by Karl Donvil17 th edition of the Lovanium Trophy
This small show, nearby Leuven, a very old university town in Belgium, had its 17th Edition offering a CAC. Usually a CAC attracts less dogs and this was the case here too. But although this show is not our biggest, it has some special features to offer, like its extra prizes for the groupwinners.
This year all four placed groupwinners were given a vacuum cleaner, while the other classes received a set of wristwatches. As the president of the show Mr.Vogeleer is Basset Hound freak, this has an influence on the show and on group 6 in particular. Indeed, it is almost tradition that, besides the show of Brussels, you can see a few packs of hounds. This year there was a nice pack of Sabueso Espagnols and one of Petit Bassets Griffon Vendéens. The Sabuesos are from the Netherlands and is the last pack of Hounds still working there. It is also unusual to see a Jura Laufhund and a Grand Bleu de Gascogne on our shows.
The catalogue does not contain statistics but most entries were from Belgium. All others came from the neighbouring countries like France, the Netherlands, Luxemburg and Germany, but also a few entries from the United Kingdom.
The judges, on the other hand, were mainly from the former East block countries. From the 13 judges only five were Belgians, with two of them judging Junior Handling. That is very nice compared to some CACIB shows in the past with almost 90% of the judges originating from Belgium.
On Saturday Mrs. Ubrova from the Czech Republic had the best entry with 61 dogs together with Mr.Hermel from France, all group 1 dogs (Pastorial breeds). It was her Bearded Collie who was later chosen Best of Saturday by Mr.Rehanec, also from the Czech Republic. Mr.Hermel judged group 5 breeds. Mr.Leblond from France had 43 Terriers on Saturday, but had the best score on Sunday and of the show, with 73 dogs of which 33 Newfoundlanders and 24 Bulldogs. Mr.Rehanek had 63 dogs to judge on Sunday. 20 of them were Leonbergers. Mr.Matyas from Slovakia had 49 Terriers on Saturday and 46 dogs on Sunday. His 26 Golden Retrievers formed the 3rd most popular breed of the show. Mr.Krol from Poland had also 63 dogs, all of group 6 (Hounds) and his Grand Basset Griffon Vendéen was later chosen Best of Sunday by Dr.Nesvadba from Switzerland. The honour to pick out the Best in Show was granted to Mr.Hermel from France. He prefered the Bearded Collie “Delightful Bears Cobus”, owned by Van Hecke-Bonte-De Maesschalck to “Vrai Tum-Tum van Tum-Tum’s Vriendjes”, owned by Claes-Smets.
Although this show has some strong points, in general it lacks something. The rings and the main ring in particular, are very big and the dogs have plenty of space to move, but perhaps it would be better to make them a little smaller and create a ring for demonstrations or entertainment. That would certainly make the show less monotonous. Visitors need to pay an entry fee and hope to see something more then only the judging which they hardly understand and looks boring. This could prevent disappointments and frustration. It is also important for the stand holders to have more public coming over the floor. Even outside there are possibilities to give some demonstrations which are good publicity for the organising club. Along with public announcements in the area and on the radio, the effect could be surprising in a region that has very few to offer on the cynological field. Free entry tickets on offer on the local radio stations for example work like magic. The committee members seem to be a close team of hardworking and disciplined friends. Perhaps one of them could be chosen to do the PR work for their yearly show. With regard to the exhibitors they already have build up a good reputation, but there is still a lot of work to do with regard to the public.
