I really like South America. I think I have lived there in one of my previous lives... ;o) I love the nature, the culture and the people who live there. They are so relaxed, easy going, hospitable and happy. I feel really comfortable when I'm there!
After my stay in Colombia I went to Brazil for a seminar and a little bit of sightseeing. Unfortunately I didn't have so many days because I wanted to go home for a competition in Rättvik, one of the biggest in Sweden and my last competition of the year. (I will write more about Rättvik later).
But the days I had in Brazil was great! I have been in Brazil before and I knew I like it. But most of the agility courses I have been to was placed in the middle of Sao Paulo, squeezed in between houses and with a lot of traffic passing. This time I was at
Dog World with Dan Wroblewski and it was a wonderful place outside from Sao Paulo. A place in my taste, I really enjoyed it!
The seminar was fun and there was two groups per day and also several listeners. All of them were really involved in the training and the time flied away :o) It was hot weather both days. I couldn't walk barefoot as I like, it felt like my feet was burning... I thought about the dogs, must have been very hot for them too. Brazil has had a lot of good team results in the WC. Especially after they started with only three dogs in the team. They have been very safe and stable and they don't take so many risks. I felt that this has influenced many handlers in Brazil. I don't say it's wrong, but I like to give everything when I run, take risks, run like hell and have fun :o) So that was one of the things I worked with. To make people run more, to trust the dogs and be brave to try things. The things they couldn't do right now can be trained. It's just like that, anyone can learn anything, it's just a matter of time and training and to find a way for the dog to understand what you want to teach. And as I said, I had really fun chasing them around the course! ;o) Thank you Dan and Tiago who organized the seminar!
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| Before I left Colombia I got a very special gift. It was a caricature statue of me and Lotus, nice memory! Now it stands beside Lotus' WC-gold :o) Thanks Tathi and Andrés for a wonderful time in Colombia!! |
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| Nice training place in at World Dog in Brazil! Far from traffic and other noise... |
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| Dan also has a kennel and a place for socialize street dogs before adoption |
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| The place from the course view. I stayed in Dan's house, the one with the red roof in the background. |
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| Me and Tiago were out for a walk after his training one day. I asked if they had snakes there. -"No, not here in this area..." 20 sec later he almost stepped on one! As I wrote on fb, God are good at timing sometimes... ;o) Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture. |
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| We visited a Buddhistic temple and they had a small lake with lots of turtles, very social turtles! |
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| The turtle lake |
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| Fruit shopping with Dan, Tiago and Fernanda! |
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| Tobacco... a lot of tobacco... :o/ |
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| Course organizer and teacher :o) |
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| Course walk and explanation. It's important with a good interpreter, I had a good one! :o) |
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| Tiago arranged a portable sun protector for me, enough shade for a small teacher ;o) |
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| I had to keep my flip-flop on, otherwise I burned my feet... |
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| The people and dogs had big tents to be in order to avoid the hot sun |
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| The oldest participant, she was 70+, but her biggest problem was that her dog was too slow... ;o) We did some exercises to get it more exited and she made some flying starts = good results! :o) |
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| My friend Helio! I was so happy he was at the seminar, I hadn't see him for years!! And I got some new samba music :o) |
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| A visit in a small village with a very nice spirit. I really liked this place! |
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| I spend the last day with Tiago and his family, wonderful people! |
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| A little decoration in my hair :o) |
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| They sell everything in both Colombia and Brazil.. here you could buy a pet... |
A day by the sea in Falkenberg!
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| Training wait for the command to get over the street... |
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| Away to Me Miss Lilli |
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| First time by the sea, lots of interesting things... |
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| A fun rock :o) |
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| Lilli, Ogin & Elvis |
Verkligen rolig och inspirerande läsning :)
SvaraRaderaWhat you say about not taking risks is an old discussion here. Correct your vision about Brazilian handlers.
SvaraRaderaTanks for all. I hope 2012 seminar.
I just said it was a bit of my impression, that it might have influenced some handlers over the years. It might have changed but in my opinion some handlers needed to be more "offensive" in the handling (I don't know if that's the correct word for it in English). But on the other hand, it's quite often like that, I use to shout "RUN" to my students all over the world :o)
SvaraRaderaI thought it was a bit interesting to think about why Brazil has many good team results...
The word in portuguese is "agressivo"(aggressive in english).
SvaraRaderaThe difficulties to participate in a world championship are great, but I think we should have different handlers for teams and individuals. Individuals need to be more aggressives.
I wrote about your trip to Brazil on my blog, see: http://ferigatto.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/jenny-damm-impressoes/