door Karl DonvilLovanium Trophy 2009
Is it because the date of this show is set later on the year, because it was a CACIB, because there was no show in Oostende this year or simply because Leuven has a good reputation that the number of entries increased from 1238 to 1471 dogs (almost 19%!). I presume it must be all of those reasons.
For this edition with an International title (CACIB) 17 judges were invited, but one of them was ill. They were invited from 6 different countries, 8 from Belgium, 1 from Sweden, 2 from Norway, also 2 from Poland, and 2 from Croatia and one from Moldavia. I have no statistics about the exhibitors, but they represented at least as much countries as the judges. The catalog of Leuven is good as usual, there is plenty of parking place and the hospitality is great. It is also a quiet show as there are no demonstrations during the day due to lack of space and inside the hall it is pretty dark inside, but this does not seem to bother the exhibitors very much. Leuven is also the only show that gives valuable natura prizes to the group winners plus the regular trophies. This is much appreciated of course.
On Saturday groups 1,3,5,7 and 9 were on term. Mr.Theo Leenen (B) had 92 dogs in his ring, all from group 1. The majority of them were Border Collies, good for 32 specimen. Mr.Piet Roosenboom (B) was invited for certain Terrier breeds and ended up with 77 in total. He had 22 Staffordshire Bull Terriers and 39 American Staffordshire Terriers. Mrs. Rita Reyniers was ill and Mr. Igor Selimovic from Croatia took over her breeds. Together with his breeds he ended with 111 dogs to judge, all Terriers. Mr.Thord Byström from Sweden had shepherd dogs to judge. With 22 the Australian Shepherds were well represented. Mr.Rodi Hübenthal from Norway had 84 dogs, breeds partly from group 5 and from group 9. On Sunday Mr.Piet Roosenboom had the day record with no less than 120 dogs. 64 Bulldogs were entered to be judged by him, a fantastic number! Mr.Gustaaf Van den Bosh, also a Belgian judge, had 42 Bernese Mountaindogs and 24 great Danes. Mrs.Wieremiejozyk-Wierzchowska from Poland was BIS judge. She was invited to judge group 6 and had no less than 83 dogs, a high number thanks to the 31 Rhodesian Ridgebacks. Leuven is known for group 6 as the president himself has a Basset Hound and if you want to see some unusual breeds from this group, here in Leuven there is always a chance.
All group winners were invited to come back on Sunday to compete for Best In Show and all were present. Mrs.Wieremiejeczyk placed the Basset Hound “Rezihegyi Vig Domper Aztek Clouseau (or simply Clouseau) on the 3rth place. Clouseau was entered in champions class and defeated 11 competitors. He is 4 years old, was bred by Pintacsi and is owned by Mr.E.Vogeleer. On the 2nd podium came the Welsh Corgi Pembroke “Siggen’s Doffen”, a male, entered in Champion Class, bred by Leif Herman & Rita Wilberg from Norway and owned by Christine Sonberg, also from Norway but living in Belgium. Doffen is 3 years old and competed with 6 breed mates. Best In Show winner was the Weimaraner Multi Champion Grey Classic’s Fox Mulder. This dog’s father Multi Champion Unity Grey Classic’s Double Trouble won the same show two years ago. Fox Mulder, or Witse for the friends, was entered in utility class and won the breed from 8 breed mates. He was bred by Edwin and Christian Lenaerts and is a multi BOB and BOG winner. He was also 2nd BIS at Antwerp this year and 3rd BIS in Mechelen. He can now add his first BIS win to his already impressive palmares. The Grey Classic Kennel is very famous for its energetic dogs and we see these dogs regularly in the main ring. We will probably see all him and the other two dogs again next edition on 30 and 31 Oktober.
