Team GB and Kath in Dog World

Read Dog World's article about Kath Hardman and Team GB's success here!

Another site online

Kath Hardman from Team GB has uploaded a site about her World Championship experience. I have heard that it will be extended when she has time... So check it out now and then go back regularly to see if there are new photos or more text.

Click here!

Herning Folkeblad - Saturday

Click on the pictures to enlarge them enough to read the articles (if you read Danish).

Special World Dog Show Edition of Herning Folkeblad

Herning Folkeblad published a special World Dog Show edition of their paper with an article about the FCI HTM & Freestyle Championships.

Brigitte van Gestel and Ruby in Herning Folkeblad

Herning Folkeblad - the local Herning newspaper - wrote a big article about the World Championship and used lots of photos of Brigitte and Ruby from Holland. They even made it to the front page!

Well done Brigitte and Ruby - you look great!

Emmy and Jenny on TV

Watch Emmy M. Simonsen from Team Denmark and Jenny Deakin from Team GB on TV Midt Vest's web TV. Click here!

They were filmed when they performed in the Mani Arena this morning.

Biscuit on '24 Sjællandske'

Clik here!!! to watch Emmy and Biscuit's (Team Denmark) morning interview with '24 Sjællandske' on web-tv.

Changes on the Swedish Freestyle Team

Linda Laika with Holly will not be competing in Herning

Linda Laika from the Swedish Freestyle Team has chosen to withdraw. The team's freestyle reserve Agnes Mohlin with Border Collie Pelle will be competing instead of her.

Agnes and Pelle were already on the Swedish HTM team, but will now be competing in both HTM and Freestyle.

We wish Sweden and Agnes the best of luck.

Agnes Mohlin and Pelle will be competing in both HTM and Freestyle.

Safe Journey

I guess you are all busy packing and sorting the last travel arrangement. Time for some last minute shopping and a last training session before setting off…

I think Team GB will be the first to leave home… They are off tomorrow morning… Holland and France will be on their way Wednesday and so will I.

I wish you all a safe and pleasant journey and am looking forward to seeing you in Herning for 4 days of HTM and Freestyle fun.

See you soon!
Emmy M. Simonsen
Team Denmark

Good Luck Wishes from Ann DeRizzio

Ann DeRizzio was visiting Denmark in 2008 to teach HTM and Obedience...

I gather that Team GB set forth to Denmark on Monday.

The very best of luck to all the team: Gina, Kath, Penny, Carole, Michelle and Jenny and all your super dogs, I really hope you have fun and enjoy your time away.

Also good luck to my Danish friends: Anja, Helle, Johanna, Jette and Emmy.

And good luck, all the Danish HTM’ers who are working hard to make the show run professionally and smoothly – I am sure that they have got everything covered and will put on a fantastic event.

I look forward to watching the routines which will no doubt pop up on YouTube.

Regards

Ann

Greetings from a Danish Freestyle Dachs

It is just around the corner… the most exciting doggy event ever… Our team is almost ready. We have practiced and prepared for months and now it is almost time.

Addi and I are so excited to be a part of the Danish freestyle team in Herning.

It has been great to follow the events on this super blog. I can’t wait to meet you at this first World Championship.

We wish you all a super time in Herning – both competitors, helpers and spectators. Thank you to everyone, who are doing their best to make this World Championship an unforgettable experience.

Best wishes
Jette and Addi the dancing Dachshund
Team Denmark

Greetings from Team GB

Just 8 days before HTM Team GB leave for the competition in Denmark.

Preparations are going really well - the team members live quite some distance away from each other (except Carole and Michelle Dodson) so practice is not being carried out on a team basis.The Team Members are all very involved with the sport of HTM and Freestyle and are already competing hard as there is a big competition in Great Britain once or twice a month at the moment with around 200 entries per competition. Because of this, the Team's dogs are in constant training which is good as this means they do not need to intensify training for the World Championships.

Kath Hardman and Amber have competed at 3 competitions in the past 8 days so their training and practicing is continuing gradually with lots of play and reward and lots of "time out" too. They have been making sure over the past two months that their training is kept very motivated.

Greetings from Belgium

When I received my letter that announced that I was chosen to participate to the WC thanks to my sweet angel Eby, I was incredibly happy! I’m very proud of her. I’m glad that this WC gives me the opportunity to meet other Canine Freestylers and to see their beautiful performances live. We’re very much looking forward to this!!! It’s a big step for us because it’s the first time that we make such a long journey.

It’s getting closer now, and I feel the nerves coming up. But I’m sure that we’re going to enjoy this whole new experience. This way, I would like to thank my coach Elisa. She’s taught me every step and thanks to her we’ll be able to enjoy these nice days. Of course we’ve worked more on our choreography to improve the routine. We hope we can show the routine on the WC the way it goes during training. I hope that everyone can enjoy my cheerful girl Eby. She makes me very happy.

We are a very happy team and we wish everyone a lot of good luck and fun during these beautiful days!!!

Best wishes
Linda & Eby,
Belgium

Greetings from Russia

We are glad to take part in the First World Championship of Freestyle/HTM.

It is good that dances with the dogs develop more and more in all of the world and in Russia in particular!

This kind of canine sport is young, it is interesting and we wish that it will develop more and more!

We hope that our team will show good results, good dances and we will gain much experience, make new friends and have a brilliant time!

With best wishes from Russia!!!

Polina Ilina

Team Russia

The Swedish HTM Reserve

Unfortunately the Swedish HTM reserve Susanne Jaczewski has had to withdraw from the Swedish team as her beautiful labrador Oscar is ill.
We wish Oscar a speedy recovery. We will miss them in Herning.

Greetings from another Danish HTM Team Member

The first FCI HTM and Freestyle World Championships will open in 15 days!

WOW I am looking forward to it – I can’t believe that my wonderful Border Collie Queeny and I are going too take part in such an important event!

I have been looking forward to this since February, when we were asked to represent Denmark on the HTM team. Queeny is sleeping next to me on the sofa whilst I am writing this. She looks so relaxed – if only she knew what wonderful experience we have ahead of us :o).

Queeny and I have been training positions and links. I have tried to improve my own performance and to prepare mentally. We have both tried to get in better shape. I have had many thoughts regarding this Championship – it is just so very exciting.

This World Championship has been on my mind every day since February. It has been great to have a goal to train towards and now it is finally almost time… Yipeeee! One day I wish the Championship was tomorrow and the next day I have butterflies in my stomach and wish I had more time… at the moment I am excited and can’t wait!

I am looking forward to the opening ceremony. To be in that ring with the rest of the Danish team will be an incredible experience. I am so proud to be chosen to represent Denmark in HTM and we will do our very best. But I will feel like a winner no matter what happens on the day, just because I got to be there and experience the whole event with my beautiful dog, the Danish team and all you talented HTM and Freestyle handlers.

I am looking forward to see all your routines and I hope we will have an unforgettable weekend with each other and our dogs.

See you very soon.Have a safe journey.

Anja and Queeny,

Team Denmark

No Independent Competitors at the World Championship

There has been lodged a complaint to the FCI regarding the 5 independent Belgian dog and handler teams' participation at the World Championship. Unfortunately the result is that they will not be allowed to compete.
We are very sorry about this. Jules, Saskia, Simonne and Arlette will be missed in Herning.

Greetings From A Dutch Sheltie

"When I read Emmy's Blog 'It's not all about results and titles' I coudn't agree more and when she asked me to write a little something about how I felt about it all of course the answer was yes, eventhough I don't have much to add ;o).

For me it is such an honour to be able to represent Holland in both Freestyle and HTM at the World Championships, having only been doing Dog Dance for a little under 3 years. I think I'm not the only one when I say I'm a little insecure about my routines during training at times, especially about my Freestyle routine. The music we're using definately does not appeal to everyone, being classical and very dramatic, and when things go wrong during practise (like my crazy little Sheltie improvising throughout the routine or jumping up and barking at me from exitement...) this doesn't really help with my nerves ;o).

I must say that it would be nice if Jamies routines went well, and we're training a lot to make that happen, but getting high scores isn't everything. For me it is all about having a good time in AND around the ring. Therefore I'm looking forward to everything around the competition as well! Meeting the other competitors and their dogs, seeing them perform live, camping in a small tent with my mum who's coming along and our three dogs (I hope we're all going to fit in...), going out for dinner with everyone, being part of the opening ceremony... in short: to enjoy the full WC experience!

So no matter what happens, I'm gonna go home with the wonderful experience of having been there and even if we end up being last, I'm taking the most beautiful and precious little dog back home with me and so are all of you!

I want to thank the organisors for all of their hard work and keeping us posted through this blog. I hope to see you all in 3 weeks! Until then!

Best wishes,

Esther Niemeijer,

Team Holland

Greetings from Austria

I cannot describe what a big honour it is to represent Austria in the very first HTM World Championship in Denmark! After little problems with the entry, it is absolutely great to have the opportunity to be a part of this amazing event.

In Austria “Dog Dance” as we call it, is a very very young dog sport and there is just a small group of dog handlers who train and compete in this kind of dog sport. Just three years ago we had the very first official competition in Austria held at the International Dog Show in upper Austria. We also have just “Freestyle” in Austria so it is a new experience for me to compete in Heelwork to Music at the World Championship too. I really hope that the number of official Dog Dance competitions in Austria will grow in the next few years.

I have been working very hard on my routines and hope that everybody will enjoy. It will be the first time for me to do a Heelwork-routine but I love it and the Freestyle-routine will be very funny ;-). I am also excited to watch all the other great competitors! I was at Crufts the last two times, just as a visitor to get new Ideas for my routines and watched the world greatest handlers and their wonderful dogs. I can't wait to meet all the other participants in Denmark.

So I’m looking forward to meet you all in Denmark and have a very great time with our four-legged best friends!!!!

Best wishes from Austria

Birgit & Levin

Greetings from Holland

I am very excited and Yep I have to admit I am nervous too!

So many thoughts about our routine are going through my mind. Did I choose the right moves for the right places in the choreography? Are the links too hard or confusing for Floris? Is the length of my music too long? I have never before done a routine of 3.40 minutes. Do I have enough breath for this routine?

Nerves are killing me and also lack of breath when practicing our routine during an event :o) so yeah I have started to work on my own condition too!

I took the challenge of not using a prop in my routine. Now I doubt if I made the right choice.

It makes it even worse that I still have time to make changes. I wish I could leave for Denmark right now, so I could set all those questions and feelings to one side, simply because we ran out of time. So in fact, starting the trip to Denmark will give me rest, and I can start enjoying this wonderfull event. Until then I just need to survive :o).

Can't wait to see and meet all the other participants, looking forward to it very much.

Furthermore, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Danish HTM Committee, for all their hard work organizing this event, it is really appreciated and makes it even more exciting and special to be part of this first World Championship, so hats off to you.

For all other participants who do have same kind of Pre Competition stress; we will survive and have a wonderful time with each other - no doubt about it :o)

Grietje Wagenaar,
Team Holland