Hello, my name is Lesley Neville. The two dogs in the photograph are Angus on the left and Hamish on the right.
I would like to thank the Norwegian Kennel Club for the honour of being invited as the Head Judge for The Nordic Championship Show held on the 26th and 27th November 2011, and send the organisers the very best of wishes that all goes smoothly with your very first Championship Show.
I have been asked to send in a little about myself, I hope you find it interesting.
As a child I always wanted a dog but that was not to be as I had a mother and a sister who are allergic to fur and feather, so I had to wait until I had a place of my own to fulfil my dream of owning a dog. My first dog was a lovely rescue Border Collie cross Golden Retriever who I called Max. Fortunately Max just wanted to be with me and so my ignorance about how to train a dog was not a problem!
However, I soon discovered the sport of Obedience and got the bug. For ten years I competed in Obedience, with Max, soon to be joined by another rescue, a Labrador called Sam. Another rescue found me with Moss, a little crossbreed puppy found in a ditch, and he was soon joined by Kiy who was not a rescue. We reached the dizzy heights of 'B' class then I changed direction and spent the next ten years competing in Working Trials. Moss and Kiy got me as far as WDex but were aging so I started looking for another dog. I had recently been introduced to the Working Beardie, fell for them hook, line and sinker, put my order in for the next litter, and became the proud owner of my first Working Beardie, Robbie, Highlander Red Robbie. I competed in Working Trials, gaining TDEx with Robbie, for a few more years but was gradually being more and more intrigued by the new sport of Heelwork to Music, and just had to try it. Robbie and I entered our first HTM competition in 1998, but really started to concentrate on the sport in 2000.
In 2001 two important events occurred. A new puppy called Angus, Choxxstart Dream Angus, nephew to Robbie, arrived and by 2001 both my husband and I were ready to join a group of friends with the aim forming a club dedicated to this sport and so Canine Freestyle GB was created. www.caninefreestylegb.com
Although Angus did well in Working Trials the Heelwork To Music was becoming more and more important to me and both Robbie and Angus were loving the sport too, so friends Kath and David Hardman, Karen Sykes and Allan Brown, my husband Roger and I decided that as well as running the club, CFGB, and organising shows we would form a display team, Top Lodge Dancing Dogs, www.dancingdogs.co.uk to promote the sport all over the country, and to help others who, like us, want to dance with their dogs. The team has been very successful dancing all over the United Kingdom; we have even danced for His Royal Highness The Prince Of Wales.
Sadly I no longer have Robbie, but my family now includes Beardie number three, Hamish, (Red Hot Hamish At Choxxstart), a three year old, and number four, Archie, (Choxxstart Red Archie), 8 months old. As you see I still love the Beardies! My dogs and I have competed at Crufts each year since the sport was recognised by the British Kennel Club, and Angus has Qualified for the Semi Finals to be held in January 2012, but before that Angus and I will be competing in both Heelwork To Music and Freestyle at the Open European Championships in Denmark on the 22nd and 23rd of October.
I look forward to meeting all the Competitors, organisers and helpers in November, and wish you all good luck!
******************************
Heidi Frederiksen (DK)
My name is Heidi Frederiksen and i am danish and live in Copenhagen.
First time i learned about dog dancing was in 2005 and i went to an introduction to HTM arranged by the Danish Kennel Club. Here they asked some of us to become judges, and we were educated by the british judges. Since 2006 where Denmark had its first official HTM competition (where i participated with my former dog a lovely and crazy Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever) i have been lucky to judge in many of the danish competitions.
I love the sport because it is a sport for all people and all dog breeds. I feel that it is a very unique and magic sport because HTM can touch the spectators feelings by creating a show that fits the music.
My dog is a 4 year old border collie named Yatzi. We practise tricks every day - cause we both love it. We don't enter HTM competitions as often as i would like because lack of time, but we do a lot of other things like agility and shows. I also love to dance myself - and is a pretty active dancer in "old style" dancing = Lindy Hop (Jitterbug) and Charleston.
I feel very honored to be invited to judge the Nordic Championsship and i wish everyone good luck!
***********************************
Nina Haaland (N), dømmer lørdag/judging saturday
Jeg heter Nina Haaland og har holdt på med freestyle i ca 10 år. I 2005 tok jeg initiativ til å starte Norsk Freestyleforening. Jeg satt som styreleder den første tiden, men er nå "bare" stolt æresmedlem i klubben. Jeg har vært dommer siden freestyle og HTM ble godkjent hundesport i Norge fra 1.1.2010.
Jeg jobber med hund på heltid som instruktør og atferdskonsulent i Hundeskolen Hund i Fokus. Selv har jeg 2 hunder: Amstaffblandingen Litten på 13,5 år og schäferblandingen Jack på 7,5 år. For tiden trener jeg ikke så aktivt freestyle, men noe blir det jo. Jeg trener ellers litt rundering og annet søksarbeid. Jeg har også to hester og en datter :-)
My name is Nina Haaland and I have been involved in Freestyle for the past ten years. In March 2005 I took the initiative to start the Norwegian Freestyle Association. I was the president in the beginning, but now I am "only" a proud honorary member. I have been a judge since Freestyle and HTM were approved as canine sports in Norway on January 1, 2010.
I work full time with dogs as an instructor and behavioral consultant at my dog school "Hund i Fokus". I have two dogs myself: Litten the American Staffordshire Terrier mix (13,5 years old), and Jack, a 7,5 year old German Sheperd mix. Currently I am not actively competing in freestyle, but I do train once in a while of course. Otherwise I train some "search and rescue" training and other search activities. I also have two horses and a daughter (and a wonderful husband :-)) Edit.: The husband is also an excellent translator ;-)
********************************
Hi!
My name is Carola Brusevold, and dogs are both my proffession and my hobby. I am educated as a dog - instructor, a dog - groomer and as a physioterapist for dogs. I run my own little dog school: Råde Hundeskole, in the southeast of Norway. I offer a variaty of trainingclasses, both in different dogsports and on different levels of training.
I live on the countryside with my husband and to sons, at the age of 11 and 16. I have for the time beeing 3 Pumies at home, they are 2, 4 and 6 years old. I have been a "hobby dogbreeder" for about 20 years, because I don`t hav more than a litter every 2. or 3. year. I get all to attached to all "my" puppies...
I love to train different sports with my dogs, like obedience, freestyle & HTM, rally and agility.
But most of all my dogs are my working - companions, - and of course our family dogs! Sadly, I seldom compete myself. This is because I don`t have to much energy since I struggle a bit with some healthissues (ME) after a borreliainfection 6 years ago. Because of this I have to be very strict in my priorities: first family, then job and then hobby. But my intension is definetively to compete more in the future!
I have been an authorized judge for freestyle/HTM since january 2010, and I am very honored to be invited to judge in the Nordic Championship in Norway. I really look foreward to this competition, and I wish all competers all the best of luck!
