by Karl DonvilCharleroi 2006, British Victory!
If you read my previous article, you will know that I complained about the show schedule in Belgium this year, with most shows happening during the 3 summer months. Charleroi is the first show after this period 5 weeks after Luxemburg. The result is clear and proves my statement, over 1300 entries and an increase compared to last year.
22 Judges were invited, 12 of them were Belgians, 5 of them came from France, which is normal as this show is not far from the border to France and attracts a lot of French exhibitors.
12 Nationalities were present. Belgium had 704 entries, France 396, the Netherlands 89, Germany 54 and Luxemburg 22. Very remarkable was the fact that the United Kingdom had no less then 23 entries and went home with several Group wins and even the BIS.
The renovation of the halls is still going on but did not affect the show in any way, there was as much space as there used to be before and there were a lot of trade stands and visitors.
One small but important remark is that there were not enough people for the cleaning service and it took sometimes very long before droppings were removed. This is important as we all know that dogs have the annoying habit to add their own marks over other droppings.
During the day an agility competition took place in the main ring and we all know that this can be very noisy especially if the acoustic in the halls is not fantastic.
The time schedule was well respected on both days. Saturday had fewer dogs, although 6 groups were on term. For the 4 remaining groups on Sunday almost 700 dogs were in competition. On Sunday the start of the show was delayed with one hour in order to enable the Belgians to vote for the community and provincial elections that took place on the very same day. In Belgium every citizen is obliged to vote and the polling stations only open at eight o’clock. That also meant that the end of the show was delayed with one hour and resulted in an almost empty hall at the time the BIS was chosen. That is why on the photos it seems like there was almost no public interest.
Reserve BIS went to the winner of Sunday, the beautiful 3 year old male American Cocker Spaniel “LCJems Runnin on Empty”, a Dutch dog bred by Mrs.Bradford. He is owned by Mrs.Van Zanter and judged by Mr.Silva from Portugal who also awarded him Best of Group later in the main ring. Mrs.Van Brempt made him later Best of Sunday.
BIS went to the British bred Bichon Frisé “Sulyka Raffles”. Raffles is a 3 years old male and is owned by Mrs. Reynolds in partnership with Mrs. Dunger, who are British although Mrs.Reynolds lives in France. Raffles has already a remarkable career in Europe as well as in the UK. He was entered under Mr.Declercq who awarded him BOB. Mrs.Drouillard made him BOG later that day. Mr Dewilde granted him the opportunity to come back on Sunday to compete for BIS which was awarded him finally by Mr.Dupas from France. This is funny as you know that the breed is Franco-Belge and as France disagrees with Belgium to whether or not the Bichon Frisé should be trimmed or not while now a French judge and General Secretary of the French Kennel Club makes him BIS and regards him as a top example for the breed! Can this be seen as a breakthrough in the discussion?
Next edition of this show will be held on 13 and 14 October 2007.
