nieuws - 28/03/2010 Luxemburg Spring 2010 80th Edition - Luxemburg
door Karl DonvilLuxembourg Spring 2010, 80th edition.
Notwithstanding its 80th edition the show had about 8% less entries than last spring edition. But this is still good for an amazing number of 5079 entries, composed of 257 different breeds and dogs coming from 27 different countries. The fact that the show had less dogs this year had probably to do with the Eurasia Show, held the very same weekend in Moscow. But in my opinion the crisis has still a significant impact too. France had 1433 dogs compared to 1558 last year, Germany 1074 to 1157, Belgium 939 to 980 and Holland had 669 entries compared to 700 last year. Only very few dogs from these countries will attend the Eurasia Show and skip Luxemburg. It must be the impact of the crisis. Of course there was the influence of the Eurasia too, as Russia had only 38 entries compared to 93 last year and from the former Central European countries a lot more will risk a chance in Russia and prefer to go to Moscow, instead of coming to Luxembourg.
All by all I don’t think the committee was worried and made a happy and satisfied impression. They had invited 46 judges from 21 different countries to help them bring this show to a good end. 46 is an impressive number and the choice was excellent as usual as most of them had very nice entries. I will restrict myself to the judges who had 75 dogs or more, otherwise it would take me too far.On Saturday Mrs.Ludmilla Fintorova had 76 Dobermanns. Mrs.Christine Rossier from Switzerland judged the Miniature Pinshers and had no less than 81. Mr.Alessandra from Italy had 87 dogs, 45 of them were Cane Corso’s. The Newfoundlanders were divided between Alenka Cerne from Slovenia who had 77 males and Maria Amelia Taborda from Portugal who had 48 females. Mr. Roger Vanhoenacker from Belgium had 108 entries on Saturday, 82 of them were Bulldogs. On Sunday he had 92 French Bulldogs, and this makes him the best scoring judge of the show. Georg Roth is a German judge and he had 84 dogs on Saturday, 67 were Bernese Mountaindogs. Mr.Enrique Malé Duran from Spain had only 57 entries, but he is worth mentioning as 49 of them were Scottish Terriers. From the USA, Mr.Ron Menaker was invited. He is the President of the American Kennel Club. On Saturday he judged some Terrier breeds and ended up with 82 dogs all together. There was a big number of Dachshunds who were divided between Mrs.Nicole Kubli from Switzerland who had the wirehaired, 99 all together and Mr. Gisela Werner from Germany who had the smooth’s and longhaired, 90 in total. The list is not finished yet. Daniela Radu from Romania had 75 dogs, dogs from group 7, the pointing dogs. Mr.Oleg Fintora from Slovakia judged sighthounds and had 80 in his ring. Mrs. Sanja Mamcilovic from Serbia had 86, no less than 60 were Whippets.
On Sunday Mr.Harry Lehkonen from Finland had 98 dogs, all Belgian Shepherds and a pretty high score. German judge Jozef Muller did most of the French Shepherds and had a busy day with 105 in his ring. Mrs.Heidi Poschacher from Austria had only two breeds but with 45 Beardies and 45 Shelties she had more than enough to do. Mrs.Ruth Wagner had only one breed, the Australian Shepherds, a popular breed over here. She had 80 to judge the same number as Dutch judge Mr.Jan de Gids, but his number was a combination of several breeds. The highest score on one day was for Mr. Cristian Stefanescu, President of the Romanian Kennel Club. He had no less than 117 entries. 63 Of them were Border Collies. High scores in group 9 too; Mr.Laurent Heinesche had 103 entries, 51 were Chinese Crested dogs. Mrs.Cathy Lebret from Bulgaria had 86 Poodles. She had the Medium size and the Miniatures. The Toys and Standards were for Juha Palosaari from Finland, 66 in total. Mr.Jasna Matejic from Croatia had 81 dogs to judge, all breeds from group 9. There are more impressive numbers and good scoring judges worth mentioning but one has to draw the line somewhere. Fact is that the selection of the judges is always more than OK here in Luxemburg. They all are very busy in general and the money to invite them is usually spend very well.
This is very important as this has a direct impact on the budget of the club. And exhibitors like the challenge as becoming reserve Best of Breed from 50 competitors is much more impressive as winning from the only other dog in the breed. But exhibitors also expect honest judging. Shows are not cheap and they expect to make a fair chance. And this is sometimes a problem and I leave it in the middle if the problem is to be taken serious or not, but there are do’s and don’ts for judges. For example judges are not supposed to exhibit their own dogs on shows where they judge, even if the dogs are handled by a handler. Judges also need to stay away from the exhibitors if possible and it is certainly not tolerable if they make a too familiar impression when talking with them. It is inevitable that judges know certain people, handlers or breeders, but on the shows they must pretend not to know them or at least being brief and not too familiar with them. They will ruin their own reputation and attract less dogs on long term if they don’t pay attention to this. When posing with their winner for the photos they should not talk to them or only briefly. Not only does it distract the handler and the dog, but if the winning dog is not posed well on the photo for the magazines that go around the world, it doesn’t promote the dog, breeder and certainly not the judge himself.
Berlusconi situations are the worst; laying your hand around the middle of a female winner in front of all the cameras, colleagues and public is absolutely not done and should even be punished by the FCI. This was the case here with one judge. I don’t need to give a name as you can see it by yourself if you look at the photos. Doing so, a judge puts the winner in a very embarrassing situation, pretending that there is more going on between judge and winner, and he suggests an arrangement. The handler can hardly make a scene when the judge becomes too familiar because he/she is in the weakest position. Even if the handler is not decently dressed and does not behave correct, a judge must keep his dignity and pay no attention to it. Situations like this ridicules our hobby and offends the committee, colleague-judges, public and exhibitors. Even if the winner is his best friend, over-familiar behavior is unprofessional, rude and to be avoided at all times. Fortunately it had no immediate impact on the show and I suppose it was hardly noticed.
Best In Show judge was Mr.Cristian Stefanescu, president of the Rumanian Kennel Club and organizer of the famous Dracula Show in Rumania. You will never see him judge on the Autumn edition of the Luxemburg show as the Dracula Show is always held on the very same weekend. He had 10 very nice dogs to chose from and he took his time with reason. “Suzuka Go Shun'you Kensha” , a 2 ½ year old female Shiba, was his choice for the 3th place. Suzuka was entered in Champion Class under judge Christine Rossier from Switzerland. Mrs.Marja Talvitie from Finland judged her in the group. She is bred and owned by Silvia Exposito from Spain.
Impressive is the least you could say from the Irish Wolfhound “Pitlochrys Ramses”. Ramses has the very same age as Suzuka and was entered in Male Open Class under judge Oleg Fintora from Slovakia who also judged the group. Ramses is very tall but is an excellent mover and looks so self-assured and relaxed in the ring that there is no way to avoid him. He is owned and bred in Holland by Ferhout Schildt E.C.
Mrs.Paula Heikkinen Lehkonen from Finland must have been nicely surprised to see her Best of Breed and Best of Group Welsh Terrier “Rambo von der Hohen Flur” end as Best In Show. Rambo is two years old and was entered in Male Champions Class and won from his 7 breed mates. He is bred in Germany by Göthel, breeders famous for their Welsh Terriers, and is co-owned with Jac Houben from Holland. Rambo became world champion lately in Bratislava and won already many other titles.
Rambo will possibly come back in September, but if we want to see Mr.Cristian Stefanescu in September, we will need to go to Rumania. I am pretty sure that he will think on the nice, good and famous show of Luxemburg and regret that he cannot be there too. You can already ad 04 and 05 September in your agenda and don’t forget to enter your dogs in time for the 81th edition.
