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Publicity
A month before, the FCI's posters started appearing in Basel City.
This one was found in the #14 Tram which passes by the St. Jakob Arena,
where this world championship was to be held.
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The posters were literally everywhere in Basel.
This one was pasted on the Poop Box in the forest
where Harry usually goes for a walk.
This way, they could effectively spread the news
that hundreds of agility dogs were coming from foreign countries.
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Day 1: Veterinary Control and Training
Harry's master entered the arena before 6:30 in the morning.
She had a meeting on the work schedule with other staff members.
Harry's master became responsible for helping the Croatian Team,
the Czech Team, the Danish Team and the Japanese Team.
She has already met most of the Czech competitors a month ago at
The IMCA&PAWC Agility Event.
They were so delighted to see someone they knew there.
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Day 2: Opening Ceremony
The ceremony started on time. Everybody said that was so Swiss!
All National Teams marched into the arena in the alphabetical order.
The photo shows Harry's master holding the country card of "USA"
and leading the US Team into the arena.
Some of the US team members were very surprised to see Harry's master,
as they knew her from USDAA agility trials.
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The Trophies
The trophies were beautiful square glass plates.
They were all handmade by Mr. Daniel Howald,
a well-known glass/pottery artist from Berner oberland.
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Individual Jumping
The first game was Jumping Individual.
There are three height classes in FCI agility events.
And they all run different courses.
The Jumping Individual started from Large to Small.
The course for the Large class was very difficult and
many dogs went off course at the third jump.
The Small and the Medium class courses were somewhat easier.
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Day 3: Team Jumping and Agility
There were only Team competitions on Day 3.
A team consists of three dogs.
The most important thing in Team is "Accuracy".
If any of the three gets disqualified,
then the Team has no chance to win.
Most competitors looked more careful when running the Team courses.
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Day 4: Individual Agility
The last day of the world championship.
Probably the most stressful day for the competitors who did well
in Individual Jumping on Day 2, as the total score of Individual
Jumping and Individual Agility determins the winners of
the Individual Championship Title.
(Photo Courtesy by Hiroko Ikeda)
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Intermission
The arena was completely full, as it was the last Sunday of
the Autumn School Holiday in Basel.
During the intermission, a cow and a lion appeared on the stage
and started dancing Macarena with dancers.
Soon French and Italian supporters joined on the stage.
It did not take long for everybody in the arena started dancing.
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Award-Giving Ceremony
Harry's master was so grateful that the teams she was helping
did extremely well in the FCI Agility World Championship.
The Czech Team won the Team Small Championship.
They also came in second in the Team Medium.
The Japanese team could not stand on the podium, but they were
very close. They placed 4th in the Team Small.
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The Croatian Team won the Team Large Championship.
The team leader of Croatia, Alen, also won this year's
European Open Agility.
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Simic the Border Collie and Sarah from Denmark won
the Individual Large Championship.
The Large Class was mostly dominated by Border Collies.
They were all very fast and accurate.
They were really competing over 0.01 seconds.
The Danish Team also placed third in the Team Medium.
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The winner of the Individual Small was
Pebbles the small poodle and Martin from Switzerland.
Harry and his master always see Martin in local agility
trials in Basel. (See note below)
Thus Pebbles became Harry's new friendly rival in Switzerland.
Congratulations to Pebbles and Martin!
Queen's "We Are the Champions" was played after the ceremony.
It is no great mystery that everybody feels like crying
when he hears this music in any agility events.
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Organising Committee
The members of this World Championship's Organising Committee.
They were extremely effective in allocating works to staff members
and running this huge event on schedule.
The tallest man in the middle is Marco Mouwen.
An Agility Guru, famous in the US as well as in Japan.
Marco is hoping to hold another FCI Agility World Championship
in Switzerland, probably in another city, in the future.
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Another Trophy
A candle stand given to all staff in this world championship.
This was also made by the same glass/pottery artist
from Berner Oberland, Daniel Howald.
Harry's master was so honoured when she received this gift at the end.
This is the end of FCI Agility World Championship 2006 Report.
Harry's master had a chance to talk to all country teams
and asked the basic five commands in their languages again.
If interested, go to Five Basic Commands in Many Languages!
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FCI Agility World Championship 2006 
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