The Seminars in France

The training sessions began on Saturday morning with Kath and Karen having Mireille Poupard

their translator for the weekend.   She was superb and took great interest in all the work covered.

 Not having their own dogs with them - meant some of the training needed a "stooge dog" so Kath took to the floor whilst Karen showed the attendees what to do.

 This was then followed by individual attention and tuition to each handler.

 Sometimes its was easier to demonstrate with the handlers' dogs.

 This gave those learning time to watch in detail.

Karen demonstrates handler movement - an important part of Heelwork To Music and better practiced without your dog.
 
Lunch time at the venue - under the shade of the trees.

And eating yet again after one of the training days.  It was good for Karen and Kath to have quality time with these handlers who had travelled from France, Germany, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland

 Another eating opportunity - this time at a local Pizzeria.

 All recovering from two days hard work!

 Time to relax - Karen takes a shady seat with Mireille and her poodles.

 A visit to Corinne's training area.

 And yes!!!  Time to eat yet again!

Beautiful food before setting off to the airport.

 The French Border.

 The Rhine - looking very low.  It has been very dry weather and the river is far too low for this time of year.
The Rhine - like a beautiful holiday location with sandy beach.

Thank you to Corinne for inviting Kath and Karen to help you with your HTM and Freestyle.   And thank you to Vincianne Hubert for her photographs from the training days.

Training In France

Karen and Kath were invited to to present a Seminar in France whilst at the World Dog Show in Denmark in June 2010.

 

  

They flew to Stuttgart Airport in Germany - the closest airport to the venue in Seltz, France where they were collected by Corinne and her husband Steve who had waited patiently at the airport as the flight had been delayed by almost 1 hour.

 The seminar was held in Seltz, a small picturesque town the Alsace region in north-eastern France.

 

Hotel Des Bois where they stayed during the visit.

 The fabulous fresh salad available in the local supermarket.

The produce was so well presented and everything was so much bigger than in the UK  - no wonder the French are food critiques when they can get this wonderful quality at the supermarkets!

   

 A visit to the Seminar venue.  A lovely sized well ventilated building which would keep cool through out the weekend

 Plenty of space - with a large stage and kitchen area for the preparation of lunch.

 Mireille Poupard our translator for the weekend, was camping nearby the venue, she was to be the translator for the event.   On the camp site, storks have been reared for a few years - and now they have too many!

 Some storks are still using the purpose built nest holders.  Other birds were to be seen entering the heavily laden nests as they too had decided to make use of the storks nests.

 And it was the season for chicks.

 There were 4 chicks inside just one nest.

The parents could be seen flying off and gathering moss containing insects which they brought back to the nests.

 Other storks had made nests up in the trees.

 Synchronised sun bathing!

 The storks were a beautiful sight once in flight.

 The visit to around Seltz was followed by Kath and Karen being met by Corinne, Steve and Mireille and taken on a trip to see Strasbourg.   This building is the European Parliament. 

The European Palace of Human Rights

Then a tram ride into the city centre - the grass certainly beautified the tram tracks.

On board the tram

 Again the tram tracks are lawned.

Kath and Karen were invited for lunch provided by one of the seminar attendees, Etienne in his beautiful garden with beautiful roses.

 His garden was immaculate.

 And the lunch?   Wow!!   5 courses of home prepared food!
  

More sight seeing in the afternoon - this building is the cathedral.

 On a very hot day - it was good to see the fountains.

 The local dogs were happy to stand in the water for a quick cool down.

 Inside the Cathedral - a huge organ.

The square in front of the Cathedral with some very old architecture.

Look at the following Blog for more of HTM in France.