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Agility at Kellenhusen: High-performance sport demands everything from dogs
Kellenhusen.Things really start to work out in an agility championship on the fenced obstacle course between beach and dam at Kellenhusen. There is tension and maximum concentration in dogs and humans – they make a team. When the starting shot is fired, the dog begins to run, jump over obstacles in a fixed order, race through several meters and narrow tunnels, and, at lightning speed, roll around closely spaced poles. It makes you feel dizzy just watching it. Dog trainers run along, giving signals and calling out individual words to their four-legged friends so that they can complete the course successfully.
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Between the Baltic and the Dam: Part of the Agility Championship Arena in Kellenhusen on Dog Day 10, which takes place June 11-12.
© Source: Agency 54 degrees
A huge boom in Germany: speed is becoming more and more popular
Those who are particularly fast and never make mistakes stand atop the podium at the Ostsee Cup in Kellenhausen – one of Germany’s most popular agility tournaments. In a sport that has been growing in popularity for years, as Marek Stephen learned from Linsan. This year, there are about 400 registrations for the 250 starting positions – despite the fact that the agility championships are also held in Heiligenhafen at the same time. “More and more people want to keep their dogs occupied,” Stephen says.
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Well-established team: Marieki Stephen and her Border Collie “Del”.
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Border Collie – the perfect breed for fitness
For some time now, agility has been professionalized, and halls are being built all over Germany so that dogs can be sported all year round. “We have participants from North Rhine-Westphalia competing outdoors for the first time,” says Steffen.
She was initially with her seven-year-old dog “Dell,” a Border Collie. Working and herding dogs are among the leaders in this sport. “Very smart and athletic,” says the 46-year-old. This is becoming increasingly important, as the roads are becoming more and more demanding.
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The course also includes a section with columns that should be cruising around the meander.
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Agility – a high performance sport for dogs
“It is a high-performance sport for dogs and requires a lot of training. Training alone lasts for two years and starts when we are dogs,” explains Stephen, who takes part in the German Championships with “Dell” and is trying to get one of the five places in the German national team. In Kellenhusen she can collect points for this. As the sport has become so demanding, many teams no longer compete in tournaments and play the sport in clubs without competition, Stephen says. So that the idea of competition is not limited to a small group, there are at least four performance classes.
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Driven by passion and sociability, Katie Seibel (left), Katherine Nielsen and Svenja Mund participate in the agility championships with their dogs.
© Source: Agency 54 degrees
Hamburg’s Katie Schiebel takes a relaxed approach to the tournament: “Fun and sociability are the focus – not competition.” She competes with her four-year-old Cocker Spaniel “Pippi Lotta” and goes to tournaments almost every weekend. Comrade-in-arms Svenja Mund passionately pursues sports with Ewok and Crowley – two top young athletes. “The dog gets a replacement,” she says. “A positive outlet for physical and mental demands.” But there are also breeds of dogs that “carry agility out of love for the owner and then wait for confirmation and praise — like “Pippi Lotta,” adds a grinning Schippel.
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Jasmine Loach with “Benji” (from left), Marion Rosner with “Tymmy” and Melanie Sommer with “Ella” complete an introductory course on decadence with Monica Hellmann (second from right) from ArtHundWeise dog school.
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But there’s also a show on Dog Day apart from the stress of competition and the stopwatch. ArtHundWeise dog school in the area is offering an introductory workshop on decadence. Here, too, it relates to obstacles, but not ambition and speed in the foreground, but rather patience and calm. Insecure dogs can become more courageous and train their coordination. That was the reason why Jasmine Loach was there as well. Her four-year-old son, Benji, suffers from severe anxiety and insecurity. “Hopefully it will be better.”
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by Manuel Buchner