Dancing with the dog

Pünktchen already knows that her song is coming. The poodle lady with the brown and white speckled coat can hardly be stopped when the first notes of Cindy Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" play from the loudspeakers. She slaloms through the legs of dog trainer Sina Boese. When her owner claps, Pünktchen jumps into the air and stretches her limbs in all directions.

"That dog is great," says a youngster watching on the edge of the demonstration ring. The sight of a fluffy four-legged friend awakens the desire in many children and adults to own such a loyal friend themselves. But does a dog fit into everyday life? Which breed has which needs? Johanna Bauer from the JoBaDog dog school explains under the title: "If a dog, then the right one". She explains how to stroke a dog without it feeling threatened and that not all dogs like the same games. "Some like to fetch, others prefer to jump," she says.

Camping with the rental dog

In summer, JoBaDog offers a "Fun4Kids" camp where children can camp with their dogs and learn various tricks. If you don't own a dog, you can hire one from the dog school. Further information can be found at https://www.jobadog.com/kinderkurs. Children from the public will also have access to the four-legged friends at the Green Week. Under supervision, they can lead the dogs around a course in the pet arena in Hall 27. It soon becomes clear that this is not so easy. An obstacle falls over, a girl realises that she does have respect and doesn't want to give a treat from her open hand.

Dog dance for the mood

Pünktchen and Sina Boese are now doing pirouettes. Dogdance is the name of the discipline in which there are even tournaments throughout Europe. "It's actually not much different from obedience to music," explains Sina Boese. She offers courses at her dance school for humans and dogs. "People are happy at dog dance," she says. In pure dog training on the pitch, things are often strict and the atmosphere is tense. "With music, everything becomes more relaxed, which I also find very nice psychologically," says Sina Boese. And if you are already practising "sit", "down" and "stay", you can just as easily supplement this with spinning, jumping and slaloming through the legs.