Report from Victor Pogson
Wendy Pogson from Ripon will be competing for Great Britain with her German Shepherd Dog, Vytensa Calli in this year’s FCI IPO World Championships which take place in Slovenia from 14th – 18th September.
The World Championships run for four days with teams entered from 36 countries from around the world. Competitors will complete all three phases of the competition: Tracking, Obedience and Protection.
Wendy has been involved with the sport of IPO (or Schutzhund as it was known) for around seven years. Having owned dogs for over twenty years, she had previously done obedience training and tried her hand at Agility and Flyball, but was encouraged to take part in Schutzhund by the breeders of her older GSD, Kaiser. Having discovered the sport, which is not yet very well-known in the UK, Wendy was keen to progress through the levels, and bought Calli, whose pedigree includes some top working German Shepherds.
IPO Clubs are quite few and far-between in the UK, so competitors often have to travel long distances. Wendy can often be seen on the M62 heading to training with North West IPO Club in Manchester at the weekend and has taken part in trials and training with clubs as far apart as Fife and South Wales. She has even been known to travel to Belgium for training weekends!
Calli has progressed through the IPO qualifications, starting with the “BH” temperament test and followed by IPO1, IPO2 and most recently IPO3. She has also completed her Kennel Club Good Citizen Award and the “AD” Endurance test – a half-marathon distance running alongside a bicycle.
