On 30. 03. 2014 DŠPS organised 2nd memorial of Henrik Sečnik, i.e. dryland sleddog competition. This year there were more categories and also we participated in more categories than last year.

Heidi (CCR) competed in bikejoring open as the 1st retriever breed in Slovenia (1st time with Barbara, with hardly any training), Kala in canicross open, and Daisy (NSDTR) in dogging as the 4th "Slovene" retriever breed (this was her 1st time ever). Heidi has shown big improvement in all aspects (she was even 5 minutes faster than last year), for Kala it was too hot, so we went really slow to be on the safe side, and little Daisy, well, she still does not know that she was supposed to pull.

The organisation of the event was absolutely perfect, food was good, sponsor gave to every competitor usefull things: from dog food, to natural creams and rare seeds. Last are already "underground".

22. 03. 2014 was 1st Slovene dogtrekking in 2014 and 1st in organisation of Slovene trekking league (Slovenska treking liga). The weather was absolutely perfect for the dogtrekking and for the dogs, i.e. not too warm, not sunny, just right. The trail was also very interesting. 1st three check points were pretty easy to find.

The biggest problem we encountered on the trail was long and steep downhill slope from the 2nd to the 3rd check point. With dogs that know how to pull, with big dogs, and with more than just one dog, this was the major energy leak.

On the 3rd check point the organisers offered us water and food (potica, zaseka...). Thank you, it was just in the right time and place.

But the 4th check point was the problematic one. We did not find it. We lost so much time searching for it, that there would probably not be enough time to finish the dogtrekking before the nightfall. We had a bad feeling about the trail from 5th to 6th check point, because it was through the forest without any special paths on the map. The last "problem" was the small dog, that followed us (labrador Heba that was in season) from the start, and he was already at the end of his strenght, far away from home, probably completely lost. So the decision was to call the organisers to pick up 4 dogs (Kala, Heidi, friend Heba and the small dog) and 2 people (Barbara and friend Nika). Huge thanks to organisers.

However, the good thing is, that we were not even once completely lost. Othervise we learnt that you have to unleash the dogs when going downhill, if possible, that you have to unleash the dogs if the trail is very difficult to pass through, if possible, and if the only natural mark for orientation is river, go always near the river.

I have to say, that Nika and Heba are born for this sport (going downhill looked so easy, nice and perfect). If they did not wait for us from the 2nd to the 3rd check point, they would be much faster. Thank you Nika and Heba for the company.

We are hardly waiting for the 2nd dogtrekking to finish it with all check points collected.

Next day, 23. 03. 2014, we went to 4fun RO. Due to the dogtrekking Barbara could hardly walk, turn around etc. So it was very hard to be the handler for the dog that has to do rally obedience exercises.

Daisy, who did her 1st rally exam (RO1), and who responds to all small moves of the shoulder, arm... the whole body, could not understand what was going on. She also for the 1st time did all 15 exercises in one piece, she has not seen the signs till the exam, so she had to check one. However, she has passed the exam on a rainy day and with wet ground (but Daisy does not mind wet and rainy).

Heidi participated on 4fun RO in RO1 class, Kala in RO2 class. Kala performed very nicely (she does well on colder days, like this one), just she did not want completely to lie down onto the wet ground (never happened before - she likes to play in puddle, mud...). On the other hand Heidi has to lie down faster and in one piece (she goes down 1st with arms, holds her bottom up for few seconds, and if you demand also to put down the bottom, she does it eventually - but prefers "bottom up").

Even if the day was rainy and cold, it was a very nice and fun day, where we got the pleasure to see new dog sport, with the "working title" trikarija, being born. Our dogs already know some of the exercises, however many still have to be learnt. At this point, when Kala passsed RO4 (there is no RO5), "trikarija" will start to fill her brains.