door Karl DonvilAalst (Wieze) back on service
With 130 entries more this year (982 1112) Aalst is again crossing the magic border of 1000 dogs. A CAC show always attracts less dogs, but shows like that are needed and useful. Newcomers set their first steps on shows like this and build up experience. Entry fees are lower too and the focus is more on national judges as budgets are lower too.
A successful CAC in Belgium is one that has over 1000 entries. Besides some clubmatches there is only the Ambiorixtrophy and the show of Lommel that are CAC shows. Charleroi, where there were big troubles two years ago, is again allowed to organize a CAC show this year. Before it has always been a CACIB show. The president of the club, Mr.Johan Van de Biest, was very happy and pleased with this result. The halls are not big enough for a CACIB and in that case they should rent a tent on the parking area and that is one of the strong points of the show, no need to park in the streets. The halls have no space left for a separate main ring and that means no demonstrations but a very quiet and relaxing impression, also because after having shown their dogs, most people sit down in one of the two cafés to taste some famous traditional dark Belgian beers. All this together turns this show into one of the coziest of all.
From the 20 judges that officiated this weekend, 14 were Belgians, two from Holland, one from Spain, one from Portugal and one from the United Kingdom. On Saturday we had 6 groups to judge. Mr Goran G. from Spain had 99 dogs, all from the companion breeds. The French Bulldogs are very popular nowadays and this showed here too as 34 examples were present. Mr.Rodrigues F.from Portugal had all breeds out of group 5 and he ended up with a total entry of 103. The 24 Siberian Huskies have put most of the weight on this number. Mrs.Monique Van Brempt from Belgium had not that much dogs but besides 20 Shih Tzu’s she had no less than 20 Swiss White Shepherds and that shows how this breed is gaining more popularity from day to day. Mr.Roger Vanhoenacker had shepherd breeds and the 28 Australian Shepherds were certainly worth mentioning. On Sunday Mr.Jos Decuyper judged one breed only, the Goldens and with 22 specimen it was not bad at all for a show of this size. Mr.Davis N. from the United Kingdom was invited to judge the English Bulldogs only and ended up with 24 in his ring. Mr.Goran had Terriers to judge and with 68 dogs he was the most busiest judge of the show with a total number of 167 dogs. Mr.Rodrigues came close with 142 in total. Mrs. Van Brempt came after with 124 dogs as the third judge with over 100 dogs. Mr.Van den Bosch G. judged on Sunday only and had 24 Newfoundlanders, 18 Leonbergers and 32 Bernese Mountaindogs, 3 popular breeds.
Those who read my reports regularly will know that Wieze is not a usual show as here are always two winners, Best Male becomes Hopkeizer (Hop emperor)and Best Female becomes Hopkeizerin (Hop Empress). According to the FCI rules there is needs to be a Best In Show too and that makes it all somewhat confusing. From every group the best male and best female are selected. At the end of every day a best male and a best female of the day are chosen. On Sunday they compete for Hopkeizer and Hopkeizerin. And from these two the BIS judge pick’s out his final winner. A dog that is perhaps not the winner of his group can still end as Hopkeizer or Hopkeizerin and even Best In Show. Hopkeizerin was chosen by Mr.Vanhoenacker. The Bullmastiff “Fullhouse Limited Edition” was his favorite and final winner. He was shown under Mrs.Van Brempt and won the group later on too under Mrs.Van Brempt. The dog is bred and owned by Bis-Kulper Agata from Holland. She won from the Rhodesian Ridgeback “Mambo of Mwanadongo” winner of Saturday and owned by Beumer R. also from Holland. Mrs;Van Brempt had the honor to chose the Hopkeizer. It was the Boxer “Hiske von Infadar” who ended 3rd in the group under Mrs.Van Brempt too. He won from the Piccolo Levriero Italiano “Fiefourniek’s Femme Formidable from Sahuleka-Van de Graaf from Holland , who ended Best Bitch on Saturday. Mrs.Van Brempt also judged Best In Show and this honor went to the Bullmastiif. Pretty complicated isn’t it? Next year the show is on 19-20 of may. You have always a good reason to come over to Wieze with or without dog, as the Belgian beers never taste more traditional as in Wieze.
