door Karl DonvilLeuven 2011 - 22nd Lovaniumtrophy
I remember well in Mai of this year when the news reached me that Lovanium lost its president, Mr.Eddy Vogeleer. A few years ago he lost his wife, Tilly and shortly after last show he had problems himself and needed to be hospitalized. As he kept all the information himself, it was a big problem for the committee to find all the info they needed to continue with the show and the club. They finally managed and the result is there, a slight increase compared to last year. Mr.Vogeleer can be proud on his successor Mr. Rudy Feyaerts .
As usual the show was perfectly organized with no main problems. It is a quiet show as no demonstrations can take place due to lack of space. The weather was very nice and next to the halls was a circus, so, not much visitors, but that doesn’t affect the atmosphere. The catalog is nice, including statistics that says that 13 different countries were present, although the vast majority of participants were from Belgium, 890 dogs to be exact. Besides lots of dogs from the neighboring countries, there were also dogs from as far as , Belarus (3), Denmark (9), United Kingdom (4), Italy (3), and one dog from Russia, one from Czech Republic, from Switzerland and even one from South Africa. The total number of entries was 1516, which is very good if we know that one week later there was Luxemburg, another week later the Champion of Champions Show in Brussels and one more week later the famous Eurodogshow in Kortrijk. Results were almost immediately and completely online, not just the Main Ring results.
13 Juges from 9 different countries were invited and this is good for a CACIB show, a few local judges and the vast majority coming from different countries. Mrs. Elena Ruskovaara from Finland had a total entry of 139 dogs. On Sunday she judged the Great Danes and had 45 in total which is very good for a show of this size. If we don’t the colors into account, it was the second highest scoring breed. Mrs.Delvaux Lisetter from Belgium judged on Saturday only. She had a total entry of 74 dogs, including 34 Border Collies, her own breed. Mrs.Van Deijl, also from Belgium, had 147 entries. Thanks to the nice entry of 22 Newfoundlanders and 31 Leonbergers she was pretty busy on Sunday with 88 dogs to judge. Mrs.Kari Granaas-Hansen from Norway had also a nice score with 21 Samojeds on Saturday and 26 Afgan Hounds on Sunday bringing her to a general result of 151 dogs. Best scoring judge on one day was Mr. J-F Vanaken who had 100 dogs on Saturday, the only day he officiated. The 46 Chihuahua’s were the most popular breed on the show and together with the 39 Cavaliers , and a few other dogs, they were responsible for this high score. Mrs.Doppelreiter from Austria had 21 Bernese Mountaindogs on Sunday and a total number of entries of 132. On Saturday she shared the Terrier Group with Mr.W.Peper from Germany who also judged several breeds from group 5 and 2. Best scoring judge was Mrs. Elzbieta Chiwalibog from Poland. On Saturday she had 26 French Bulldogs and a total number of 79 dogs. On Sunday she had another popular breed, the Rhodesian Ridgebacks, that caused a total entry of 97 and a total over both days of 176. Mr.R.Blomme judged on Sunday only and just two breeds, 20 Labrador Retrievers and 32 Golden Retrievers.
Mr. Christian Stefanescu is a regular guest and judge on Belgian Shows. Next year the European Dog Show will be in his country, Romania. He judged also Terrier ons Saturday, amongst them the 35 American Staffordshires. On Sunday he had 22 Bullodgs and two other dogs, but also the huge responsibility to judge Best In Show. He liked the whippet, Boxing Helena’s Imenitni , and gave him the 3rd place. Imenitni is almost 3 years old and won under Mrs. Kari Granaas from 20 other competitors. He was the choice of Mrs.Doppelreiter who judged group 10 in the Main Ring. The Lhasa Apso bitch “Nikita” from Marion Radstock won the breed under Mr. Deschuymere from 9 others and persuaded Mr.Heinesche to go for the final competition. Junior Handler Inneke Vanseer jumped in the air as she showed the Leonberger who ended Best In Show, her first Best In Show. There had been strong competition amongst the Leonbergers. Mr.Van Deijl judged them and made “Hakuna C.Bora Z.Miloticek” BOB from a total of 31. Hakuna was entered in Champion Class and is now 4 years old. He is proudly owned by Bauwens-Roobrouck from Belgium. Mr.Deschuymere was the group judge in the main ring.
I wonder if this show will grow a lot next year when there will not be the competition from other shows so close to this one. I bet it will be close to 1700. Enter your dog for next show that will take place on 27 & 28 October and help me win.
