Entlebuch, salašnický pes, štěňata, chovatelská stanice, z Lesní zahrady, Barnie, Aisha, Stoklasa, Stoklasová, Stoklasovi

In May, we went on a treibball mission to England, where treibball is still an unknown sport. We were invited to demonstrate the top level of treibball and teach the basics of this sport at the prestigious Goodwoof dog festival.
The festival, which is held annually at his estate in Goodwood in Sussex near Chichester by the 11th Duke of Richmond, is a celebration of the relationship between people and dogs and offers a wide range of sports activities and other attractions. This year's festival took place on 17-18 May and brought together 22,500 people and 13,000 dogs of various breeds. (The video has different numbers taken from a report on the event in Time magazine, the higher numbers are official numbers from the event organizers).
The event takes place around The Kennels. The Kennels at Goodwood are truly a luxury dog kennel, having been built by the 3rd Duke of Richmond as a home for his hunting dogs. They also served as a base for members of the hunting club (Goodwood Hunt). Today, The Kennels had been converted and it serve as a clubhouse for members of the Goodwood Club, which includes golf, motor racing and other sporting activities on the Goodwood estate. The size of the event around The Kennels is illustrated by the map below.
Our short summary video captures the atmosphere of the festival. If you want to know more, read our story and see other videos and photos that did not fit in the summary video.
We divided the journey into smaller sections (approx. 600 km/day) to make it comfortable for us and Aisha. We spent the first evening in a very pleasant place in nature (Wissegiggl), where Aisha could take a nice run after the way and we had a nice dinner there. During the asparagus season in Germany, asparagus can be tasted in various ways, even on pizza. The next day we reached Calais, where we slept near the terminal, and in the morning, we went to check-in before the journey through the Eurotunnel to England. Thanks to the valuable advice of the Entlebuch owners who had visited England recently before us, we were well prepared and the check-in for Aisha and us went smoothly.
The train journey through the Eurotunnel is an interesting experience, it is fast (about half an hour) and comfortable. In England we were driving on the left, which we were a little worried about. Milan had never driven on the left before, but he did great, so there was no need to worry. It was less than 200 km from the tunnel to the hotel. We stopped for lunch on the way and arrived at the hotel early in the afternoon. Avisford Park Hotel is surrounded by a large park with a golf course. Aisha especially appreciated the beautiful park during her walks. At the hotel she was greeted with a dogy welcome package, and we had great English breakfasts and wonderful dinners there. The evening before the event we went to see the venue, and especially our stand. When we saw, that the well-known sports flyball and agility were next to us, we were curious whether treibball, which is still an unknown sport in England, would attract any interest the visitors and the sign with the name queue seemed humorous to us. As well as the warning that we should pick up a package with food for the whole day in the morning before the opening for visitors, because then we probably wouldn't have time to buy anything. In the morning after arriving at the stand, two helpers introduced themselves to us, saying that they would organize the queue and help us with everything that would be needed. We also found that humorous and somewhat exaggerated. However, during the day we ran out of our humour. After the opening, we were very happy that despite the neighbouring "competitive" sports agility and flyball, there really was a queue and that there was interest in treibball, but we assumed that the queue would run out soon. But it didn't. We worked non-stop from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm on both days and trained about 200 teams in the basics of treibball (many of them queued several times). Since most of the interested visitors really didn't know treibball at all, we changed the arrangement. Instead of the planned three larger demonstrations in the morning, around noon and towards the end, we agreed with the helpers that they would divide the queue into groups, and for each group we prepared a short introductory talk and a practical demonstration so that the participants could get a basic idea of treibball. Aisha barked while pushing the balls which attracted people going or staying around to the demonstrations, they stopped, and because the demonstrations interested them, they joined the queue. We were fascinated by the discipline in the queue. No one was overtaking, no one was pushing the others, people weren't arguing, dogs weren't fighting or growling at each other in the queue. Aisha's demonstrations and teaching the basics of treibball are documented in photos and videos. We played not only treibball games, but also the Game of Thrones. Aliser Thorne (Owen Teale) watched our pushing the balls for a while in amazement over the fence and must have been interested, because he stood in line and went to try it, too. We also trained three English dog trainers who want to include treibball in their portfolio. They were very good and one of them (who comes from Czechia and lives in England) even has an Entlebucher, who will most probably love treibball. Aisha acted as the training dog during the trainers' lessons. The advantage is that she willingly works with anyone who has balls, and she doesn't mind commands in a foreign language. So, she now speaks not only Czech, but also German, Italian and English. There was a relaxed atmosphere at the festival. If we hadn't experienced it, we wouldn't have believed that it was possible at a festival with such a huge concentration of people and dogs. We didn't see a single conflict between people or dogs over the two days. The high concentration of staff at all locations and the thought-through of the event down to every detail undoubtedly contributed to the relaxed atmosphere. All cars had to leave the area long before the festival opened to visitors, all staff had to be unloaded at our stand long before the event, and the same strict rules applied to the operators of all selling stands. In view of the sunny weather, a number of large tents were available on site to provide shade.
In addition to the varied range of dog sports, there was a rich selection of food and a large number of stands with dog food and equipment. There were also a number of social events, which the Duke of Richmond personally attended. The Duke's invitation to a reception in the garden of his Goodwood residence for all those who contributed to the festival program was nice. If someone had told us that one day a dog and colourful balls would lead us to a reception at the Duke of Richmond, we would have thought he was crazy. But life brings different surprises.
After the festival, we took a trip to the seaside to West Wittering Beach and East Head.
And finally, two nice points. On the way back on the English side of the Eurotunnel in Folkestone, a large waiting and dining room designated for passengers with dogs made our wait for the train and our lunch there more pleasant. And after returning, we were pleased to be praised for performing at the festival.
Goodwoof was an amazing experience, which was definitely worth the long journey and two long, demanding days at our treibball stand. Goodwood is a bit long drive, but if you are planning a trip to England and want to experience something truly extraordinary, the Goodwoof festival is definitely worth a visit. A day ticket including entry to all events and the opportunity to try out various sports costs 35 GBP. Photo and video: Bohdana Stoklasova and Milan Stoklasa