nieuws - 10/07/2011 Paris World Dog Show 2011 day 4 - Frankrijk
door Karl DonvilThe Biggest FCI World Dog Show ever organized. Paris 2011.
In the past the title “Biggest Dog Show in the World” has been claimed more than once. Is it Crufts, was it Bratislava? Certainly, without any doubt, Paris 2011 will be the biggest and it will probably take long before it will be dethroned.
Alike the show in Dortmund, we had two shows in one weekend. There was the French Championship Show In the morning and the World Show in the afternoon. No less than 38.000 dogs participated in one or both shows. The number of individual dogs present was estimated around 25.000 dogs. They represented dogs from no less than 69 different countries as far as from Australia, South Korea, Japan, Argentina, USA etc. There were no less than 240 trade stands and 224 judges were invited from 34 different countries. 1500 Volunteers were there to help it bring to a good end. It was a very prestigious show in many aspects. But if you know that the Société Central Canine is a real institute in France, belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture, and with a huge Expo Park nearby Paris and the two French International Airports, Charles de Gaule and le Bourget, you know that they can handle a little more than other countries. The SCC counts over hundred employees, 30.000 breeders, 550.000 members, 1075 clubs, 1.800.000 registered dogs every year!
The halls and the area was large enough to hold all this. Only the two largest halls were rented and that was enough to provide the handlers with big rings. I had not the impression that it was not more difficult to go from one point to another. Inside that halls the trade stands were positioned close to the entrance. That seemed to be much appreciated as one had to pass through them in order to go to the rings. In general the trade stand holders were happy with this, especially as they expected thousands of visitors (25.000!) and this resulted in a good turnover. Unfortunately, due to regulations of the expo park, many traders had difficulties in order to set up their stand and refill their stock.
The first day, as usual, there were many problems to be solved, but already on Friday things went on more smoothly. This was also the case with the time schedule of the day. Having two shows on the very same day and only one main ring is very complicated and a strict planning if a must. After a delay on Thursday on Friday it was getting much better. There were many people complaining, but I must say that I met a lot of people without any at all. And, without minimizing things, there will always be problems and if it happens to some, it is as if the world is going down. Outside the halls the cleaning was not enough, the signs for the rings were rather confusing and I’ve heard some people had difficulties finding their ring as is was not clear in the catalogs. Probably this had to do with the two shows happening together. I also heard people complaining about stewards not talking but French while I know that the Sociéte Centrale Canine even had some translators for Russian.
One hall held the breed stands and this was not just restricted to a few, but there were many. This is really interesting as France has so many breeds that you rarely meet outside of the country and especially the pack of hounds that leave the stables of the “grands Chateaux” only once a or twice a year, like for the Championnat de France. It is a real example of living folklore that you can only see in the Chateaux or during the Championnat. This is probably also the reason why this World Show had probably the most diversity in breeds, covering almost the complete spectrum of FCI breeds and I had the opportunity even to see a Vietnamese Ridgeback that is clearly different from a Thai Ridgeback. It probably came along with a Television crew from Vietnam that covered the event together wich many other stations.
The huge numbers of visitors was probably the result of a good PR campaign prior to the show. No less than 240 Press registration were made and on almost every channel of the French commercial and national Networks the event was covered. No wonder that this helps a lot . To most foreign visitors it might have appeared strange that there we no signs at all in the area to give directions to the halls. French people are used to it as the major forbids anything that can distract drivers. On the other hand, if there are signs it can help to find the way without hesitations. On my GPS it was not possible to find the halls as the area has no address. I had to chose for “airport Charles de Gaule”. In such situations signs can help a lot and prevent traffic problems also. Anyway, I suppose the SCC would have done it if it would have been allowed.
The main ring was nice and some said it was too small. According to the initial plans it was smaller as was told me, but in the end it could easily hold all dogs, groups etc. The VIP and Press Area were obviously too small to hold everyone and caused tensions the first day. On Sunday too it was almost becoming a big problem due to a bottle neck at the VIP entrance until suddenly an extra area for the spectators was created and all problems seemed to be solved, at least for the bottle neck. On Saturday evening the public was entertained by a performance of the French CanCan, and that was much appreciated . On Sunday the schedule was already overloaded and except for a performance of Doggy Dance by an Austrian girl dressed as Amadeus Mozart and her dog and the wonderful castrate-like singing by a man there was nothing else but the main and final judging. I think that in this respect it was just perfect, not overloaded but a small interlude for the public.
Mrs.Lisbeth Mach from Switzerland had the honor the judge Best In Show Junior. Since 2008 she is an allround jugde and she is so famous that it will hard to find a country with cynologic activity where she hasn’t judged. The 3rd place went Russia and was for the grey female Poodle “Evak's Shalimar”owned by Mankova Natalia . Her Runner up for BIS went to the Bracco Italiano bitch “Fruga Di Val Ravanaga “Colaco Elsa & Miguel (ES) Nerviani. Het Best in Show Junior was also a bitch, the Basset Artésien Normand “Fricassée de Lapin da Terra Quante”, owned by Cafe Pedro from Portugal.
Mr.Guy Mansencal , passionate of Pyrenean Shepherds, and with a career of 46 years as a judge in every corner of the world was granted the honor to judge Best In Show of the FCI Centenary World Show. He really judged with passion and pride. After a few rounds and an extra check, he pointed the Wire Haired Fox Terrier “Afterall Painting The Sky” to the 3rd place. This bitch is owned by Malzoni Viktor / Steel Tony from Italy and was bred in the States by Pertuit – Seaton. There were no less than 130 co-competitors in his breed. To Finland went the second place. The Pug “Tangetoppen's Unbrealbl'New's”, was bred by Olsen-loken and is owned by Ramanen Mari. This 3 year old young girl won it from 196 colormates. The only Winning male in the finales was his Best In Show two year old American Akita “De Kraner's Worverine Revenge”. And so the title BIS cup went to Italy this year to “Diestro Nati - Rodato Elio”. Breeder of the dog was Montoto Francisco. Before being able to compete for Best In Show he had to beat 93 other American Akita’s and win his group.
It is a show that created mixed feelings. Good to excellent to some, frustrating to others. This will always be like that, and like in all shows one can expect problems. Maybe here the problems were bigger as the show was much bigger. Was it perhaps too ambitious to combine two big shows? All I can say is that they brought it to an end, with a BIS, with happy traders, new French Champions in other countries but France, much Media attention and a huge number of visitors. And as the weather was fine, a lot of frustration faded away after a visit to Paris and a good glass of wine or Champagne.
Next rendez-vous in the circuit for the Selecton for the “Champion of Champions “ show is Leeuwarden. It will be a real challenge for the Netherlands to handle another huge event. At the time of the Paris dog show they already had over 10.000 registrations.
You can find all the results of this show on www.worlddogshow.fr .
