par Karl DonvilLuxemburg 2013 Autumn edition: Two Junior Dogs on the BIS podium.
I will never understand why the autumn edition still remains less popular than the spring edition but I think that a lot of Kennel Clubs envy the Luxembourg Kennel Club for their two successful show every year. This edition had 3798 entries, only 36 dogs less than last year, but compared to the Spring edition there is still a big gap of 45% and that is a big difference.
Most serious exhibitors put Luxemburg on the schedule for new career dogs. A Luxemburg Championship must be on the list of their wins. Proof is the list of nationalities in the front pages of the excellent and most complete catalog. No less than 30 different nationalities. The majority of course are coming from the neighboring countries, France ahead with 1237 dogs, followed by Germany with 787 and Belgium with 652 entries. The Netherlands entered 407 dogs and Luxemburg itself counted for 114 entries. And as Italy is no too far away it had 101 dogs in competition. These dogs represent almost 87% of the entries. This time Spain had more entries than Russia, 81 to 77. The United Kingdom was 40 entries and that is not so spectacular. For the rest there were representatives from almost every European country and even one entry from Canada.
32 Judges were invited coming from 12 European countries. The committee of Luxemburg is probably the champion in compiling the most economic judges list. The far majority of the foreign judges have more than 150 dogs over both days and judges going over 200 are no exceptions. One judge had to be replaced. Mrs Ann Ingram was scheduled but her Irish compatriot Ken Stevenson took over from her. Mrs.Silvia Weber from Switzerland had a total of 161 dogs, 91 on Sunday, all Pinshers and Schnauzers, and 70 on Saturday including 39 Beagles. Mr.Victor Van Raamsdonck from Belgium had the day record on Saturday when he had no less than 125 entries including 54 Boxers and 55 Rottweilers and on Saturday 95 dogs were waiting for him in the ring. He had 60 Pugs and finished the weekend with another record of 220 dogs. Marie-Josée Melchior of a popular judge from Luxemburg. On Saturday she had 96 entries and a total of 172 for the weekend. Mrs. Ingrid Hectors from Belgium is also an upcoming and respected judge. She judged the 76 Great Danes on Sunday and 109 Sheepdogs on Saturday including an amazing number of 85 Australian Shepherds. Mr.Andras Korozs from Hungary had 169 entries while his wife Judit judged on Saturday only and had 84 entries , Collies and Shelties. Mrs Hassi Assenmacher from Germany finished the weekend after having judged 171 dogs. On Saturday 57 Rhodesian Ridgebacks showed up for her judgment. Mr.Janosne Balazsovits from Hungary had a noteworthy number of 65 Newfoundlanders. Mr.Boris Chapiro’s (from France) busiest day was Saturday, all companion breeds, his total for the weekend was 161. Mr.Walter Jungblut from Germany was more busy on Sunday when he judged 85 Terriers. Mr.JeanFrancois from Belgium had 103 entries on Saturday, companion breeds. On Sunday he judged both Bull Terrier varieties, a total of 62. Mrs. Maria Ceccarelli from Italy had her busiest day too on Saturday when she had the Golden Retrievers. A total of 61 and some more breeds mad her finish at 105 on Saturday. Mr. Roland Mielchen came from Germany to judge on Sunday the 75 American Staffordhires only. Mr.Paul Jentgen from Luxemburg is also noteworthy as he could attract an amazing number of 46 Briards. Mr.Elmar Sisterman from Germany was the second most popular judge of the show. He had a total number of 197 entries. On Saturday he judged Spitzes and Primitive breeds, good for a total of 116 dogs, on Sunday he judged 81 Sighthounds. Mr. Daniel Arnaud from Frnace could relax on Sunday after an entry of 120 dogs on Saturday, including no less than 55 Chinese Crested dogs. The same applied to Mrs. Ramune Kazlauskaite From Lithuania who came to judge one breed only, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and 86 stands for a very good entry. Mr.Dimitry Van Raamsdonk from Belgium is the son of Victor and also Dimitry had a record. As a renowned breeder of French Bulldogs he had the best scoring breed on his name, 96 specimen.
To make a successful show even more popular is not easy. In order to attract more visitors and to entertain them the Finals in the main ring were interrupted by a well appreciated acrobatic act of a man with his 5 dogs giving a nice performance of about 20 minutes. But of course this pays of later as it postpones the time the show will finish and if some judges make it a little longer or even a lot longer than scheduled it is no wonder that the finals were almost an hour later than planned. New and even revolutionary was the QR code on the ring numbers. Before the dogs entered the main ring the code was scanned and immediately the Breed and other details showed up on a laptop in front of the speaker. And…it worked without hesitation or mistake!
The Best In Show judge came from Spain. Mr.Malo Alcrudo Rafael had judged 67 English Cocker Spaniels on Saturday. On Sunday he judged a lot of large Group II breeds, good for a total of 123. And after that he still found enough energy to have a look on group winners to pick out the Best 3. His 3rd place went to the Bull Mastiff from Italy with the funny name “Angel’s Face”. Baev Todor & Sfera Jasmina from Italy are his masters. Angel’s Face was a choice or Mr.Andras Korozs who judged the Bullmastiffs earlier that day. Mr.Van Raamsdonk gave later permission to fight for the title. Angel’s Face had 52 competitors and was entered in Junior Class. He won also Best Male Junior in the main ring earlier, judged by Mr.Deutscher, and is 14 month old. This show was certainly a big boost for his starting show career. From 22 Scottish Terriers Mrs.Schwab chose “Sir Darnley's Windsor Wizard” to win BOB and confirmed her choice later in the main ring when she judged the Group too. Windsor Wizard was also entered in Junior Class and only 1 year old and lives with her breeder Maren Bichel-Schnock from Germany. But it was the 7 ? year old Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen “Soletrader Bjorn Borg who won the Show. He was entered in Champion Class males under judge Silvia Weber-Martegani from Switzerland while Mrs.Hassi Assenmacher from Germany gave the ticket of Best of Group. Bjorn Borg is bred by Gavin Robertson and lives in Holland owned by Gwen Huiskenshove and Wendy Doherty and S.Martin.
As stated earlier, the catalogs Luxembourg are an example to many, you can not only find out when the next editions are but also when the next World and European Shows are, not just for the following year but for 3 years ahead. The next edition of this show is on March 29 and 30 for the spring edition and August 30 and 31 for the autumn edition, when I hope the traffic of the end of the holidays will not spoil too much. Up for the next record entry!
