nouvelles - 25/07/2010
Liège 2010 Golden Dog & Masters Trophy - Belgique
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par Karl Donvil
Liège, the only remaining show in Wallony?
When I read the words of Mr.Yves-G.Boclinville, president of the club, he titles it with “Liège, last cynological bastion of Wallony?” . Is this so? Yes, I must admit that this is the case since nor Namur nor Charleroi are allowed any longer to organize a dog show as a penalty for severe shortcomings in their administration. There is of course Mouscron, another good running show, but Mouscron is not a pure Wallony show as Mouscron is laying on the language border and the organization is composed of Wallons and Flemmish. That leaves us indeed with Liège as the only pure Wallony show left.
Fortunately this show is a very well organized one, ruled by a very inventive committee. Not only is the show named “Golden Dog Trophy” and this was its 56th edition, but at the same time there is also the 9th edition of the Golden Lead, the international handling competition for juniors and seniors, the 7th edition of the Golden Groomer , the international Grooming competition a co-initiative with Mr.Jean François Vanaken and Laurent Heinesche and there is also the 4th edition of the Masters Trophy, a gala show with dinner were the participating dogs are judged by 6 judges.
Liège traditionally is a summer show and it can be very hot in and outside, but this year it was very OK as the temperature was moderate, ideal for un event like this. Traditionally the catalog I correct and very complete with information and statistics. All day long there is entertainment in the main ring with dog dancing, a clown act, the grooming competition, a “dogs in art” exposition and much more. A pity that this year the light on the podium in the main ring was not good. The spotlights were too narrow so that the white curtain behind the winners was not illuminated. On the photos this compensated in blue and not neutral . Also the light came from too high casting strong shadows on faces. Spotlights are OK during the judging and in order to “spot” something, but for a podium it is better if it is illuminated evenly with the same kind of light. Of course this is a detail that counts only for the photo’s of the winners on the podium.
With 1651 entries, the Golden Dog Trophy is one of Belgium’s bigger shows. Compared to last year there is a decrease of some 8% but we must keep in mind that the big show of Paris was 2 weeks before and the famous shows of Split in Croatia were the very same weekend. Anyway Liège can keep up with its good reputation and still attracts so many foreigners that they represent 50% of the entries and come from 18 different countries. This gives the Golden Dog Trophy a very international character. This year there were dogs from Malta, Sweden, Finland , Hungary, Ireland , Russia, Czech Republic, many from Switzerland and Italy and also no less than 19 from the United Kingdom.
The 23 judges came from 16 different countries which is also very unusual. I applaud the fact that a CACIB show has a very international judging panel and is composed of minimum 50% of foreign judges. In this case only 4 Belgian judges officiated (in my opinion this should be the rule in FCI). 6 Of them judged the Masters Trophy where only 16 dogs were entered. The formula for this show should be changed a bit as now you can have bad luck as the jury is forced to eliminate half of the dogs in every round. If two very nice dogs need to compete against each other in the first round only one can be chosen to pass to the next round. This way a multi champion can immediately be eliminated in the first round while a moderate dog can go to the next round if he comes out against another moderate dog. Of course the final winner will be a very good dog any way, but if one has bad luck in the first round it can quickly be over and leaves you with the feeling that you didn’t get a fair chance. Is this the reason why this kind of show is not getting more popular. Maybe it would be better to start with a quotation in the first round so that at least the best dogs remain in the ring. Another option could be not to start with pairs but with 4 or 6 or even 8 dogs of which the judges pick out the half that can go on in the competition. Runner up was the American Staffordshire Terrier “Old Hickory Miss-Myrna owned by Max van Slijpe from Holland who entered 4 dogs in this competition. He was beaten by the Siberian Husky “Tundrafoot’s Barn Baby Barn, a dog owned by Nancy Daponte and handled by Gwennaelle Guillaume.
For the main show most judges had no too many dogs. Mr. Beradze from Georgia had the best score on both days with 69 on Saturday and 64 on Sunday. Mrs.Nagler from Israel had the very same on Saturday and 60 on Sunday. Mrs.Nekrosiene from Latvia had 66 on Saturday and 43 on Sunday. The best Score was for Mr.Vanaken from Belgium who judged on Sunday only. He had a nice entry of 75 Chihuahua, the most popular breed of the show. I also want to mention Mr.A. El Baroudi from Morocco as it is not usual that we have the opportunity to meet a judge from the Middle East. Mr.El Baroudi judged sighthounds on Sunday and Group I and Group VII dogs on Saturday. I suppose the committee had expected more dogs and invited so many judges. Unfortunately there was no increase in entries, on the contrary, but we must applaud the efforts of the committee to compose such a varied and very international panel and 1651 entries is far from a bad score. As mentioned before there were only 4 Belgian judges but one of them, Mrs.Liliane De Ridder-Onghena, was asked to judge Best In Show. On Saturday she chose the Scottish Terrier CH. LUCIA'S DREAM STEVIE WONDERFUL as her Best of Day. Stevie Wonderfull had strong competition from 22 other breedmates but was chosen Best of Breed by Mr.I.Beradze and was entered in Champion Class males, 3 years old. Mrs.N.Necrosiene approved his choice and made him Best of group later in the main ring. Stevie needed to come back on Sunday to compete with the Australian Shepherd “A DREAM OF TAZZ OF CRYSTAL LAKE “ a dog from France entered by Planchon Karine & Eric. This dog beated 11 others under Mr.Redlicki from Poland and won the group under Mrs.O.Zilli from Italy. Cristal Lake is an almost 5 year old male, entered in Open Class. Stevie finally won it from Crystal Lake making Mrs.Smit-Kamerbeek from Holland the happiest lady of the show.
Choosing a best of day is no longer common, but I prefer it for several reasons. It is cheaper for the organizers as they need only to compensate one handler for travel expenses (if this is foreseen). As only one dog needs to come back it leaves more possibilities for the handlers that won the other groups. Coming back is often not so easy and many often do two shows in a weekend or have other obligations. Coming back on Sunday doesn’t necessarily mean that you will win and if, at the end, you are placed 10th the frustration is only bigger. I just don’t understand why more and more shows want all the groupwinners of Saturday to come back on Sunday and place all 10 group winners. A Best of Day winner is the very best system, the cheapest, the most practical and most logical. I can only hope that more shows will again adopt this system.
Liège has no longer competition in Wallony, but has always been the best in that area. But even in the Federal area of Belgium, Liège belongs to the top. We can only hope that things continue to go well and that they can keep that status of “Golden show of Wallony”, but so far, I don’t think we need to be worried for that.
Text and photo’s: Karl DONVIL
Results: SEC-Liège
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