news - 26/01/2008
Mouscron 2008 - Belgium
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by Karl Donvil
Mouscron celebrates its 35th edition (1600 photos in this report!).
Mouscron is located right at the border to France and is only 10 km away from Kortrijk and belongs to the French speaking part of Belgium. This area of Belgium is the part where shepherd dogs have always been very popular. The Bouvier des Flandres is a native breed of the area and also the Bouvier des Ardennes has roots there as the breed stands in between de Picard (north of France) and the Bouvier des Flandres. As Mouscron is situated on the border to France a lot of custom officer used the Tervuerens, Malinois, Groenendaels and the Laekenois to guard the borders and catch smugglers, those breeds became very popular too. No wonder that a lot of clubs doing obedience and packwork were situated in that area.
Unfortunately Mouscron had not proper expo halls at the start and were forced to find a solution once their show became more successful and known. The city council decided to renovate an old factory. This hall is a fine place to be, not very big, but due to the typical construction of the old factories with v-shaped roofs with windows on one side, it is a bright hall and daylight and sunshine can come in. For safety reasons, the committee can hold only about 1600 to 1700 dogs. The parking is also still a problem as situated next to two shopping centers it is difficult to find a place nearby on Saturday. On Sunday, on the contrary, the parkings are open for the public. That is why on Saturday there were about 750 dogs to judge, the rest was on Sunday, making a total of 1607.
The halls have a relatively high number of trade stands for the size of this show and the same applies to the public. Perhaps because a lot of people that come to shop in the neighboring shopping centers, are hit up to the idea to visit the show on Sunday and this can result in a better volume of trade for the stand holders.
I must say that the catalogue is an example to other shows, very complete and with a lot of statistics. The only thing I miss is an overview of the participants per country. Next time perhaps? For the rest it holds a list of the judges belonging to the club, a photo of the previous BIS winner, a list of the judges with the numbers of all the breeds they have on both days, a list of all the breeds and their corresponding numbers, divided per Breed Group etc.
As the halls have not enough space, there is no ring for demonstrations and other activities and one if forced to wait until all the judges have finished before the main ring can be build and started. But this is no problem at all and the time schedule was kept close to the planning.
Mouscron is a CACIB show and I was pleased to see that efforts had been done to compose a very international judging panel. Only 20 judges were invited, but this proved to be enough as no judge was really overloaded with work. They belonged to 13 different European countries, from the North, East, South and West, nice! Contrary to other years, only 3 judges from France were invited and this is unusual as the committee always speculates on a lot of French entries. But probably the French want to enter their dogs too under foreign judges instead of always the very same judges . The result was there, almost the very same entry number as other years! And as Mouscron is even slightly closer to Britain, the British also found their way to this show and with success as a few of them ended in the group placings and one even won a Group.
I was please to see how correct the judges from the former east block countries respected the etiquette for judges, an example to many others. Judges should pay attention to the photographers and are supposed to pose instead of distracting the handlers and the dogs with talking, laughing, and gesticulating. They should also go from winner to winner in order to be photographed with them too, and not only to with the winner. And if possible they need to help the handlers, especially with the breeders groups. Only 2 minutes of concentration are needed for this and the main ring can be cleared much faster for the next group. In my opinion judging etiquette should be a part of the examination for judges and is very important and contributes to the respect that judges should get. A judge with the correct behavior will get much more esteem from the exhibitors. Respect is something that you deserve, not something that you automatically get.
As I already quoted, most judges were able to work relaxed. On Saturday Mrs.Eva Sirko from Hungary had the most busy schedule with no less the 107 dogs to judge. No surprise if you see that she had some very popular breeds to judge, the Bull Terrier (24), the Staffordshire Bull Terriers (30) and the American Staffordshire Terriers (54). Fortunately on Sunday, she didn’t judge and could relax. Next came Mrs.Ferelith Somerfield from the United Kingdom. She had 77 dogs to judge, some Terriers and some Hounds. On Sunday she had 83 entries, Shelties, Corgies and some dogs belonging to the Companion Group. Mrs. Bertil Lundgren from Sweden, was the busiest on Sunday with 89 entries, all out of group 8. She had 53 Golden Retrievers, the second most popular breed of this show. Mr. Miodrag Vretenicic from Montenegro had 79 dogs on Sunday all out of Group 5, the Spitzes and Primitiv Breeds. Mr. Claudio De Giulani from Italy judged all the Bichon breeds, the Shih Tzu’s and the Chihuahua’s and ended with 75 in his ring on Sunday. Mr.P.W.J. Van Montfoor from the Netherlands had a nice entry of 41 Newfoundlanders to judge on Saturday/ Mrs Marie-José Labrousse from France was especially invited to judge the Great Danes and ended with 54 specimen in her ring on Saturday.
All group winners compete on Sunday for the title of Best In Show, but only one is placed. The advantage is that no dog is placed 10th, 9th , 8th etc. It always gives a wrong impression if one is placed behind as it looks like he lost, while in fact he won his group. On the other hand those from Saturday need to come back on Sunday if they want to make a chance to win BIS. It is frustrating if they finaly are not placed at all. They only need to come back for a short walk around the main ring and that is all.There is no ideal formula for this in my opinion, but it would be less frustrating for some to have also a second and a third place. This increases at least the chance for those from Saturday to win something and not returning home empty handed.
Mrs.Ferelith Somerfield from the United Kingdom is a highly respected judge all over the world and has a lot of experience. She was the special guest and thus honored to judge Best In Show. Unfortunately she could only make one handler happy and this must have increased the stress for her. As I sat close to her I saw her follow the judging of her colleagues with high interest and very concentrated. She was hardly involved in any conversation with her neighbors. When finally she was on term she took a different look to the dogs, examining their gait from a different point of view. She decided to make the Scottish Terrier her Best In Show. It was “Lucia’s Dream Storm in a Teacup” , a female bred and handled by Mrs.Betty Smit-Kamerbeek from Holland. Teacup was entered on Saturday in Champions Class under Mr. Claudio De Giulani from Italy. Mr.De Giulani was also pointed out to judge Group 3 and made Teacup the winner. Mouscron is famous for the many cups they give away and again, it was impressive to see what Mrs. Smit-Kamerbeek was supposed to take home. At least she didn’t need to take along Teacups kennelmates that she entered also the day before.
Perhaps you can take you change too next year on 24 and 25 of January, at least if you don’t hesitate too long to enter your dogs as the number of dogs are limited on this show and Mouscron is very popular, don’t forget!
Text and photos: Karl DONVIL
Results: Paula DICTUS
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