cobain. Chidish and Kurt Cobain had the very first course with the males on the ' red ' field.

Chidish took the lead clearly and two thirds of the course was leading. As he shot past the second pass, he continued to walk down the hill and later came up behind the hare. Because of this he was a second later with the Hare Dan Kurt Cobain. But he had walked a very good course. Unfortunately, when leaving the field that Kurt Cobain had been injured, he did not appear in the second circulation. When we saw the points of the first circulation we were a little surprised. Kurt had received more points from two judges than Chidish, for which… no idea. After the first turn, Chidish was in ninth place, but we were already pleased that he had come unscathed of the field!

Also in the second turn, Chidish was classified with a reliable male so that we could go to the start without stress. Chidish took the lead again and ran a good course. The third course in this circulation, was for the two highly placed; The German Islay's Little John and the Swiss Nelungaloo untouchable. The latter was at the top with 447 points. We had already noticed that this dog was constantly kept aside and yes, at the reception he dived on his partner without any excuse. This should have been a fatty disqualification according to the new FCI regulations but so far no jury member has been involved. He did get fewer points and landed in tenth place. Chidish was finally allowed to take sixth place on stage.

Islay's Jock appeared to have ended in fifth place and when it was already growling the podium, he had the sweetest right Chidish attacked. What an aggression radiated this male! Chidish shot completely in the stress and wanted to finish the stage as quickly as possible, I had my hands full to hold him in place. He finds the courses beautifully and he does it full of surrender but on stage next to one bonk tension, that does not need for him anymore and I think that I no longer harming him.

Sunday, Simon had to judging half a day and we enjoyed the greyhounds. Monday we packed up our mess again and we drove home in one go. On to next year, we have to organize a field at the European Championships in Denmark. Hopefully that will be a more sociable European Championship!