door Karl DonvilLuxembourg Autumn 2015. Veteran wins hot Show.
No wonder the success of this Luxembourg edition would be affected by the concentration of CACIB shows prior and following the show. The week before there was Mechelen en the weekend following there is the Oslo European Dog Show and one week later, on less than 100 km away there is the Libramont Show in Belgium.
But did it affect so much? Not really I would say. Okay , last year we had 4244 entries for this edition, but in 2013 there were 3805. For this edition 3944 dogs were entered. I think that many dogs were entered while traveling north to Oslo, picking an interesting title on the way. 1308 Dogs came from France, 685 from Germany, 643 from Belgium and 507 from the Netherlands, which is not that much in my opinion, as this shows counts for the Benelux Winner title. In fact there were 31 different nationalities from all the corners of Europe. There were not that much Russians, with 34 only half of last year. I suppose they focused on Oslo and skipped Luxembourg this year. 60 Dog came from the United Kingdom and 15 from Ireland, and no less than 9 dogs were US dogs and there was one dog entered from as far as Mexico.
There was a new carpet in the main ring, green, and the least I can say is that there were mixed feelings. Besides the bar code scanning at the entrance of the main ring, there was also a professional camera for the life streaming, which brings this show one step higher on the professional ladder. On Saturday it was rather quiet but Sunday brought a lot of visitors to the halls and made the turnover of the trade stands in balance. Let's not forget that around the halls there are several large construction works going on and parking space became sparse. But this show is so popular that not much can affect its' success.
But the show is not only popular amongst exhibitors, many judges hope to be invited too as the hospitality is legendary. 35 Judges could count themselves amongst the lucky ones, several for the very first time. They came from 18 different countries. Best scoring judge on Saturday was Mrs. Chantal Van Raamsdonk from Belgium. She judged on Saturday only and one breed only, the popular French Bulldog that she breed herself too and where is and her husband are world famous for too.She had 98 in total. Mrs Natasa Davidovic from Serbia came close. She had 90 entries an her 71 Golden Retrievers were amongst the best scoring breeds;. Mr.Victor Lobakin from Azerbaijan had 80 dogs on Saturday and 71 on Sunday. On Saturday he had no less than 62 Rhodesian Ridgebacks and on Sunday when he judged Sighthounds, he had a surprising number of 30 Piccolo Levriero Italiano. Mr.Piet Roosenboom from Belgium judged one breed only on Saturday, the Pug with 85 entries and on Sunday the American Staffordshires with 68 entries. Mr.Tamas Jakkel from Hungary judged the Cocker Spaniels and he had an entry of 72. Mrs. Ruth Wagner had 79 dogs in her ring, and the 59 Australian Shepherds helped a lot to influence this nice number. Mr.Gerard Cox from Ireland had a good score on Saturday, 83 entries, but his score of 47 Beagles was unusually high and worth mentioning. The record holder for Sunday was Mr. Manuel Luis Catalan from Portugal. Not only was 106 a very good score, but to gather 24 Pinschers and 35 Miniature Pinschers requires a very good reputation. Together with the 67 entries of Saturday, he finished as best overall scoring judge of this show. Mr. Alexsey Belgkin from Russia came close. He had 163 dogs in total and 63 his Cane Corsos helped a lot. Mr.Eytan Hendel from Israel judged 77 Great Danes and Mr. Vladimir Javorcic from Slovakia had 158 in total, but his 61 Boxers are a proof that this breed is getting more and more popular again. The Bulldog is still very popular. There were 81 on this show for Mr. Colm Hastings from Ireland. Another breed that is regaining popularity is the Dobermann. The 56 entries were for Mrs. Barbara Zanieri from Italy.
Mr. Paul Stanton from Sweden was one of those judges who desperately hoped to be invited one day to Luxembourg. It took a long time, but there was a reason for that. As there is only one BIS judge per show it is normal that it can take a while before it's your term, but that he didn't knew, he was not aware that he was on that special list. On Saturday he had 88 entries when je judged breeds from group 5. On Sunday he had 53 entries including a nice number of 34 Bullmastiffs. For his final line up of his 3 podium places he started with the Alaskan Malamute. He had judged this breed himself on Saturday and took out "Libertia Reggae Master", owned by Burnside Perdita as Best of Breed. This British dog was entered in Champion Class. Two more dogs from Perdita were shown here. Reggae Master is 5 years old. His group judge was Mrs. Heidi Kirschbichler from Austria. The pick for BOB English Cocker Spaniel of Mr. Tamas Jakkel was "Francini's Day by Day" . This 3 year old male was also entered in Champion Class and is bred and owned by Angela Francini from Italy. Thanks to Mr. Jakkel and thanks to Mrs. Natasa Davidovic who made him Best of Group he could compete for Best in Show and end up Runner up to BIS. The final winner was a Russian entry. Mrs. Adriana Griffa from Italy judged the Irish Wolfhounds and had a nice entry of 35. One of them was "Bourbon Tullamore Good Stuff", a 9 year old male, bred by Ivana Joklova and owned by Oleg Nalobin & Gregor Nemanic from Russia. This veteran was really remarkable, 9 years is really old for this breed and it was really hot in the halls. I wonder if Mr. Victor Lobakin was aware of this dog's age but he was impressed too and made him Best of Group. And that must have been the same thought of Mr. Stanton, impressive and probably not aware of this dogs' age. Whow!!!
It was warm in the halls, the result of a sunny weekend and the hard work inside. The main ring finished early for Luxembourg standards. This all depends on the discipline of the judges. If one judge starts a one man show and let too many dogs make a round in the main ring, it can easily make a difference of half an hour. This time is finished around 6 and that is very reasonable compared to several times when it finished around 7. While rumors circulated about the future of the halls, the committee is more relaxed now as the halls will not be broken down, at least not those that are used for the show. And therefore I can give away that next meeting is planned on 26 and 27 of March for the Spring edition and 10 and 11 of September for next Autumn edition. See you there!
