door Karl DonvilGenk, Grand Prix of Limburg, forced to change date!
Unfortunately, Genk was forced to change its date again to the spring as the National Show of Brussels wanted to have its show back in December. For Genk this was a big problem. It had its last Grand Prix in December 2008 only and this was a big success with over 2000 entries. Only 4 months later is the Ambiorix trophy, a CAC show in the very same halls. This show had 1138 entries. But the Grand Prix had to be organized only two months later, again in the same halls. That means 3 shows in the same place in only 6 months. And there was the show of Lommel too, also in the neighborhood, and only a few weeks prior to this show. From 2008 dogs the entry number dropped back to 1255 dogs. Imagine the frustration of the committee. They have worked very hard and hardly had any time to relax in between the shows and then this at the very end…I can assure you they were very disappointed, although they didn’t show it.
Confusion is in my opinion the keyword to explain this fall back. If you are not familiar with the situation and don’t pay enough attention, you could easily take one entry form for another, one show for another and think that you have already entered for the show. It is unusual to have so many shows in the same place on such a short time. This can already explain a significant number of entries. A certain amount of entries are coming from exhibitors in the nearby area and are not professionals. They don’t spend so much on dogshows and skip one or two. Each time you enter a dog it costs you money and many people only spend a certain amount of money every month. Entering a dog 3 times would just cost too many at once and therefore you skip one or two shows. This explains another number of entries. There are probably more reasons, but in general I think this must be it, as the organization was as good as always, the hospitality legendary, the background music entertaining and the halls and area are known as very pleasant.
If we take a look at the statistics we see that 12 different countries were represented. A quarter of the dogs were from the Netherlands and 149 dogs came from Germany, the two countries that are very nearby. But there were also 11 dogs from the UK and a few dogs from Finland, a few from Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Czech Republic and even one from as far as Portugal. On Saturday only 435 dogs needed to be judged. 15 Judges were invited from 11 different countries. Mr. Schogol from Georgia had 54 dogs on Saturday, but due to the 27 Bulldogs he ended with 67 dogs to judge on Sunday. Mrs.Pallasky from Germany judged only on Sunday and had 68 dogs, all rather popular breeds like the Cavaliers, French Bulldogs and the Chihuahua’s. Mr. Parson from France also judged on Sunday only. His American Staffordshire Terriers(39) and Staffordshire Bull Terriers (21) helped him coming up to 86 dogs to judge in total, all Terriers. Mr. Buckner was invited from the USA to judge on Sunday only, but it was a hit as he ended with no less the 100 dogs in his ring, 40 Poodles all varieties and 27 Shih Tzu’s were co-responsible for this. Mr.Doedijns from the Netherlands had 45 dogs on Saturday, but 83 dogs on Sunday, amongst them 34 Rhodesians, the best scoring breed of this show. With a total of 128 dogs over the two days, he ended on the 3rd place, just behind Mr.Csik from Hungary. He had only 29 dogs on Saturday but equaled the best one day score of the show of Mr.Buckner with 100 dogs. The nice entry of 23 Chinese Cresteds and 7 Powderpuffs must have helped him with this score. Best judge over both days was Mr.Piotr Kroll from Poland. If you come to a show in Genk, you will almost certainly meet Mr.Kroll. He is probably the most regular judge in Genk and belongs to the party on a more regular basis then any Belgian judge. But he obviously has a strong and good reputation and has enough potential to attract nice entries. On Saturday he scored best with 59 dogs (21 Whippets and 19 Siberian Huskies), and on Sunday he had 78 dogs. 25 Of them were Newfoundlanders and 26 were Great Danes.
On both days the show ended earlier than planned. It was very warm on Saturday, but not too warm for the dogs. Outside the temperature was very pleasant. On Sunday it was much better in general. Mr.Erwin Deutscher from Austria was honored to judge Best In Show. All group winners of Saturday needed to come back on Sunday to compete and all were placed. I am not a big fan of placing all dogs. It is just too many for the judge and not pleasant for the numbers 10 to 4. Nobody likes it to end on number 10, although this is only the result of the choice of the judge and notwithstanding the fact that the dog won his breed and his group, which is a big achievement. Although a winner, he ends with a plate in front of him with number 10 on it! I think it is better to only place 3 (or 4) dogs. All the others are then places 4 (or 5). Anyway Mr.Deutscher’s choice for 3rd place was Xoloitzquintle or Mexican Hairless Standard “Balero Rivero Cortes”, a 7 year old dog, bred by Mrs. Jennifer Gielisse from the Netherlands. He was entered in Champions Class under Mr.Deschuymere and made Best of group by Mr.Kroll. The Irish Red Setter “Vicary’s Firstroyal” was entered in Open Class males under Mr. Fryckstrand from Sweden. This 3 year old boy was later made groupwinner by Mrs.Monique Van Brempt. Firstroyal is bred by Mrs. Hill-Decoster and owned by Piessens Roger from Belgium. Best In Show went to our famous Crufts finalist, European Champion and BIS in Paris, the Papillon “Queen Bless JP Royal Connection. He was judged by Mr.Csik from Hungary as well for the breed as for the group. “Queen Bless” is probably at the top of his career but probably far from the end.
With regard to shows in Genk we cannot say this time that we are at the top, but it is very sure that we are very far from the end. The next show is in a year, enough to recover and find new energy to equal again the score of 2008. I am very confident that at least it will be very close. There is just too much potential in that committee, and one setback will not discourage them, on the contrary, I think it will challenge them.
