door Karl DonvilLuxemburg Autumn 2011 postponed but not affected by Leeuwarden and Champion of Champions.
It is not necessarily a problem if a show needs to be postponed as was the case this year with the European Show in Leeuwarden that was in September, the regular date of the Luxemburg Autumn edition.
The show was reset to November, a week prior to the Champion of Champions Show in Brussels, although this was an unusual show, only open to selected Champions. Of course it causes lots of practical problems like negotiating the halls, heating and thus more expenses, and very close to some other shows like Leuven, Ch.of Ch’s, Kortrijk and even Amsterdam. All this costs a lot of money to exhibitors who want to participate and probably they will make a selection. And what about judges that have been planned years before? And the Spring edition is in only 4 months from now and not in 6 as usual.
But it looks like all these worries didn’t affect the splendid result as again there has been a drastic increase in entries, from 4278 to 4656 this year. In 2002 this edition only had 2737 entries! See what it became now! Still the spring edition is the biggest with 5484 entries. All these dogs came from no less than 30 different countries and from countries as far as Israel (5 dogs) , Thailand. France is the best represented with 1824 dogs or almost 40%. Germany was represented by 878 dogs, Belgium by 744 and the Netherlands had 382 entries on this show. Luxemburg was good for 147 entries, Italy for 133, Spain for 103 and Switzerland for 69 or one more than Russia. The 40 judges of 15 different nationalities were very well chosen and exotic as there were two from Colombia and one from Uruguay. An excellent catalog, a well tuned staff, expert committee, big and convenient halls close to most highways in the heart of Europe, makes the shows of Luxemburg into one of the best and most famous in Europe.
Most judges have pretty high scores here and are busy too. John Bond was invited from Ireland and had 185 dogs in total. On Sunday he had 76 dogs, all French Bulldogs. The rest was on Saturday, including a long-time-no-see-number of 59 Boxers. Mr.Deschuymere from Belgium had 94 on Saturday, including 50 Beuacerons, which is unsual, and 67 on Sunday. Mr.Tibor Gellen from Hungary was the record holder for the weekend. He had 111 dogs on his list for Satruday and another 94 for Sunday. Also from Hungary was Mr.Sandor Szabo who judged all the Austrialian shepherd breed on Saturday. He had an amazing number of 93 Australian Shepherds. On Sunday he judged Teckels. Manfred Langer from Luxemburg was the judge for the Swiss White Shepherds, a breed that is becoming very popular. There were 65 of them. On Sunday he judged sighthounds. Paul Jentgen, maybe the most popular judge from Luxemburg, judged Shepherd breeds on Saturday, 115 in total. It was the highest single day score. He was off duty on Sunday. Mr.Barbara Kacens from Luxemburg judged 60 Dalmatians who all came for her opinion. Mr.Jussi Liimatainen from Finland only judged on Saturday but had 80 specimen from the Spitz group. Mr.Michael Krainer from Austria had also 91 dogs from the Hound Group. On Sunday he judged 1 Deutsche Jagd Terrier, 17 Miniature Bull Terriers and no less than 65 Standard Bull Terriers. Mr.Danny Gilmoor from the UK judged crossed the channel to judge 58 Staffordshire Bull Terriers. The American Staffordshire Terriers were judged by Mr.François Vanaken from Belgium who a super score with 113 specimen. . On Saturday he judged Bichon Frisées and Chinese Cresteds who were numerous with 59 dogs. Mr.Andrew Brace from the UK judged all varieties of the English Cocker Spaniels, 83 was above expectations. On Sunday he had 66 dogs. Mrs.June Wall from Ireland had 110 dogs on Saturday and that included 72 poodles. Busy too was Mrs. Carole Garhöfer from Austria with 107 dogs. With another 71 Terriers on Sunday, she had a very exhausting weekend too. Noel Beggs from Ireland judged the 89 Chihuahua’s on Saturday but was allowed to relax on Sunday. Mr.Revaz Khomasuridze came all the way from Russia. 102 French Bulldogs were waiting on Saturday to hear his opinion. Italian judge Mr. Rosario Jari Spagna judged 94 dogs in Saturday, 76 of them Pugs. He could also play tourist on Sunday. It has been some time since the Dobermanns were so numerous, probably because Mr.Maurizio Marchetti came from Italy to judge them here. The most popular breed of the show was the Newfoundlander who were also interested in the opinion of an Italian judge, Mrs.Daniele Poltri. The Newfoundlanders were the only breed she judged this show, but what a number! Mr.Romain Verschueren from Belgium replaced Mr. Gert Christensen from Danemark, who was unable to attend this show and judge the Great Danes. There were no less than 114 ! The English Bulldogs were for Mrs. Carla Molinari. She was busy enough with the 76 that she judged on Sunday. Mr.Laurent Heinesche had another nice score on Sunday when he judged Sightounds. He finished with 35 Italian Greyhounds and 57 Whippets. On Saturday he did the 14 Lhasa’s and 43 Shih Tzu’s. Mr.Juan Alberto Grillo Londono belonged to the most exotic judges of the weekend, coming from across the ocean, from Colombia. This resulted in a very good score of 75 Minature Schnauzers on Sunday . On Saturday he shared the Cavalier and the King Charles Spaniels with his compatriot Aida Rivera Franco who judged the bitches. Mr.Jorge Nallem from Uruguay Juded the 64 Labradors on Saturday and another 62 Terriers on Sunday, but more important, he was invited to select the Best In Show.
For the first time the winning dogs did not only go home with a huge and impressive trophy but also with money. The Best In Show received 700 EURO, the Res BIS 400 EURO, the 3rd place was awarded with 200 EURO and the remaining places all received 100 EURO, 2000 EURO in total. I was told that this was to attract enough exhibitors as the committee was worried that there would not be enough entries due to the rescheduling of the show to a later and more busy date. Maybe this was not necessary, but I think it was a most appreciated initiative and one that maybe will be repeated in the future when everything turns back into normal.
The first one to know what prize money he would take home was Mr.Delabelle from Belgium with his whippet “Whipcat Violetta Valery”, a 4 year old import dog from Germany. He won from an entry of 57 under Mr.Laurent Heinesche and got the approval of Mrs. Rosemarie Wild from Switzerland who judged Group 10. Next one to be called back into the main ring to take place on number two of the podium was the English Cocker Spaniel “Fuel for Life du Domaine de Kerarzic Vilin”. Mr.Justine Mahe from France bred and showed this dog. Mr.Andrew Brace made him best of 81. Fuel was entered in Junior Class males at the age of only little over one year old. Mrs.Carla Molinari judged the group and found him adult enough to go to the finals on Sunday. One of the smallest dogs of the show, the Miniature Spitz “Fon's Flying To Dan-Star-Kom” was called in to take place on the highest place. It was a dog that was judged by Mr.Jussi Liimatainen from Finland where he was entered in Champion Class Males and won from 21 others. Group 5 was later judged by Mr.Rui Olivera from Portugal when he ended Group Winner. He came from as far as Russia along with his mistress Liudmila Komyakova and went home with 700 EURO. Flying is 2 ½ years old now.
Next rendez-vous is the spring edition on 31 March and 1 April and the next Autumn edition is again in September, 01 and 02. See you there?
