Day two in Basel, Switzerland started with all the AKC/USA World Team members and Supporters enjoying an excellent breakfast that was included in their hotel stay.  After breakfast Coach Nancy Gyes, Asst Coach Kathie Leggett, AKC Agility Director Sharon Anderson and Team manager Toni Osojnicki plus a couple of team members rode the tram to St Jakob’s Arena to be well prepared for the World Championships.  They found a hockey game in progress on what will become the carpeted agility surface over the next few days. 

After scouting the show location a number of the team members met in the comfortable conversation corner of the modern large lobby at the Ramada they continued out for a two hour conditioning walk.  Despite the pouring rain they all had a good time exercising and exploring Basel.

At 6 pm the 1st full team meeting was led by Coach Nancy Gyes to help prepare the team for the upcoming practices over the next 2 days.  The team also coordinated their efforts and finalized their plans for the World Team Supporters dinner to be held on Thursday night. 

The World Team Supporters spent the day exploring Lucerne, Switzerland, the Black Forest of Germany, the Swiss Alps, Lake Geneva and the Alsace wine region in France.  A few even found their way to the “Top of Europe”, the Jungfrau at an altitude of 13,638 feet. Many also spent the day in Basel exploring the many museums, roman ruins and of course, world class shopping.

The evening activity in the lobby consisted of the team members and supporters trading travel tips, looking over maps, discussing the best restaurants in town and deciding on how to best spend their next few days prior to the start of the competition on Friday. 

Tomorrow morning the team will board a bus at 8 am to head to a 2 hour practice session.  The surface has been described as wood chips, so it is a true mystery as to what the dogs will be running on.  Coach Nancy Gyes has many exercises planned to make good use of their time to get the dogs and handlers settled in and stretched out. 

The AKC/USA Agility World Team would like to thank their sponsors Eukanuba and Clean Run Productions for their support during this week.