Gingerbell - Obedience

The sport of dog obedience was born in the late '50s in the US and in the north of Europe and it's now rising in our country. In Italy an increasing number of trainers and clubs are involved and actively working for the official the sport has been recently acknowledged by the kennel club and a rule book has been approved, and people is working for a correct spreading of this sport and its true spirit.
Italian Obedience Team The first time we saw Obedience in Italy was in April 1997 when Ulf Kalborg and Nils Runelarsson came for an obedience stage in Turin.
These two Swedish champions came back to Italy in February 1998 giving the right start to the development of this discipline, expecially because the European Championship in Italy was approaching. Two others Swedish trainers, Katia Maines and Gro Sundell and the italian Carlo Marzoli, have been of great help to those who wanted to keep up with this discipline.

In Obedience, concentration, precision and timeliness of the dog in doing a task are of great importance and a reaction of submission by the dog or of hesitancy in the handler are to be penalized. To succeed, a good handler while training his dog should always look for a precise but dynamic performance, always keeping up the dog's motivation to his work.

Obedience European Championship - Genova, April 25/26 1998

Two very exciting days for the young italian team, competing in Obedience for the very first time. The training and the last tries under the guide of Ulf Kalborg, made our six brave Italians in conditions to improve their technique in spite of the lack of time. They actually had only three months starting from zero and their goal was only to complete the exercizes with a sufficient score.
But, exceeding all expectations, two italian couples where in the first ten, and the italian team was third. Our dogs, even if totally unexperienced, did surprisingly well in many exercises beating their competitors and showing-off their quick readiness.

The Italian Team:

Nicoletta Bellucci and Eileen, Border Collie

Nina Cuneo and Eclatant di Cambiano, B.Collie

Maria Di Francesco and Maus vom Grossen Graven, German Shepherd

Rosella Garini and Helzane du Mas de Lavandes, Malinois

Nicola Giraudi and Dream of ireland, Border Collie

Livio Zanella and Flouze du Mulin de Soulage, Beauceron

Podium
3th Italy 1st France 2nd P.té de Monaco

Judge: Bo Jonsson (Sweden)
Jury: J. De Reus (NL), F. Ferrero (FR), A. Varonin (Russia)
Ring Stewards: Carlo Marzoli - Fulvio Frixione

	The Italian Team: Nicoletta Bellucci and Eileen, Border Collie Gabriella Cenderelli and Midnightsummer, Border Collie Nina Cuneo and Eclatant di Cambiano, Border Collie Marina Favro and Brianoftheshaggygang, Bearded Collie Nicola Giraudi and DreamofIreland Border Collie Maurizio Romanoni and Melampo di Casa Colomba, Belgian Shepherd Malinois Paolo Villani and Ruth, Golden Retriever Coach: Carlo Marzoli	Judge: Fernand Ferrero (France) Jury: Theodorsen (Norway), Tschupp (Switzerland), Mitropolitis (France) Ring Stewards: Georges Fromage 1st Norway; 2nd Sweden; 3rd Italy
	Obedience World Championship - Milan, June 24/25/26 2000
	The venue changes, but not the podium. And in Milan Italy took 3rd place again: despite the progress shown by other countries, such as Denmark or France, our team scored 3 Excellents with more than 280 points, which led Italy to be more than 50 points away from the nearest pursuers. A third place that confirms that, in spite of it's youth in the sport, our country is on the right way. On the higher steps, victory for Norway in both the Team and Individual standings, followed by Sweden really near behind.
	The Italian Team:
	Nicoletta Bellucci and Eileen, Border Collie Gabriella Cenderelli and Midnightsummer, Border Collie Nicola Giraudi and DreamofIreland, Border Collie Ottavia Schirru and Gingerbell Dew-Drop, Border Collie	Maurizio Romanoni and Melampo di Casa Colomba, Belgian Shepherd Malinois Paolo Villani and Ruth, Golden Retriever Marina Favro and Brianoftheshaggygang, Bearded Collie Rosella Garini and Helzane du Mas de Lavandes, Belgian Shepherd Malinois Coach: Carlo Marzoli
	Judge: Bo Jonsson (Sweden) Jury: J. De Reus (NL), F. Ferrero (FR), Bo Jonsson (Sweden) Ring Stewards: Gianfranco Giraudi - Fulvio Frixione 1st Norway; 2nd Sweden; 3rd Italy