nieuws - 01/06/2009 Dublin European Winner Dog Show 2009 D3 - Ierland
door Karl DonvilEuropean Winner Dog Show Dublin 2009 Day 3
Dublin, Ireland, for many of us it is pretty far away. Not if you travel without a dog by plane, but if you have a dog, and certainly a big dog, you will probably travel by car and take the Ferry. This can be a pretty complicated situation as a lot of formalities need to be done in time, especially concerning vaccinations. Every time there is as show and things are rather complicated to get there, exhibitors and handlers enter dogs in case there is a pretty good chance that one of their dogs will win a title. If a show is just far, but it is relatively easy to get there and if the entry fee and extra costs are reasonable people don’t mind too much to enter dogs that have lesser chances to win something. This is one of the things that affects the total entry number of the dogs the most.
Compared to Hungary last year with almost 15.000 entries, Dublin had hardly 4126. But the concentration of quality dogs was probably much higher. On the other hand it was expected that much more UK dogs would be entered. In the Show statistics we see that 43 countries were represented, but when I have a closer look I see that England had 338 entries, Gibraltar 6, Guernsey 1, Isle of Man 13, Jersey 2, Northern Ireland 298, Scotland 156, United Kingdom 730 and Wales 59. I thought that these were all UK countries, and I certainly don’t understand why England, Scotland, Wales and the United Kingdom were separated in the statistics? All together this makes 1603 dogs, more than the 1418 Irish dogs. It also means that only 1105 dogs were from other countries. All by all not such a big show but more important is that it was a good show.
On Friday the clubspecials were held on the regular showground nearby Dublin Airport. The European Winner was held in Ballbridge in the city center. It was the old Horse racetrack that is not only still in use but also serves as Expo center. Everybody loved the venue and certainly the dogs. Many things like agility happened outside, but those rings that were inside were in very nice retro-looking halls, cool and bright. A huge tent was installed on the central field, covering 4 outdoor rings. One hall, adjacent to the main hall, had all the trade stands inside. The stand holders complained for this. As the weather was so nice, nobody was interested to come inside for shopping and there was not enough public either. Well, I presume no show will be perfect. The main hall was a new one. As its front side was completely windowed, it gave a very bright impression and very little artificial light was needed. The venue was excellent and could hold a lot more dogs, although I wonder how it would have been with 10.000 entries.
Politics in dogshows means usually that exhibitors try to influence judges in order to win. But in Ireland real politics are involved, at least for the European Winner Show. The Irish have fought so long for independency from Britain and to get the British out and all this is still very recent history. Many have lost relatives. Even the famous General Michael Collins was a true dog fancier and member of the Irish Blue Terrier Club, that organized the very first dog show in Ireland in 1920, outside the jurisdiction of the British Kennel Club. Indeed, national politics was present in every item of Irish life including dog shows. No surprise then , that the Irish Kennel Club is under FCI jurisdiction and not under British. However, for the British and the Irish it is much easier to participate on one another’s shows than to go to European shows. That makes probably more friends than enemies and the Irish Kennel Club allowed the British Kennel Club to give CC’s to Irish Native Breeds on this very show. Of course, not all Irish were very happy with this decision, and certainly if you know that most of the judges for this specialty show inside the European Winner show, were British, except for the Irish terriers that were judged by Mr.Paddy Carroll and the Glen Of Imaal terriers that were judged by Mr.Harry O'Donoghue. For Irish Nationalists this is probably hard to digest. But since a few years the British Kennel Club, the American Kennel Club and the FCI are approaching each other more and more and another collaboration agreement was signed here in Dublin between the British Kennel Club and the FCI.
On Friday there was problem at the Poodle ring where Mrs.Carla Molinari judged. In agreement with the FCI observer Mr. Kari Jarvinen the Miniatures and Toys were measured and judged again. Besides this I didn’t hear about any other problem. I was not very happy with the catalog. It had no statistics and there was no main ring schedule with hours in it. Almost at the end you could find something like a group-judging scheme, but there were no hours displayed or any kind of other order. The list of owners at the end, did not have any references to the dogs they entered and they were divided per breeds group and once more per breed in alphabetical order. A very funny unfamiliar way to do and not easy to find your way.
The most popular breed was the Bordeaux Dogue with 96 specimen. Very unusual! They all entered to be judged by Mr. Makaritis from Greece. They even outnumbered the Golden Retrievers who were with 80. The Soft Coated Wheatens were the fith most popular breed with 64 specimen, who were judged by Mr.Bodegard from Sweden and the Kerry Blues were also in the top 10 on the ninth place with 55 dogs. They were judged by Mr.Lehtinen from Finland who also judged the Irish Terrier and the Gen of Imaal. Mr.Kenneth Edh from Sweden judged the Irish Wolfhounds who had a nice score of 48 specimen. Mrs. Trudy Walsh judged the Irish Red Setters who were with 39 in the ring. Funny enough she was the only Irish judge who judged an Irish breed. Mr.Hans Muller judged the Red and Whites, 15 in total and Mr.Pinto Texeira took care of the 19 Irish Water Spaniels. National breeds judged by foreign judges, CC specialties judged by English judges. Where are the Irish specialists? Where is the Irish chauvinism? There can only be one reason for this. Too often Irish dogs are judged by Irishmen and there is not enough opportunity for the Irish dogs to be judged by foreign judges and win International titles. The European Winner of Dublin was a splendid excuse to invite some foreign judges for the national breeds. If this would have happened on the continent it would be different, but for this show it was clear that the majority of dogs would be Irish and British dogs anyway. But for foreign dogs it would have had a big charm to be judged by a native judge, one that has a very strong reputation in the native breeds. Perhaps a missed chance and it could have attracted a much bigger entry in the national breeds. There is hardly a greater honor than winning the breed in the country of origin, from a large entry and under a native judge who knows the breeds since many decades.
The main ring started very early every day. Around half past two the first groups were judged and on Saturday Group 10 was in while the Salukis were still being judged outside. I did not understand why there was such a hurry and why one needed to start with a Group yet and not with Breeders Groups, Veterans or Couples. I really think there was a kind of nervousness the first day on more than one level. But things were reconsidered for the next days and with small changes everything ran smoothly. The atmosphere was relaxed and there were no major incidents at all; which is very positive. I think the very nice weather played a major part in it, and of course the positive Irish attitude and humor.
With 4126 entries and an obligatory very international jury there was probably no budget to finance a spectacular ceremonial part with traditional live music and dance, but on the other hand, it didn’t take long and visitors are often bored with the many speeches. So, no complaints here too. The main ring was large enough, bright with a good mixture of natural light with white artificial light. The two long ends had seats for the public, one short end was for the judges and VIP’s while on the other end there were two big prejudging rings. The sound was good and there was a photo corner for the press right at the exit for the dogs. No public was allowed into the ring to take photos except for the Press People and it must be said that the security people did a very good job here in a very polite way. One minor point are the big flowerpots in the main ring. They were nice and all four had a main color to indicate the places, but they should be on wheels and be taken away during the judging . The winning dogs were lined up in front of the Press for the photos and the problem with the flowers was nothing compared to Hungary where the dogs were hidden behind the flowerpots. The second day of the show the committee offered the photographers to go in the main ring. This was very much appreciated by the press and not abused as everything happened fast and disciplined and didn’t affect the main ring schedule at all.
Ireland is not the most easy place to go to attend a dogshow, but the crème de la crème of the continental dogs was present. It was the President of the Irish Kennel Club, Mr.Sean Delmar, who was offered the honor to judge Best In Show. His winner was a British Dog, a Fox Terrier Wire, UK CH BLACKDALE CAROUSEL , owned by Mr A Goodsell. Res. BIS went to the American Akita MULTI BISS MULTI CH MELODOR BURN THE WITCH from Mrs Chris Mc Lean from Italy. The Pekingese CH. & GB.CH. BRENTOY CLEOPATRA from Mr. R. & Miss K. Tsihlis O'Neill ended on the 3th place. The Afgan Hound CH. POLO'S COSMIC FIRE owned by Mr. D Coton from France ended on the 4th place. But not only these 4 winners were happy, I think many people were happy and satisfied. I really wonder why I hardly did hear any complaints? It must be a combination of the good weather, the Irish traditions, humor and pubs and the nice and relaxing venue that makes one putting things in perspective. There was no excuse to skip this European Dog Show and stay home, it was more than OK. This show will figure in the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest Irish Dog Show ever.
Text and photos: Karl DONVIL
Results: Irish Kennel Club
GROUP 1
Group Results
Group Judge: Mr L. Teixeira
Placing Breed Dog
Adult 1 Australian Shepherd Dog USA, IT, INT, RSM, ROM, CH. BIS PROPWASH SNOOKER (Mrs. L. Frank)
