news - 13/03/2010
Crufts 2010 Day 3 - United Kingdom
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by Karl Donvil
Crufts 2010 or need we say DFS Crufts? Crufts on 123dog.net will a s usual be reported day by day and give you a full review in almost 5.000 photo's. Every dog in the main ring has been photgraphed in several photo's, standing and on the move. Have fun!
It was a strange feeling to hear no longer just only Crufts but always “dfs Crufts”, certainly for a foreigner not familiar with what dfs stands for. And even then it was not easy to discover what dfs is. Dfs is in fact a manufacture of sofas with stores all over the UK. I wonder what Charles Crufts would have said if he would hear his name less often or at least always in combination with his name that stands for the biggest dog show on earth. Suppose in the past years we would always have talked about Pedigree Crufts? Anyway, the show needs a sponsor and we come from all over the world for Crufts. With all respect for the sponsor but Crufts is Crufts.
Since the big problems after the documentary on the BBC I have the impression that massive efforts have been done to tune up the imago of the British Kennel Club. We can say what we want but things turned out for the best of the dogs after this shockwave ran through our dog world. While last year’s edition it felt more like the Kennel Club wanted to state that they meant well, this year it seems like something really has been done. Let’s take “WOOF he’s fit” as an example. It is a new dating website for dogs. Occasional breeders will be able to visit this website, that is now still under construction. People will find advise with regard to healthy partners. Also the variety of the gene pool will increase. There is a more open strategy from the side of the Kennel Club and an intention to better educate all involved with dogs, purebred of crossbred. This goes from sports with dogs, over training dogs for the help and benefit of man, to encouraging breeders and handlers to take full responsibility of their acts. Funds are raised and donations given to rescue organizations and training centers, where dogs are trained to help man. Still , this is only the start but the stadium of intentions is already past. Let us hope that the Kennel Club will work closely together with breeders and organizations outside the UK too. The main problems in certain breeds in the UK have to do with the narrow genetic basis, a result of the strict quarantine rules of the last century.
If you visit Crufts every year, the changes are hardly noticeable and you have no problem finding your way. But it is always funny to meet visitors who come here for the very first time and for dog lovers it is like “seeing Napoli and die”. It is like a pilgrimage, like the Muslims who want to go to Mecca at least once in their live if possible. They enjoy every minute of it and go often home with mixed feelings as they were not able to be everywhere all the time. If you visit Crufts you are forced to make a selection of what you want to see and if this is too much at once you need to sacrifice certain items. The Crufts Official Show Guide is for this a fantastic tool. The only problem is that you should be able to get it at least one day before the show as on the show itself there is no time to read it and make plans. The daily planner is a big help to this and there are all the information stands in every hall too. And the website is very informative too.
Of course after so many years and editions you can see the benefits of building up experience and a good checklist. No wonder that most of us find Crufts one of the most perfect and best organized shows in the world. The concept of the Official Show Guide is so good that there were plans last year to make something similar for the World Dog Show in Bratislava, but it didn’t work out. It is not only the idea that counts, but the practical elaboration relies on the team of people behind the project, the know how that was build up and the concept that was worked out step by step. And still, every year there are some improvements and every year there are the same mistakes. Since the very first time I visited Crufts I had problems with the way the foreign photographers were treated. And after 10 years little or nothing has changed. We in Europe we can all go together, stay further away from the dogs so that we all are able to take our photos at the same time and we are finished in a few minutes. This was not always so but at least there was a positive evolution. But here at Crufts the British press is still allowed to photograph first and only after a while the overseas press can go to take photos too, while the British colleagues don’t move an inch. This results in pushing and trying to find a proper place. Stupid of course as the foreign press is not able to make photos that bring out the very best of the (mostly) British dogs. An unpleasant situation for the owner/handler, as these are the photos that go around the world and show what quality Britain has in dogs. The climax was on Saturday when the Toy Group was on term. The rope where the photographers were supposed to stay behind was no further away as 1,5 meters from the winning dogs of the Toy Group and a row of British Photographers were even positioned in front of the rope. This is a violation of the principal photographic rule of making a good portrait. Imagine the perspective from where these tiny dogs were photographed, while many photographers were not even able to take a proper view.
The number of foreign exhibitors does not increase significant. Except for France, Ireland, Italy and Hungary the other countries had fewer exhibitors as last year. Very few foreign judges can say they judged at Crufts. When looking in the catalogue I see Miss.AT Elina Haapaniemi from Finland who judged on Thursday only and had two breeds and only 29 dogs all together. Mr.Germundsson from Sweden judged 3 days including the Junior Handling on Sunday. Mr.C.De Giuliani from Italy judged on Thursday and Sunday. Mr.Bodegard from Sweden judged on Friday only as did Mr.Peter Siegfried from Germany. He had a very nice entry of 146 for his only breed, the Basset Hound. Very unusual in my opinion was the invitation of Mr. F.Devitt from France who judged the Airedales on Friday. His score of 92 was probably not bad.
Since a few years the finals take place in the Arena where demonstrations and competitions are held the whole day long. I you want you can stay there from morning till evening and not getting bored. However, for the first time since tickets can be bought online, the Arena was not sold out in advance via internet and even on Sunday itself I had the impression that there were still plenty of seats available. The public galleries were completely renewed and brought to a higher level. And notwithstanding this and the numerous security people around the ring, a streaker managed to jump over the fence and give a full performance in the main ring. It was not an act of protest and except for a shouting incident just before the finals there was nothing else to report.
Sunday, at 17.00h, the main ring starts with the Agility finals, International Junior Handling parade and other finals and demonstrations. There was only one group to be judged, the gundog group. At 20.00h Mary Ray started the finals, one of the highlights of Crufts since many years. This time she had a cowboy act with a Border Collie and a Sheltie. Less spectacular this year although I assume that this had probably more to do with the music. Her best performance is still “In the mood” and the “River Dance” adaptation. Not easy to do better every year if you started with a top performance! And of course, since Heelwork to Music became a very popular discipline, we see that there are many who follow her very closely in her footsteps. But what would the Crufts finals be without Mary? Without her yearly performance it would not be the same.
Another item that became a top item of the finals is “Friends for Life”. The number of tears being shed by hearing the stories behind the nominates is probably huge and proves how we are all moved by the wonderful bond between man and dog.
Best in Show judge this year was Mrs.Valerie Foss. It was not her first time to judge at Crufts, but the first time to award BIS. Although she is not an all-rounder, in the sense of a judge that awards CC’s in all the breeds, she has judged BIS’s since many years. She is a Gundog person and well known breeder of English Setters and Golden Retrievers under the kennel name, Elswood. Her Reserve BIS went to the Scottish Terrier CH RUS/SLO/EUR FILISITE BRASH CELEBRATION, owned by Miss V POPOVA from Russia. Filisite was entered in Open Class under MR J H W FALCONER. Mr Jack Watson awarded him Best of the Terrier Group. Best In Show was for the Hungarian Viszla shorthair, SH CH/AUST CH HUNGARGUNN BEAR IT’N MIND. He won open class from 15 under MRS P D A WILLIAMS who made him BOB of 182 entries. Later on he won the group under judge Mr Colin Mackay. Our Crufts Supreme Champion of 2010 is proudly owned by MRS N & MRS K CRAGGS & ARMSTRONG and was one of the favorites for the title and one of the top winning dogs of the UK for the moment.
And here starts my concern. More and more dogs have a huge and very expensive promotion campaign preceding big shows like this one. More and more top dogs are no longer pets, shown by their own master, and move from one handler to another, from one show to the next and become more an object than a pet. Certain campaigns tent to become so aggressive that no judge can go by. It loads our judges with a huge responsibility and demands lots of courage to put up an unknown fantastic dog, a natural talent, before one that runs an expensive campaign. Very few have this courage, very few dare to do as one pleases and face disapproval from colleagues. We must bear in mind that this is it what makes a dogshow into what it is. If exhibitors feel that there is no longer a chance to reach the top without the lot of money they don’t have, they will stop coming and competing. We will no longer be sure about the real qualities of a dog, something we want to find out by inviting several judges and collecting different opinions. I don’t doubt the qualities of all the winning dogs, and certainly not of the Best in Show dog, but I prefer seeing victory campaigns after having won, rather than before. It is a proven fact that promotion campaigns before shows work, that judges get familiar with faces of handlers and dogs. I want to emphasize that this is not at all meant as critique on the winning dog or the judging, as I could totally agree with the choice of the BIS judge. But I am aware of the fact that a campaign can influence so much that judges will become only focused on the qualities of a dog and look over his faults or health problems, so focused that they don’t see the other gorgeous pets behind him in the ring. That was one of the things the BBC documentary wanted to focus on; the fact that we get used to faults and focus on things like longest coat, shortest nose, most curled tail and other over-typical, over-emphasized characteristics.
I wish all the judges the courage to brush aside all those campaigns and judge according to what they studied for, according to what they know about the breed and according to what they think is most important for the improvement of the breed on long term.
I wish the BIS winner, the Group Winners, the Breed Winners and all the not winners, a long, healthy, sportive and happy life with their dog and let us all watch out that our dog does not become “man’s pocket’s best friend”. And if we give our dogs a good life, winners or not, they will all be beautiful and will all be and look happy and then it will not matter if we compete in dogshows or just have fun with them in the garden, and it will not matter if we dress them up or let them work for us. And there will be no reason for protesting if we take care of our dogs as much as we take care of ourselves.
(This reaction has only to do with critiques and rumors concerning an advertising campaign prior to Crufts wherein the winning of a dog was announced before the show took place. As I didn’t see the advertisement myself but heard the rumor, I decided to bring this item and my personal “general” opinion with regard to this alarming tendency into the spotlights in my article. This reaction was therefore not a critique to one of the group winners in personal at all)
Text and photos: Karl DONVIL
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RESULTS
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Toy Group Judge(s): Mrs D Ann Horan
BEST OF GROUP
CH BENATONE GOLD RING
Maltese -Dog
Owner: MISS S & MRS R JACKSON
RESERVE BEST OF GROUP
CH WITCHSTONE TELLING TAILS
English Toy Terrier (Black & Tan) -Bitch
Owner: MESSRS N & A GOURLEY & LEONARD
THIRD OF GROUP
ROAMAYCEE ROYAL SIGNATURE AT DONZEATA
Griffon Bruxellois -Bitch
Owner: MR D GUY
FOURTH OF GROUP
CH PAMPLONA BRING ME SUNSHINE
Bichon Frise -Dog
Owner: MR M COAD
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Utility Group Judge(s): Miss Carol Harwood
BEST OF GROUP
CH RUTHDALES NEXT TOP MODEL
Akita -Bitch
Owner: MR M & MS J BOSTOCK, ARMSTRONG & KOVRIGUINA
RESERVE BEST OF GROUP
CH TOWMENA IN THE FRAME
Chow Chow -Dog
Owner: MR R P OLDHAM
THIRD OF GROUP
EST/LV/RUS/FIN/AU CH ALPHADIRATO FUTURE BRAND [ATC AJ00144EST]
Dalmatian -Dog
Owner: MRS L RATAS
FOURTH OF GROUP
TUTTLEBEES WITCH TRADER
Poodle (Toy) -Dog
Owner: MRS A & MR N CORISH & BUTCHER
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