Received 09/14/2009 15:07
Monday, Sep 14 - Practice Day 2
Today we were back out at the practice site at 9:00 am for our final practice until Thursday. Again, all the team members looked great: Coach Nancy put up a tricky course with a very challenging weave pole entrance (an off course jump sitting very close to the pole entrance just inviting the handler to try and shape the dog’s approach). Caught all the small dogs and a couple of the others. They worked through that and then went on to run a jumpers course and finished up with some drills and bounce jumping. We ended practice at about noon. At that point, each of the teams took their vans and went off to do what ever they chose. The large and medium teams headed back to Dornbirn and the hotel. The small dog team (my van) wanted to stay in the area and do a little sightseeing. So, we went to the nearby town of Bad Ragaz, which is a spa town (Bad (rhymes with nod) means “bath” in german). The town was very pretty and there was sculptures all over the place. Every street corner seemed to have some type of statue or other art piece. Even the river had pieces suspened over it! We spent about 3 ˝ hours wandering around Bad Ragaz before heading back to the hotel. By that time, dogs and handlers were getting that “thousand yard stare” look in their eyes. They were all ready for a nap. A quick stop at a local store to buy Austrian Chocolate and we loaded up the van and headed home. Tomorrow, we are going over to Germany to visit Neuschwanstein Castle which is the most visited castle in Europe and is what Disney’s Cinderella’s castle is based on. Hope the weather is good! Photos from today's activities are up on my Facebook page.
