2009 FH World Championship results - Page 3

I did'nt get any video, it would have been difficuly due to the terrain,(rolling hills) and size of the tracks (there were laid in a 300 meter x 300 meter area for each track) and often they would'nt let you too close to any area other than the start.   I will try to post som pics this weekend

Thank you, AL & Jeff for the information it sounds very difficult. Why don't we have tracking trials like this in our Country? What qualifications are needed to get on a World FH team? Thanx Tony

As for the qualification stuff, all the information is listed on the AWDF web site.  That website being www.AWDF.net
As for why we don't have trials like this, that's a good question.  To have a championship for the IPOFH, at the very least you would need 2 judges, a minumum of 750 acres with different terrain changes, excellent track layers, and a lot of practice area.  The best time for a championship would be in the late fall, in terms of being ready for the FCI IPOFH selection.

Probably the biggest turn off for the clubs and people I have spoke to is the potential loss of money. 
Tracking isn't a big spectator sport, and at the 3 world tracking championships that I have attended, only at this last year was there one vendor.  He was there because the local high school where we met in the mornings, also was the home for his Mondio club, so he set up a booth.   Let's say we get 10 competitors, and charge them $200 each, that still wouldn't cover the judges airline and hotel costs.  Add to that you couldn't really expect all the workers, and track layers to donate their time.  The trial runs about a week, so you're asking your club people to give up a lot of time.  Most folks are at the very least given a hotel room, and a meal or two, but again that needs someone to fund it.

I would say the biggest event in the fall is generally the USA national, but hosting a good national championship is already a lot of work.  We have all been at championships that were understaffed, and for the most part just getting a club to host one championship is a huge undertaking.

So the approach we have been trying is to get more folks involved with tracking.  In recent years a FH1 has been added to the AWDF championship, and while this is only a basic level test, and I know it's a good hard test, it helps build a good competitive base of people to draw from.  Perhaps we can change this to a FH2 sometime down the road or add a FH2 championship in the fall.  As a note, we do need more people to be involved with tracking.  This was the first year 5 teams put their names in for consideration.  In the past 2 guys that were actually on the team pulled twice, in different years with with not much notice.  I'm not even saying they didn't have good reasons either, just that we had no alternates available.

Lastly we are a huge country and putting something in one area, or time generally leaves someone else out.  So until we can get more folks interested in tracking on this high of a level, we felt the best approach was to use the qualification process on the AWDF web site.

Al Govednik

These tracks cover a huge area, The tracks at the FCI event  covered a 300 x 300 meter area that's aproximatly 15 football fields.  you reall can't appreciate how long one of these tracks are until you see one or better yet walk one..For an IPO FH you run 2 of these tracks.

For an example I believe my camera has a 12x zoom which equates to a 400mm telephoto lens  at the farthest point of the track that was really not enough lens. These tracks are really big.
 
Jeff

Thanks Al and Jeff for all the information. 

i took time out of work to attend the north american fh championship and they did not allow no one to see it including the participating handlers, carlos took 1st place and andres took 2nd place. i wanted to see my first fh championship and i wanted to see ike. I like tracking and have seen carlos train ike and i wanted to support him being at that how is it that tracking trials will get more people involved if they do not allow spectators to watch.I was very happy that i was able to watch the masters and saw helmut and all the top world competitors track. v.

I was thinking the same thing, limiting the number of vehicles.   We had that situation at last years AWMA Nationals.  People were encouraged to share rides as there was very limited parking at the tracking venue but spectators were not prohibited.

The problem is at a tracking event with larger tracks you have a problem of limited accesability espcially if there are a fair number of competitors.  The people who are being gracious enough to let us use our fields for our dogs often do not want a large amount of traffic traveling over their field (whether it be pedestrial or vehicular).  There is also a crowd control side to it as no one wants to see spectators spoil some ones track. Also i have shown at trials where I had to walk a fair distance just to get to my track. So at times just due to the size especially for an FH 2 make it more difficult for the spectator, part of this is to make things more fair to the competitors and less intrusive for the land owners in hopes we can still get  to use these areas in the future.

Jeff

Man... my hats off to guys that go to World Tracking championships...Out of the 3 parts ofthe Schutzhund, it is the hardest for me, although I am mediocre otpassable handler at best in the other 2.

By far, the tracking has taken me more time and effort than all other things I have done with the dog combined and the frustrating thing is the progress is soooo slow. Yes, there is progress but it comes in spoonfull doses.

The most frustrating thing is spending half an hour bending the back (and feeling the pain of laying down the tracks and the damn dog just blows through it like a hurricane missing 60% of the stuff on the first pass. Yeah, he's still a pup at a year old, but still, it always makes me feel so ...unappreciated. and my back protests a lot too.

Anyway. Only people who are successful at tracking... No, scratch that hell, ANYONE who had tried to teach tracking 3 to 4  times a week for say 2 months ONLY - nothing more, than given up, can appreciate what these guys accomplish, let alone to compete at the highest level. Unless they invent interplanetary tracking with an alien green GSD, world championship is the highest level.

So, again, my hat off to you guys, and just letting you know that your efforts, accomplishments and results are watched, kept track of, admired and respected.

By far, for me, the part of Schutzhund that really separates the men from boys and pussies from determined tough ones is doing tracking. BEcause, tracking is a mental thing first - perseverance and patience.

Keep up the good work Jeff, Al and the gang!