Swiss, Slovenians and Czechs win Team competition won by the Swiss with extreme weather conditions.
The 14th IRO World Championship of Rescue dogs in Samobor/Croatia ended with the victory of Rudolf Kloetzli (Switzerland) in rubble search, Roman Starman (Slovenia) in area search, Jan Pokorny (Czech Republic) in tracking search and the Swiss team (Schweizer Militärhundeführer Verein) in team competition.
The Championship which took place from 3.- 6. of July 2008 in Croatia and was partly carried out under extreme weather conditions. 105 rescue dog teams from 18 nations (as far as Japan and Korea) had registered and competed for medals and against the bad weather. It was difficult to work at temperatures above 30°C and high humidity. During a thunderstorm it was almost impossible to work as the dogs work with their nose in order to follow the scent. Once the championship had even to be suspended due to hailstorms.
The President of IRO (International Rescue Dog Organisation) Dr. Wolfgang Zoerner said that the search work was “very demanding” and added: “It has to be taken into consideration that during a World Championship top performance has to be shown in all three disciplines (searchwork, obedience and dexterity). If the dog handler and his dog only fail in one discipline the overall result will be negative”. But Dr. Zoerner also added that a World Championship can never be compared with a real rescue dog mission.
In a mission several dogs would search at once and the dogs and their handlers do have only one mission: save human lives. In a mission the teams do not have to obey testing standards. Nevertheless the work shown during the Championship - which was sponsored by “Royal Canin” – was of high quality. Search technique is well trained by the dog handlers but many of the dogs have to increase their physical fitness.
The next IRO World Championship will take place from 29. June until 5.
July 2009 in Craiova/Romania.
Information about the 14th IRO World Championship and the final results http://www.iro-sp2008.com.hr/
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