DogFlow Arena: More than just an Agility arena in Hungary

On the western outskirts of Budapest in Budakeszi, construction of the new DogFlow Arena is slowly coming to an end. 1,200 square meters of indoor, 1,200 square meters of outdoor, 3 meeting rooms, 4 guest rooms and a canteen area speak a language for themselves. But behind all this lies much more than just an impressive Agility hall. It is the realization of a long dream from five people, a lot of hard work and much more previous planning. True to the motto: Dream, plan and do, a hall with a lot of charisma far beyond the national borders was created. Not only because of its geographical location in the middle of Europe.

Where there was only a field in the industrial zone, one of the most modern Agility infrastructures in Europe was created within a few months. Namely the DogFlow Arena. In addition to practical training, thanks to the three different seminar rooms, the location also offers space for theoretical content on the subject of dogs and everything which is related to it. In order to attract international guests or people within Hungary from far away, the hall also offers 4 small sleeping rooms with their own sanitary facilities, a small canteen area with a gallery for the spectators. A conscious decision was made against a concrete foundation for the floor in the hall itself. Apart from the concrete foundation of the walls and rooms of course. For example, under the artificial turf from Juta there is a non-slip rubber underlay, insulation and a layer of small pebbles. Only at the bottom is then the compacted natural stone floor. This is primarily intended to accommodate the dogs, who land so much softer than with a layer of concrete under the lawn carpet.

The 1,200 square meter lawn area mentioned at the beginning can be divided into two halves during training and easily reopened for competitions to form overall a 30×40 meter field. Both the indoor and the outdoor area with natural grass have lighting. 16 lamps alone provide the hall with perceived daylight, even during long winter evenings. Julia Füzi, Tamas Traj, Bea Csecserits, Péter Hamori and Daniel Neustadtl are the five heads behind the project, which is unique in Hungary. A mix of Agility athletes, judges and trainers, dog enthusiasts and business administrators. It is precisely this colorful mix with experience from many areas that should guarantee the sustainability of the project and lead it to success.

In addition to the impressive numbers and features that distinguish the project from others, everything just sounds like another Agility hall at first. Basically projects like many others. But the DogFlow Arena is much more and a long overdue step in Hungary. In recent years, the country has professionalized the Agility sport extremely strong at the national level, while at the same time keeping close to the athletes and the main base. One of the cornerstones of this development was the European Open 2014 in their own country. A thoroughly successful event, which has shaped the Hungarian Agility Committee “MEOESZ” in the long term. Or in other words a success story that only a few countries have been able to write like this in the last few years. This mentioned professionalization was also clearly noticeable in the country’s international competitions, above all the Hungarian Open and the Pilis Open. For example, only a few countries have two tournaments of this size on offer.

So far, a large part of it has taken place in the indoor soccer hall of the Fönix Gold soccer club. Among other things, the national championships, qualifications and the Hungarian Open are each guest in Székesfehérvár. The hall is of course also a great location, but ultimately not a pure Agility hall. The more one was or is dependent on third parties. It is not yet known to what extent this will change with the opening of the DogFlow Arena. But the hall is at least as attractive as an event location as it is as a training opportunity. What is certain, however, is that the DogFlow Arena project is a logical consequence of the immense Agility progress in Hungary and that there is probably no better symbol than the state-of-the-art facility.

Source: https://www.dogflow.hu/