news - 03/07/2008
Stockholm World Dog Show 2008 day 1 - Sweden
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by Karl Donvil
World Dog Show 2008 Stockholm splendid in more then one way.
The report on the World Dog Show Stockholm will be published in 4 part, one for every day of the show. In order to find your way in the 4500 photos, clik first in the homepage on "SHOP" and in the next page on "help". Read or print this, it will help you to find your photos much faster.
World Dog Show Stockholm splendid in more then one way.
The past World Dog Show held in Stockholm was one of the most perfect I have been at so far. In 4 days 20674 dogs were entered for this event. At Almare Stäket, about 45 kilometres from Stockholm 60 clubs held their clubshows the very same days, called the Circuit Shows. The only Polo field in Sweden was serving for these open air show. Another 22 clubshows were held in other places nearby Stockholm.This enabled foreign exhibitors to show their dogs a second time and making the long trip to Stockholm more interesting. This interesting formula created all together over 34000 entries, a spectacular figure! It was a real surprise, as many handlers were at first a little reluctant due to the veterinarian paperwork and inoculations to be done in order to enter the country. Once more it proves how passionate dog people can be to compete for an ultimate title.
53 Countries were in competition. Of course most dogs were from Scandinavian countries. Sweden itself had 8383 entries, Finland 3235, Norway 2563 and Denmark 1028. The United Kingdom had 202 dogs in competition and the USA had also a surprisingly high number of dogs, 82! Very remarkable was the number of Russian dogs. With 1461 entries Russia was the 4th country in numbers. Of course western Russia is not so far away and Russians do frequent the Scandinavian shows very often. Less to be expected were dogs coming from as far as Argentina (1), Australia (5), Canada (10), Chile (1), Colombia (2), Israel (2), Japan (13), Mexico (6), Thailand (3) Turkey (1) and Uruguay (1).
High entries in certain breeds is a very normal phenomenon during a World Show. The Golden Retrievers had the biggest entry, 341, followed by the Labradors (307) and the Dobermanns (302). A World Show is always a good popularity test and there is no surprise that these breeds belong to the top 10 in the world. Other very popular breeds are, the Flat Coated Retrievers (288), Chinese Crested Dogs (268), Bernese Mountain Dogs (234), Rhodesian Ridgebacks (230), English Cocker Spaniels (223), Pugs (221) and Rottweilers of course (221).
If we take a look at the catalogue we find some more interesting numbers and facts. All varieties together we count 716 Dachshunds, 486 Schnauzers, 385 Chihuahuas, 234 Chinese Crested Dogs, 545 Poodles. The Hunting breeds are usually difficult to find in big numbers or different varieties on regular shows. You need to visit a World or European Show and even then it is difficult to find them all. 342 Different breeds were here in Stockholm and even experienced judges would probably have seen some breeds for the first time. Ever seen the Auvergne Pointing Dog, the Bleu Picardy Spaniel, the Bohemian Wire-haired Pointing Griffon, the Bourbonnais, the French Pointing Dog –Pyrenean type, the French Spaniel, the Old Danish Pointing Dog and the Slovakian Wire-haired Pointing Dog together? Well, in that case you should have been in Stockholm on Saturday. The Dansk/Svenk Gardshund and the Uruguayan Cimarron were to be seen on Thursday. Sunday had the Alpine Dachsbracke, Bavarian Mountain Scenthound, Black and Tan Coonhound, Bleu Gascony Basset, Canarian Warren Hound, Estonian Hound, Fawn Brittany Griffon, Great Gascony Hound, Griffon Nivernais, Hälleforshund, Mediium Griffon Nivernais, Norwegian Hound, Polish Hunting Hound, Russkaja Gontjaja, Smaland Hound, Styrian Coarse-haired Hound, Svensk vit älghund on show and the complete set of Swiss Hounds. There were even two Korean Jindo Dogs and a Kai and two Shikokus, two breeds that are extremely rare outside of Japan.
The whole organization was an example to other shows. In order to keep everything under control, over 1000 people were there to help. Not many companies have over 1000 people, let stand a temporary company. It was fantastic in one word to see how smooth everything ran. All the helpers knew exactly what to do and when. Everybody had his own tasks and many switched tasks during the day so that no one got bored after four days of doing the same. Many could also change place and see something else too instead of all the time being on the same place. At every entry or exit clean-up bags were distributed. That made a lot of difference in smell and dirt at the places where the dogs could be let out. The parking area was one of the problems the organization had to face with. One area of the exhibition ground was fenced due to the construction of a new hall. Some exhibitors had to walk pretty far to get from the parking place to the halls. Another, bigger problem was that the weather was unusually warm and many car windows had to be broken by the security people in order to save dog lives. The funny thing is that most cars belonged to Scandinavians. Indoor shows are rather uncommon over here in the summer and probably Scandinavians are not familiar with the high danger of leaving dogs in cars on warm days like it was the case during the World Dog Show.
There were many trade stands from all different parts of Europe and most of them were pleased with the turnover they realised during the four days of the show and the more then 50.000 visitors. The Swedish Mail “Posten” edited 8 stamps with dogs specially for this event and had a stand in the entrance hall where the Swedish Kennel Club had is big stand too with useful items in the Kennel Clubs colours. The main hall offered shelter for the main ring of course, but also for the most important sponsor trade stands. Each year again those stands become less big and VIP oriented, more open to the big public. In this way it is a positive evolution. Main sponsors were ProPlan and Agria, the Scandinavian Pet Insurance company.
The main ring was a little unusual as very rectangle with a very long side. One side was serving as background. The ring was lighted in a professional way and covered with carpet in the colours of the Swedish flag, bleu and yellow. Unfortunately both colours are highly reflective, especially the yellow one that was painted so with fluorescent paint. For the photographers this proved to be a nightmare as white dogs like the BIS winner were colouring yellow or bleu, depending on what part of the carpet the were running. All by all, the main ring made a cosy impression and was well studied, except for the reflective paint on the carpet.
Every day there was a presentation of the Swedish breeds in a different way, to start the main ring program. Every presentation was related to Swedish customs and traditions in different seasons, starting with autumn and ending in summer, the season we are in. During the day the main ring offered a lot of entertainment for the public, with Freestyle, Police and Army dog display, Obedience, Drug Detector dogs and a performance of Frida &Alice giving a Freestyle display.
Of course, the main thing not to be missed every day was the finals, the selection for the Best In Show judging on Sunday. Especially on that day all seats on the tribune were taken and many spectators were forced to stand. Dog sports are the number one sport in Sweden. The Kennel Club has over 300.000 members. No wonder then that every one was interested to follow the finals on Sunday. Before the BIS we also had the normal program of the main ring of the day, but also the finals of the World Champion in Junior Handling. The International Junior Handling competition was won by 14 year old Paavo Tervonen from Finland. Judge was Mr Peter Green from the USA. The first 3 days of the show only the 206 Scandinavian Junior Handlers were competing . It was only on the last day that 14 Juniors from as many countries came into the competition for the final World Champion title.
The back of Hall C was to place to be if you wanted to follow the competition for the World Champion title in Obedience. They were 76 competitors all together from 13 different countries. Winner in individual class) was Mr Mads Möller from Denmark, with his dog Faehunden's Invincible Haley, 304 points. Runner up was Ms Elina Niemi with Tending Bluey, Finland, 299.33 points. Best team winning Winner of the World Championship in Obedience was won by Finland with 882.33 points over team Norway with 860.33 points.
Freestyle is getting enormously popular all over the world and we could expect high competition here for the Swedish International Freestyle Cup. Winner was Miss Emma Willblad, Sweden, and her 11 year old Pumi “Csar”. Emma and Csar has won several competitions. Not only Csar moved the public to tears, but there were also several other splendid Freestyle displays too during the main ring programs. Freestyle is very entertaining and even the most serious and critical person can be moved by a dog who dances so devoted in team with his master. Anyway, Emma and Csar deserved to win as everything was almost perfect, the timing, the flow in action, and the Emma’s outfit.
Best in show judge was Mr.Kenneth Edh, one of Sweden’s most experienced judges. He has been the speaker in the main ring all four days. That was perhaps a point of critique for some as the BIS judge is not supposed to be in the spotlights, but is expected to sit aside and not judging in the main ring except for the BIS. If you are a speaker and move around in the ring and be around the other working judges you lose more and more your objectivity towards the end. A point of critique that I can understand. But Mr. Kenneth Edh has been judging dogs since 1978 and became an all breed judge 1991. He has judged dogs in 34 countries all over the world and must have enough experience to not be influenced. After judging over and over and having the 10 dogs run many times around the main ring he finally chose the American bred Saelyham Terrier Ch Efbe's Hidalgo At Goodspice , nicknamed "Charmin" as Best In Show. Charmin is owned by Margery and Richard Good and Sandra Middlebrook from the USA. Earlier in the week he also won Best in Show at the Swedish Terrier Club Specialty and at the Sealyhamterrier Breed Club Specialty. Charmin has won 14 Best in Shows and 66 Group-1st in the United States before he came to the FCI World DogShow in Stockholm.His owner, Margery Good, is always handling him. Mrs. Siv Jernhake from Sweden made him breed and groupwinner on Saturday. Margery can drive Charmin home in her brand new Toyota car, offered by the Main Sponsor “Agria” and the Swedish Kennel Club.
This World Dog Show was one of the best ever. It not only had one of the biggest entries, but certainly the least major problems. A team of over 1000 people, so well trained and guided, was certainly the main reason why this show could become such a success. Congratulations to all of you in the first place and of course to the BIS winners Margery and Charmin and all the new World Champions, Junior World Champions, Groups winners, etc.
Text and photos: Karl DONVIL
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