nieuws - 20/11/2011 Kortrijk 2011, feels the impact - België
door Karl DonvilKortrijk 2011, feels the impact of the many shows and festivities I doubt if last year’s show was an exception when no less than 3305 dogs were entered while this edition the number drops back to 3066. Most probably this has to do with the many shows in the same period. Let’s not forget Luxemburg that was only 14 days before, and the Champion of Champions show and the Cynological days. And there is also Amsterdam not much later. Strange that the previous shows were not harmed, on the contrary, while Kortrijk has a drop down of 7%. Anyway it is still better than 2009 that had only 2592 entries and 2008 with 2920.
A closer look at the catalog learns that there were no Russian dog entered at all??? In fact there were very few dogs from the former East Blok countries entered. On the other hand, Kortrijk has always had close bonds with the United Kingdom. The UK comes on the 4th place of the foreign countries with 112 entries. The committee also use to invite several judges from the United Kingdom, leading with 8 and even more than the native judges. Kortrijk is not just a regular show, but is a total spectacle, a kind of dog fair and attracting lots of visitors. I think there are very few shows on the continent that are so famous with the regular dog lovers who never participate on shows than the Kortrijk Eurodogshow. Amazing how many visitors they have each year again and how many trade stands fight to be in time to have a place. No wonder as at this fair there is always something to do or a dog sport to watch. For the Children there is a real children village with air castles and carousel, there are demonstrations all day long in the main ring like the Doggy Dance, Hunting, Guarding and defense dogs, Hunting demonstrations, guide dogs for blind and for disabled people and the 24th Fancy Dress competition for children. In the other halls there is the 27 Grand Prix agility with 300 dogs in competition, again in another hall there is the 30th Grand Prix Obedience with 80 dogs in competition and in still another hall there is the popular 25th International Junior and the 11th Senior Handling competition. Kortrijk is probably the most international dog show of Western Europe with 65 judges from 16 countries and participating dogs from 26 different countries, at least that is what the very complete catalogue learns us. On the other hand when reading the welcome page it says there are 62 judges from 12 countries??? Anyway, even with this contradiction, most people are able to read and understand the catalog that was in 4 languages. Remember my article on the FCI Centenary Show in Dortmund where the catalog was in German only, and the one from Paris, in French only.
The main part of the show will always be the Dog Show where the Eurodogshow started with. For this part there were 39 judges invited, representing 16 different countries (and for this I presume the welcome part mentions a wrong number). As already mentioned the British Judges were best represented. At first sight they didn’t attract many dogs, only 550 and that results in 69 dogs/judge. The other judges had an average of 81 dogs and even the general average was higher with 79 dogs/judge. But this gives a rather false impression as most judges were specialist judges, invited for a single breed or only a limited number of breeds. On Saturday there was Mrs.Maximo Fox-Shone, British, who had 52 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels to judge, Mr. Brian Taylor had 65 English Bulldogs. On Sunday there was Mrs.Sue Pounds –Longhurst who, judged the Golden Retrievers only, 71 specimen. Mrs.Amanda Mc.Laren was invited for the Belgian Shepherd varieties (except for the Laekenois) and attracted 79 in total, which is a very good score, Mrs.Sandra Wigglesworth , had 43 Collies and 41 Shelties, again very good, Mrs Patricia Wilkinson, came for the Border Collies, no less than 71 and Mrs Sarah Foster had 43 Bull Terriers and 7 miniatures. If you see it from this perspective it gives a totally different result. But not only British judges had nice scores. Popular breeds use to give high scores but that also depends on a good judge and some at this Eurodogshow were very well selected. Mr.Dirk Spruyt from Belgium had 45 Chinese Cresteds. Mrs Meylemans judged pugs (33) and no less than 85 French Bulldogs. With a total number of 118 she holds the record for highest score on one day. From Sweden there was Mr.Hans Almgren who judged companion dogs but who was very popular for the Shih Tzu’s , as 46 turned up. Long ago since we saw so many Rottweilers together, and that we thank to Mr. Paul Dieter Viehoff from Germany who had 42 in his ring. From Poland we had Mr.Adrzej Kazmiersky who judged 59 Newfoundlanders and 5 Landseers, while on Sunday he focused on Polish native breeds and on some Terriers. 51 Staffordshire Bull Terriers helped him to reach a good total entry of 91 dogs. Mrs. Grethe Bergendahl from Norway also took some Terriers for her account but on Saturday she realized to attract an amazing total number of 79 Great Danes. That is a very long time since so many Great Danes gathered on one (regular) show. Mr.Jukka Kuusisto from Finland judged both days but on Saturday his 49 Bernese Mountaindogs helped him into the spotlights. From France Mrs.Anne Marie Class officiated to judge Molossians. A grand lady, although she is small in size herself, she adored that heavy weight breeds. She had 93 dogs to judge. The Belgian judge Mr.Vanhoenacker had a limited number of breeds each day. On Saturday he judged the 41 Leonbergers and on Sunday the 46 Swiss White Shepherds who become very popular nowadays. We can go one, but that would bring us too far. But I want to mention two more judges, two with very high scores on both days. Mrs. Hassi Assenmacher from Germany had 84 dogs on Saturday, thanks to the 37 Bordeaux Dogues and 41 Rhodesian Ridgebacks. On Sunday she had a total number of 76 out all herding breeds. The most popular judge of the Eurodogshow was undoubtedly Mr. Hutton from the United States. On Saturday he had the breed with the highest score, the Chihuahua’s. If you combine the 92 specimen with the 17 Dalmatians you end up with 109. A little more relax, but still busy for him was Sunday, when he had “only” another 79 dogs to judge from another popular breed, the American Staffordshire Terriers.
For a show of this size, with that much demonstrations and competitions to go, it is important that the time schedule is strictly followed. It always start with the Fancy Dress competition for the children and although there were not so many, the quality was high and some were really original like the Circus Baron with his Lion. Mrs. Monique van Brempt from Belgium was asked to judge Best In Show. All 10 group winners had to be placed, only the winner of the dachshunds didn’t show up again on Sunday. For the 3rd place she took the Fox Terrier Smooth from Mr.Detry from Belgium. Fubelfox De Soleilmont was his name and he won it from 11 competitors at little more than one year under judge Alberto Velasco Sanchez from Spain. Mrs. Grethe Bergendahl made him best Terrier. Mrs.Marion Radstock from the Netherlands needed to come back on Sunday, but it was not for nothing as her Lhasa Apso “ Close to Perfection Next to you” ended Runner up to Best In Show. Also little more than one year old and entered in Intermediate Class he won under Mr. Hans Almgren and later on in the main ring under the very same judge. And the ultimate winner was the Siberian Husky “Snowmist ‘s Quidditch Seeker”. He was entered in Open Class males and was the choice of Mr. Freddie Klindrup from Denmark. He won it from 29 competitors and was the finalist of Group V under Mr.Jukka Kuusisto from Finland. He is bred and owned by Leblanc-Van Gorp Kim. The way he floated around the ring was a pleasure for the eye. He was born in march 2009 and a Champion in the meantime, but he is still not at the end of his career.
Kortrijk is not at the end of its fantastic career either. This year the roads around the halls was renewed and it was a little more difficult to reach the parking places but that also means that it will be an improvement for next year and must bring more dogs to the show. And if you see or meet exhibitors from Russia and other former East Blok countries, challenge them to come next year to Kortrijk and see if they can win there.
