Ron van Straten / Niederlande

Hello, my name is Ron van Straten, 51 years young and I work as team leader at the harbor of Rotterdam. I live together with Hilda Schriek (Agility World Champion 1996) for 30 years now and together we have 3 dogs; 2 Borders and 1 Sheltie.

I am active in Agility for ± 20 years already, and my best results were achieved with Bearded Collie Mad Maddy and Blues the Sheltie.

In recent years, I have supported the organization of several competitions. In 2006 I have started the training to become an agility judge, and currently I am FCI agility judge. I enjoy judging competitions a lot.

I feel honored to be invited to judge at the European Open Junior Agility 2011, and I hope this event will be successful.

Courses of Ron van Straten can be found here

Jos Thines / Luxemburg

After more than 20 years as an active agility sportsman with participation in several world championships and many international tournaments, I feel honoured to take part as an agility judge in such a considerable event as the Junior Championship.
I am grateful for having been invited by the JEO members responsible for the organisation.
I wish them good luck and success regarding the holding of this important event.
Above all, I wish a lot of success to the many young participants. However, I would like to emphasise my conviction that a dog should be seen and treated as a friend, and not just as a sports tool. I will pay particular attention to the adherence of this aspect throughout the entire tournament.
Furthermore, I will do my very best to meet the expected requirements.
In anticipation of spending a great time together,

Jos Thines

Wilfried Claes / Belgien

I had been training dogs, mainly working trial, for a number of years when, in 1983, someone asked me if I could be an interpreter at a seminar. Do some translating English to Dutch and vice versa. It had to do with dogs, something called ‘agility’. I had nothing better to do that weekend, so I said yes.

There were three English gentlemen, Peter Lewis, John Gilbert and Roger Farr, teaching a number of Belgian handlers how to get their dogs to negotiate different obstacles. To tell the truth, I was not really impressed with this ‘agility business’. Later that year we were invited to an agility show in England. When I saw how the dogs flew around the courses, the way their handlers had to work them, the camaraderie amongst the competitors - especially when someone’s run did not go as planned… Yes, THIS is for me, THIS is what I want…
It was soon after that that competitions were started up in Belgium and, living near the border, I competed quite a lot in the Netherlands as well.

Belgium desperately needed more agility judges so I started judging in 1991 and before I knew it I was standing in the middle of the ring more than I was actually competing. I was invited to judge abroad a number of times, in fact I judged in nearly every European country as well as Japan and the USA. Judging had become and still is a passion.

I am thrilled to be invited to this event and to see all these youngsters work their dogs. It is going to be a great competition and I wish all of them the best of luck...

Some Courses of Wilfried Claes can be found here