Dog Olympic Games 2012 - day 2

I am in Italy to judge dog dancing at the Dog Olympic Games. It has been an interesting experience - meant in the most positive way.

The Dog Olympics are held in fabulous settings and the dog dancing hall is fantastic. It is big and has a beautiful ring for the competitors to strut their stuff in. It could not be any better.

The organization is not as impressive. The whole thing is organized by a lady, who means well, but is too busy and knows a lot about dog sports in general, but not much about dog dancing. It took ages to get the score sheets we needed to judge, the score keeper made errors in his calculations, so we had to check everything afterwards and there weren't enough medals for the winners. The dog dancing show manager was only appointed to the job yesterday morning, because the previous show manager didn't show up and she is working so hard just on the damage control.

I must say that I have truly enjoyed my day here though. Everyone are so friendly and I am having a lot of fun with my friend Helle, who is also here as a judge.

The competition was good. There were some brilliant novice routines and the winners of the official classes all performed lovely routines with good content and accuracy. The unofficial classes were not quite as good - a lot of basic moves and not much musical interpretation.

This is one of the dogs that performed at the show today. A mix breed named Aida. She was so funny, but oh so naughty in the ring. Adorable dog that made me laugh.

Emmy (still missing the Hazyland boys)