Rikke Wriedt
All my life I have been fascinated by animals. My childhood dream was to get a dog. I spend hours searching for the right breed, reading about training and dreaming of running agility. I had been begging my parents for a dog over a year when they finally gave in. I was twelve years old when I got my first dog, Fille a red/white border collie female. Since 1996 I had 8 border collies; Fille, Speedy, Genie, Cosmo, Jazz, Zap, Bob and Poncho. Bob is a littermate to Zap and sired by Jenny Damm's Elvis. He's primarily my mothers dog, but I will be the one handling him in agility. Poncho - a rescue dog - joined us in September 2009.
Over the years I have been involved with many different aspects of dog sports such as tracking, obedience, flyball, rally-O, herding and of course agility. Agility has always been my main interest. I have been competing since 1998 and I can't imagine a life without it. I have always had a dream about joining the national team and competing at the FCI World Championship - but I haven't had the chance to do so yet.
My dogs are first and foremost my pets and life companions and I have them with me everywhere I can. I don't get a new 'agility dog' but a new dog to share my life with. Agility is just something I love to do and a sport I love to teach my dogs. Agility is teamwork so I guess that's why I like it. My dog and I must work together as a team to get it right. My job is to get the timing of my handling correct in order to show my dog where it needs to go next. My dogs job is to perform the obstacles. We both need to get a round the course as quickly as possible. Even though I compete it does not equals a desperate hunt for results. I like competing because it is the best way to test how well I have taught my dog different skills. Like holding 2on2off position or staying at the start line until released. If these behaviors break down under pressure I definitely know what I need to work on. I can be just as thrilled with and off-course run that I can with a clean run - the great results aren't everything if the run it self did not meet my criteria. That's the beauty of it.
When I am not training my dogs or teaching agility I study veterinary medicine at the University of Copenhagen.
Seminars, classes and camps I have taught
- April 2010 - Jumping skills class in Skælskør
- February 2010 - Jumping skills class in Horsens
- August 2009 - Article publish in 'Hund og Træning' magazine
- July 2009 - 3-day Jumping skills class at the Danish Border Collie Club
- July 2009 - Agility instructor at 'Hund og Træning' clicker camp
- June 2009 - Evening seminar on agility foundation
- May 2009 - Taught a 3-day jumping skills class
- March 2009 - Taught jumping skills at a weekend seminar in DCH
- November 2008 - Article published in 'Hund og Træning' magazine
- November 2008 - Gave a lecture in DCH about jumping skills and conditioning the canine athlete
- September 2008 - Article published in 'Hund og Træning' magazine
Classes, courses and educations I have attended
- April 2009 - handling seminar with Anita Axelsson
- September 2008 - took a break from teaching at the Border Collie Club to focus on my studies.
- September 2008 - stud.med.vet - accepted at veterinary medicine
- July 2008 - Handling course with Ann Croft
- April/May 2008 - Jumping skills course with Vappu Alatalo
- October 2007 - Runar Næss weekend seminar
- October 2007-April 2008 - attended the 'Hund og Træning' clicker instructor education and past it with an excellent
- November 2006 - past the DKK agility instructor exam
- April 2006 - attended DKK course for upcoming agility instructors
- March 2006 - attended DKK behavior and handling course and past the exam
- February 2006 - attended a mandatory DKK basic course
- October 2005 - Claudia Elsner weekend seminar
- August 2005 - attended handling course with Jørgen Tellqvist
- April 2005 - started as an agility instructor in the Danish Border Collie Club (BCK)
- March 2005 - herding class with Collin Seaborn
- Summer 2004 - herding seminar with Anne Nyquist-Hansen