Dog Brothers Euro Gathering of the Pack 2013 Report:by Lonely Dog & Crafty Dog
For the “Dog Brothers Euro Tribal Gathering 2013” we went to our local "mountain" (actually it's more a big hill) to fight outdoors. It is a beautiful recreational area which is utilised with pleasure from the Bernese on weekends. Fortunately on Friday there weren't that many people there, and we could fight without interference.
It was a beautiful day and after many good fights a number of us hiked down to the campsite.
CRAFTY: Well, it would certainly qualify as a mountain here in California! We used a wonderful green meadow that when not used for Dog Brothers Stick Fighting serves as a “Frisbee Golf” field. As is to be expected at a Tribal Gathering, the level of the fights was consistently strong. The fights that stand out most for me were the “Whip vs. Whip” fight (dang, Benjamin got good quickly with the whip!) and the “Whip vs. Sarong with Baseball”. In Crossover Dog’s hands the Sarong with Baseball was shown to be a worthy technology for closing the gap even against Lonely’s ability to keep up a barrage of strikes. Upon arrival however he learned that the whip can also be used to choke 
On Saturday was the “Dog Brothers Euro Open Gathering of the Pack”, and what can I say? It was again a fantastic day full of great fights.
This year we had 50 fighters coming from 12 countries - Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Russia, Scotland, and Switzerland.
Actually it will be tough to recollect the 2 days and hardly possible to relate everything… here some stuff that comes to my mind.
- Crossover Dog fought with and against all kinds of weapons, and as usual with plenty of fighting spirit.
- C-Thunder Dog and c-Dragon Dog from the Munich clan were sharp and intense as always.
- It was good to see c-Hidden Dog well recovered from his knee surgery. also he had a really strong comeback.
- With over 50, Lena Dog and c-Spartan Dog were once more an inspiration with their fighting spirit.
- C-Mime Dog had an impressive performance I think he fought 9 or 10 times in two days
- C-Woods Dog had a nice evolution in his fighting since the last gathering, especially since his "Beasting" it seems that he has changed.
- Also “Dog” Ericson changed a lot since the last Gathering, together with his excellent technique we saw also that he used more power and aggression this time. Interesting was also his ambidextrous single stick game.
- C-Unidentified Bitch's game is getting better and better, she is switching very smoothly the leads and has a good stick and footwork coordination. Guro Crafty was especially impressed by her knife work.
CRAFTY: Indeed I am! It caught my immediate attention as something both distinct and quite efficient. I asked her about it afterwards and Filippo and she explained to me it was a Sardinian style. I would add that I have noticed some fine work and evolutions being introduced by those exploring the various European Historical Martial Arts. As some of you may have noticed I have been pushing for greater use of stick and knife see e.g. http://dogbrothers.com/phpBB2/index.php?topic=2438.0 and I very much like the growth in skill level that I am seeing. For those so interested in such things it is worth noting that the FMA’ “Long & Short” originated in Italian espada y daga (Guro Inosanto’s name is of Italian origin, not Spanish) Indeed I remember well one night when during class in reponse to something Guro I. said I asked whether that was where the false lead fit in. “Marc Denny!” Guro I. exclaimed, (Was there surprise in his voice? LOL) “That is a really good question!” And went to a special bag and pulled out some Italian espada y daga replicas. He showed us how in E&D the espada was usually about 27 inches long and the daga somewhere between 18 and 21 inches. In other words, the differential in the length between the two weapons is far less than between the typical 27-30” stick and 5” knife of today’s typical FMA practitioner. The difference that this makes is when a E&D fighter shifts into false lead is that the tips of his two weapons are roughly equidistant from the adversary. Guro Inosanto then went on a rampage as only he can do that lastingly changed the way I see things.- Also congratulations to Bettina and Marieke. I'm happy that the female fighters are a fixture of the European Gathering!!
CRAFTY: All three women are fighting well.Of course there is a lot more that should be reported… but as I said it’s was a too big a day to relate everything.
After the Gathering it was time for the “Dog Dubbing”. In consultation with the Dog Brothers there, the following ascensions were unanimously agreed upon:
New full Dog Brothers are:Benjamin "Thunder Dog" Schlieper
Chris “Rogue Dog” Smith
Daniel “Hidden Dog” Budar
Filippo “Vegan Dog” Pani
Gerry “Celtic Dog” Casey
Kai “Suicide Dog” Schilling
Kostas “Spartan Dog” Tountas
Sigi “Dragon Dog” Fischer
Tomek “Tank Dog” Jurkiewicz
New Candidate DB’s are:Denis “(to be named later)” Kachelmus
Ericson “C- Lapu-Lapu Dog” Hölzchen
Lars “C- Hungry Dog” Christie
and with a big welcome “Wuff, Woof” here the new additions to the Tribe:“Dog” Bettina Forster
“Dog” David Abel
“Dog” Janno
“Dog” Kostadin Zlatkov
“Dog” Manuel Clemens
“Dog” Manuel Frank
“Dog” Markus Langhans
“Dog” Martin Helm
“Dog” Maximilian Schreiner
“Dog” Michael Brinkmann
“Dog” Pascal Gilles
“Dog” Yann Pottier
.
