by Karl DonvilAalst (Wieze) 2008, a CACIB show to celebrate its 30th edition.
This year the club of Aalst was granted the honour of organizing a CACIB show in the “Oktober Halls” of Wieze, a village close to the city of Aalst. Usually this is a CAC show. A show with a CACIB title attracts more dogs as a CAC title, but the number of entries was not so much higher as usual.. While last year 1266 entries were counted, it was this year 1340. I suppose a lot of exhibitors didn’t pay attention and must have thought it was a CAC show as usual. On the other hand, this saved the club a lot of money as if there would have been much more entries, the halls would have gone over their capacity and the club would have been forced to rent an extra tent or so. A few rings for the large breeds were outside and except for a few short rain showers, this was a good solution to offer more space inside.
The halls made a brighter impression as before with more powerful lights. That was before one of the major problems in these halls. Although less prominent as in Antwerp, here too there was a problem on the podium with too much stuff in front of the winning dogs. On the other hand, the flowers gave it all a brighter and festive look. The podium itself is OK but would be much safer and easier if the legs would be shortened. Some handlers were completely hidden behind their dogs if it was a large breed. This is not just a detail, the sponsor should pay attention to this for practical and safety reasons and in that case it would be a very good and nice podium. And please, no cards or vouchers in front of the dog’s legs! Hand them to the judges so they can hold them in their hands.
Aalst invited 25 judges, 10 of them Belgians. The others travelled from 8 different countries. The dogs came from 6 different countries, 867 from Belgium, 307 from the Netherlands, 101 from France, 47 from Germany, 12 from the UK and 6 from Luxemburg.
Several judges were invited on one day only, or to judge only one breed like Mr.Davis from the UK who had 52 English Bulldogs (the record entry for one breed), Mr.De Jong-Bol from the Netherlands who judged 27 Bernese Mountaindogs and Mr.Wallner from Germany who did all the Great Danes.
Saturday was the calmest day with only 605 entries to judge so that the maximum number of dogs to judge by one judge was 56. It was a big difference on Sunday. Mr. Pawel Szemraj from Poland had the record entry with 96 dogs. He judged only on Sunday. Mr.Harsanyi P. from Hungary had 75 dogs, probably because he also judged 28 Shelties. Mr.Daniel Thibaut from Belgium only judged the German Shepherds and found 21 of them in his ring, a remarkable number for an all breed show. German Shepherds are usually only numerous on specialty shows for this breed only.
I was again concerned about the special judging system in Aalst where dogs compete for the title of Hopkeizer and bitches for Hopkeizerin (emperor and empress respectively).
As imposed by the FCI, a CACIB needs to select a BIS dog and this means only one dog can win this. This made everything more complicated as it already was.If we suppose there a two shows, one for dogs and one for bitches, it is reasonable that a bitch that has been second in her group is allowed to compete for Hopkeizerin because if there were no dogs but only bitches, she would have won her group. But this also means that if you have to chose only one winner, the BIS, the judge needs to have the winning dogs and bitches of both days in his ring and select one out of these dogs. This sounds illogical at first sight as we already know who the Hopkeizer and Hopkeizerin are. But in this case, the Hopkeizerin was a bitch that ended second in her group while the Beagle, a dog, was the winner of Sunday and it would be illogical if he would be beaten by a bitch that ended second in her group. Very confusing! Fortunately Mrs. Van Brempt judged Best dog of each day, Hopkeizer and BIS. But suppose the BIS judge would be a completely different judge who didn’t like the Bernese Mountaindog and chose for the Whippet, who won Best Bitch of Sunday and ended as runner-up for the title of Hopkeizerin. He would have the right to do so as it is his choice. It would even be worse if he would have chosen the Wire Fox Terrier who ended second in her group but won Best Bitch on Saturday and the title of Hopkeizerin. Again, he would have the right to do so as he is free to make his own selection.
Every year again I keep repeating that this system is so illogical and confusing. It can only be done on condition that dogs or bitches who didn’t win their group could not compete for Hopkeizer or Hopkeizerin. But even then it is theoretically possible that only dogs win all the groups and that there would be no Hopkeizerin. In order to help you a little, find the main results below.
Fortunately, this problem doesn’t affect the show as a whole. Aalst is a quiet show, has a friendly atmosphere, nice committee members and everything looks so evident here, so stressless. Unfortunately some exhibitors think they deserve special benefits and claim the right to return home when they want. On Belgian shows it is not allowed to leave the show before a certain hour, 17h in this case. The president, Mr. Johan Van Der Biest was asked to intervene several times at the gaits and use his diplomacy to prevent incidents. I know that all exhibitors are treated like guests at Aalst. There is no good reason to disturb this for selfish reasons. The organizers do whatever they can to make everything run smoothly and to prevent mistakes or inconveniences for their guests. These guests should respond to this with respect and understanding for the rules applied to all participants by the organization and the FCI.
Next year, they will welcome all of you again on 21 and 22 march in the very same halls.
Text and photos: Karl DONVIL
Results: Paula DICTUS
Best Bitch of Saturday:. Best Dog of Saturday:
Judge: Dhr. Dupas J.J. (FR) Judge: Mrs. Van Brempt Monique(BE)
Fox Terriër Wire Bernese Mountaindog
Dream Baby of Folyny House Emerson van’t Stokerybos
Owner: De Munter-Uiterwijk (BE) Owner:: Delrue-Vandewalle (BE)
Best Bitch of Sunday:. Best Dog of Sunday:
Judge: Dhr. Dupas J.J. (FR) Judge: Mrs. Van Brempt Monique(BE)
Whippet Beagle
Vaque à l’Ame du Chawia Florreke Lighthouse Family
