par Karl DonvilAalst (WIEZE) 2007, Empres and Emperor both from Holland!
Small can be beautiful, but the question is if this can still be called a small show? As most shows recently in Belgium this CAC show also has grown with over 100 entries up to 1266 in total and this is coming very close to Charleroi which is a CACIB title show. Next year Wieze holds its jubilee show , its 30th edition and is granted a CACIB title.
Wieze is a small village close to Aalst where the club is seated and the show started first. Since many years now they moved to Wieze as there is a bigger hall with better parking facilities. It is in fact not a expo hall, but a hall for balls, festivities etc. , but big enough to organize a dogshow. A minor point is that it is not a bright hall. Exhibitors from 8 different countries were present. Besides Belgium of course (889), 257 dogs were entered from Holland, 87 from France, 21 from Germany and 4 from Luxembourg. But also 4 dogs from the UK, 3 from Denmark and one from Switzerland were present to compete for the title of Hop-emperor and Hop-empress, named after the plant “hop” which is an important ingredient needed for brewing beer.The increasing success of the show has probably also to do with the team of judges that was invited for the show. The panel was composed of 20 of which only 8 were from Belgium. Best scoring judge on Saturday was Mrs.Kavcic from Slovenia with a total of 84. She seemed to be very popular amongst de Cavalier King Charles Spaniel lovers with 32 exhibits. Her husband Mr.Kavcic was judging too and together this turn out to be very economic to a committee as it saves at least a little in the general expenses. Mrs and Mr Larive from France was another couple. Here also it was Mrs.Larive who had a better score then her husband. She had an entry of 72 while her husband had 64. This was probably due to the popularity of the Chihuahuas nowadays, as she had no less then 38 of them. They both only judged on Saturday. Popular too was Mr. Manucci from Italy who had 74 dogs on Saturday of which no less then 27 Rhodesian Ridgebacks, another popular breed over here. On Sunday he had a total of 65, 35 of them being American Staffordshire Terriers, a popular all over the world. On Sunday the Belgians took over, leaded by Mr.Piet Roosenboom who was the overall record holder with 96 entries. He had 25 Shar Pei, but more remarkable was his success in the Dogue de Bordeaux, ending up with 23 specimen in his ring. Mr. Normand Deschuymere had another nice score with 72 dogs.
Newcomers as a judge are often granted the opportunity to judge on national shows and in that case it doesn't matter if they only judge one or a few breeds only as they are not expensive at all to invite and it gives them the opportunity to build up experience or judge new breeds. Very often the exhibitors too, are interested to test them and subscribe their dogs. This results some times in very nice scores. Mrs Decuyper-Boesmans,for example, a newcomer in the national judging field, was invited to only judge the Golden Retrievers and could be proud as 32 turned up to be judged by her. Her compatriot MrS Verrees-Vanhoof had 18 Labradors, also the only breed she judged, alike Mrs.Schmal-Teunissen from Holland who only judged the Great Danes. Mr. Baelen was listed for the Newfoundlanders and the Leonbergers and ended up with 27 respectively 29. Best scoring judge for only one breed was Mr.Taylor from the UK, who was only invited for the English Buldogs and who ended up with no less then 54 in total.
In Wieze there is not a BIS, but a Hop-empress and Hop-emperor, a BIS- dog and a BIS- bitch in fact. Both winners were the winners of male and female on Saturday. The Lhasa Apso “CH.Nikita”, from Mrs. Radstok Marion won group 9 under Mr.Jungblut , who also judged the dog earlier that day. The Shiba Inu “Mara-Shimas Koki's Kime Waza” is owned by Mrs. Wilma Van der Meer, was a choice of Mr.Kavcic both in the breed ring as in the main ring, made Best of Group 5. Mrs.Vanherle-Stevens was appointed to judge the Best Dog of each day and of the show, Mr.Lauwers, honorary-president of the club, was asked to do this fro the Bitches. Both dogs winning dogs are from Holland.
Aalst is not Belgians biggest show, but probably the best scoring CAC show and is certainly one of the most charming shows, one that people like to come to. Many of the committee members are popular judges that count a lot lot of foreign judges amongst their friends and the President is a familiar face on our dogshows, always there to promote its own show. That pays off of course. Together with an international spread of judges, this must result in a CAC show that differs very little from a CACIB show. I have good hope that the jubilee edition with CACIB title next year (30th anniversary!) will result in a big event, on to look forward to.
