news - 12/03/2022
Crufts 2022 - United Kingdom
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by Karl Donvil
Crufts 2022, the wakeup.
Last European show in Hungary, we were discussing when the last Crufts happened. We were all very confused, some said it was 2020, others were convinced it was 2019. Some counted how many were skipped while others counted in years. The last Crufts happened right after the outbreak of Corona and just before the national governments all over the world went into lockdown. We missed 2021, the year it would have been Cruft's 130rth anniversary. Now, in March 2022, the UK government was one of the first to lift all corona measurements. It promised to be a strange Crufts again, the wakeup of the dogshow-scene.
It was for sure that there would be a serious impact because of Brexit. However, less than 2 weeks before the show, Russia invade Ukraine and suddenly shocked the world once more. The western world sided with democratically chosen and ruled Ukraine and immediately imposed sanctions on Russia. The FCI and the British Kennel Club imposed a ban on the Russian Kennel Federation and all its activities. Russian judges were no longer allowed to judge abroad, Russian entries refused, Russian Journalists refused, and more. This was not an easy decision but alike the Olympic Games or other events alike, it was not against the people of Russia, but against the Russian regime. Unfortunately, it created a lot of hate amongst many Russians who did not understand all this, brainwashed as they were by their totalitarian regime. Bad luck again for Crufts.
For the diehards, it was a welcome reunion, hugging friends were allowed again and happy faces were all over and soon it looked like it was only yesterday since we saw each other. That's the strenght that radiates from Crufts, world-wide-wiedersehen! On the other hand, it was clear what impact Brexit had on the show, not more than 5 trade stands were non-British! Many corners were empty and because the stands were not rearranged, the spaces where there used to be big foreign stands were clearly visible now, empty! As after many years, most of the trade stands used to have their own specific locations, I could easily tell who was not present. Due to Brexit, the administration to bring in goods and take back the leftovers was too complex and here you have the result.
The very same was visible in the number of foreign exhibitors. The 2018 edition had 21.032 entries, the 2020 edition still had 19.909, but now there were only 16.924. The ban of Russian entries was hardly of any influence. In 2018 and 2019 the total number of Russian entries was below 300 dogs. Of course, there were still travel restrictions in many countries and because there have been hardly any shows due to Covid it probably drastically affected the number of entries too. And most of all, in my opinion, a lot of people were still not sure that Covid could spoil things again. Britain was the first country to lift almost all covid measurements and probably a lot of foreigners were afarid that they had to reintroduce some again. In total 1843 dogs were entered from abroad compared to 3171 for the last edition and also the number of countries decreased from 43 to 38. Too soon to tell what exactly had the most impact and if Crufts will fully recover again. I suppose we will have a much more reliable view on that next year, at least if there will not be another world problem that comes looking around the corner.
The Hungarian Pumis were able to win CC's since this year, the Smooth Faced Pyrenéan Shepherd was accepted as a new breed and the Harriers are back again at Crufts since 1898. That's what is new and brings us to 222 different breeds. Altogether, including the participants for the different sports activities, there were about 20.000 dogs gathered in the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. The very same halls were occupied, good for 25 acres of Expo Halls, and about 5000 collaborators and volunteers were there to help all this come to a good end, impressive numbers! One trend continues, Scrufts, which is winning every year in popularity. This competition is meant for mongrels and mixed breeds.
The various competitions are very popular in the UK. Fly ball, very popular but extremely loud, was not on display in the arena on Sunday, although this used to be one of the items to bring the public in the right mood. Agility, probably the most popular dog sport, had to take over. I was particularly moved to see how often one could find the Ukrainian flag in different ways. More than one participant was wearing something in the colors blue and yellow, one was even completely dressed like that and another had a T-shirt with a yellow dove of peace over the Ukrainian map on a blue background. Solidarity with Ukraine was all over. Many stands made private collections, the BOB photo team made collection, Birdbrook Rosettes made a big collection, and an auction and was selling ribbons and rosettes in the Ukrainian colors, all for the good cause. They even charged an official to do the counting of the collections. The British Kennel Club itself proudly donated 50.000 pounds out of the Kennel Club Charity Trust and had placed collection boxes all over the place. Everyone seemed to be involved in one way or another, the solidarity was overwhelming. Right before the finals on Sunday in the arena an interview was displayed before 7000 people and in Livestream with one of the volunteers that work in and for the dogs in shelters in Kyiv.
It makes me happy that every year more focus is put on the relationship between man and dog. We cannot deny that Dog Shows have much to do with man's vanity and only to a lesser extent with the breed in itself. More than a decade ago, a shocking reportage on the BBC opened our eyes and since then we again understand more and more that soundness and health come before beauty. No other show better understood this message and became a real gamechanger since.
Let's talk about high scores now. The top foreign countries are Italy with 265 entries, the Irish Republic with 244 followed by France with 202 entries, and Germany with 175. The winner of the Hound Group, a Greyhound called "Aya", was from Germany. Hungary won the Pastoral Group with a Border Collie named "Lenor" and Spain won the Toy Group with "Conan" a Yorkshire Terrier.
On Thursday we had the Working Group with 1681 entries. Here, the Bernese Mountain Dogs had the highest entry with 140 specimens, followed by the Great Danes with 132. It was also the day for the Pastoral Group, good for 2104 entries, and here the Border Collies had the top score with 253 entries, before the Bearded Collies with 205 and the Rough Collies with 158 entries.
The Terrier and the Hound Groups were on turn on Friday with 1926 and 2438 entries respectively. The Staffordshire Bull Terriers were dominant here with 306 entries, largely more than the 233 Border Terriers. It surprised me how popular this breed suddenly is. In the Hound group the Whippets were present with 382, then the Beagles with 18, and the Rhodesian Ridgebacks with 183. But if we take all the Dachshunds as one breed, then they beat everything with 510 entries.
Utility was on Friday with 2228 individual dogs to judge and the Toy group, good for another 2009 dogs. In the first group the Dalmatians were leading with 202 dogs, then the Bulldogs with 189 and the French Bulldogs with 178. The Poodles, all varieties together, had 311 dogs. The Chihuahuas, however, were with 283, short and longhaired together, the Pugs with 223, and the Cavalier King Charles Spaniels with 194.
Sunday had only one group plus the big finals. It was Gundog Day! 3910 dogs had to be judged and this is not only the largest group but it holds the two most popular breeds, the Golden Retrievers leading with 458 entries followed closely by the Labrador Retrievers with 456 dogs in the rings. The Cocker Spaniel was also the 4th highest scoring breed with 321 entries and the Flat Coated Retriever, delivering the Best In Show, was represented by 224 of them.
Notwithstanding the general drop in numbers for the show, these are still large numbers! I have no idea if the number of visitors dropped significantly, but overall this Crufts gave a much more relaxed impression. In general, it was easy walking. It is hard to tell if this affected the traders for the better because you could take your time to have a closer look or ask for information. I did not discover any big novelties, at least nothing spectacular and I missed shops with paintings, antique statues, and prints. Like everywhere, antiques are losing popularity. But maybe I overlooked it because still, it is immense how many trade stands are here, Crufts is the place to be when it comes to presenting new things in the canine world and it is the biggest market in the world, with a huge turnover.
It is clear that also Crufts suffered from the covid-pandemia, the Brexit, and now the war in Ukraine. Things have changed, and while at first, it looked like nothing changed in those past two years, a lot did change! We lost people in our cynological world, we were hardly able to make new friends for two years and still, there was a kind of familiarity all around. It was like a remake of a film where we could recognize scenes and decors from the old one but had to get used to new actors, new added scenes and others left out. But we came to see it, to see how it changed, to experience if it was still as good as we thought it was in the past. Will Crufts 2022 be the start of a new era, a wakeup?
Text, photos, and results: Karl DONVIL
Results Crufts 2022
Best In Show Judge: Mr Stuart Plane
Best In Show
Int Ch Almanza Backseat Driver
Breed: Retriever (Flat Coated) (Ms R & Mr P Ulin & Oware)
Reserve Best In Show PHOTO NUMBER _75D6364, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5941, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5954, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5988, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5994
Ch Afterglow Agent Orange,
Breed: Poodle (Toy) (Mr T, Mr J, Mrs S & Mr J Isherwood, Lynn, Stone & Shaw)
PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5941, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5973
Working Group Overall - Judge: Mr Robin Newhouse
1st Place Ch Siberiadrift Keep The Love for Zimavolk
Breed: Siberian Husky (Miss J Allen)
PHOTO NUMBER _75D1222, PHOTO NUMBER _75D5982, PHOTO NUMBER _75D6136, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5206
2nd Place Int Ch Black Star del Biagio,
Breed: Alaskan Malamute (G Biagiotti) Italy PHOTO NUMBER _75D1252, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5212
3rd Place Ch Lanfrese Argento,
Breed: Boxer (Mr M Griffiths) PHOTO NUMBER _75D0922, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5216
4th Place Ch Cyberus Its All About Bertie for Womlu,
Breed: Mastiff (Mr S & Mrs T Coulman-Hole) PHOTO NUMBER _75D1115, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5218
Pastoral Group Overall - Judge: Mr Jeff Horswell
1st Place Etched in Sand by The Lake
Breed: Border Collie (Miss Sólyom) Hungary
PHOTO NUMBER _75D1527, PHOTO NUMBER _75D6000, PHOTO NUMBER _75D6152, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5234
2nd Place Ch Penliath Bill Me Later (ai),
Breed: Welsh Corgi (Pembroke) (Mrs C B & Miss N L Blance) PHOTO NUMBER _75D1926, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5239
3rd Place Ch Ukkonen Av Vintervidda
Breed: Finnish Lapphund (Mr C L Lauluten) PHOTO NUMBER _75D1943, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5224
4th Place Ch Moonshadow Mud Bug (Imp Usa),
Breed: Hungarian Puli (Miss H Watts) PHOTO NUMBER _75D1955, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5226
Terrier Group Overall - Judge: Mr Paul Eardley
1st Place Turith Adonis,
Breed: Irish Terrier (Mr J & Mr A Averis & Barker)
PHOTO NUMBER _75D2469, PHOTO NUMBER _75D6022, PHOTO NUMBER _75D6190, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5260
2nd Place Northcote?s Isn?t That The Way,
Breed: Lakeland Terrier (Mr F W Schoeneberg) PHOTO NUMBER _75D2498, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5263
3rd Place Ch Rocabec Riding Shotgun,
Breed: Bedlington Terrier (Mr & Mrs P Cumming) PHOTO NUMBER _75D2053, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5255
4th Place Flanagan Limited Edition,
Breed: Skye Terrier (Miss B Bláhová) PHOTO NUMBER _75D2367
PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5254
Hound Group Overall - Judge: Mr Gavin Robertson
1st Place Ch Ina’s Fashion Desirable
Breed: Greyhound (Mrs I Koulermou)
PHOTO NUMBER _75D2859, PHOTO NUMBER _75D6041, PHOTO NUMBER _75D6226, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5292
2nd Place Creme Anglaise's Irish Cream,
Breed: Whippet (Mr J W & Mr K Akerboom & Van Der Schaaf) Netherlands PHOTO NUMBER _75D3050 , PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5281
3rd Place Ch Vaskurs Moni Maker Qiwidotter,
Breed: Pharaoh Hound (Mr T & Mrs S Torres) PHOTO NUMBER _75D31673934, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5275
4th Place Ch Forget-Me-Not V Tum-Tum's Vriendjes,
Breed: Basset Griffon Vendeen (Grand) (Mrs A.n. Huikeshoven) Netherlands PHOTO NUMBER _75D2615, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5274
Utility Group Overall - Judge: Mr Rodney Oldham
1st Place Ch Afterglow Agent Orange
Breed: Poodle (Toy) (Mr T, Mr J, Mrs S & Mr J Isherwood, Lynn, Stone & Shaw)
PHOTO NUMBER _75D3934, PHOTO NUMBER _75D6049, PHOTO NUMBER _75D6240, PHOTO NUMBER _75D6254, PHOTO NUMBER _75D6327, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5747
2nd Place Elvis The Amazing Boy del Tassino to Loyjean (Imp Che),
Breed: Chow Chow (Mr W Mcnaught) PHOTO NUMBER _75D3695, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5750
3rd Place Ch Ellemstra Against All Odds,
Breed: Dalmatian (Mrs E J & Mr C N Emmett & Simons) PHOTO NUMBER _75D3710, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5762
4th Place Ch Minarets Best Kept Secret,
Breed: Poodle (Miniature) (Miss M Harwood) PHOTO NUMBER _75D3897, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5757
Toy Group Overall - Judge: Mr Bert Easdon
1st Place Ch Royal Precious Jp's F4 Conan,
Breed: Yorkshire Terrier (Mrs Obana)
PHOTO NUMBER _75D4656, PHOTO NUMBER _75D6089, PHOTO NUMBER _75D6271, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5767
2nd Place Ch Tiny Fellow`s U Got The Look
Breed: Pomeranian (Miss C & Mr T Kristoffersen & Losen) PHOTO NUMBER _75D4765, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5773
3rd Place Leogem Winter Melody
Breed: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (Mr D & Mrs T Homes) PHOTO NUMBER _75D4698, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5791
4th Place Ch Limartine Mr Blue
Breed: Bichon Frise (Mrs.l A Mault) PHOTO NUMBER _75D4231, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5789
Gundog Group Overall - Judge: Mr Sigurd Wilberg
1st Place Int Ch Almanza Backseat Driver
Breed: Retriever (Flat Coated) (Ms R & Mr P Ulin & Oware)
PHOTO NUMBER _75D5626, PHOTO NUMBER _75D6109, PHOTO NUMBER _75D6115,
PHOTO NUMBER _75D6310, PHOTO NUMBER _75D6325, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5867
2nd Place Gwendariff Come Fly with Me
Breed: Irish Setter (Mrs D Stewart- Ritchie) PHOTO NUMBER _75D5479, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5894
3rd Place Ch Layways Van Winkle,
Breed: Hungarian Vizsla (Miss E J Miles) PHOTO NUMBER _75D5113, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5847
4th Place Ch Coedcernyw Calendar Girl
Breed: Spaniel (Cocker) (Mr I & Mrs S Hillier) PHOTO NUMBER _75D5736, PHOTO NUMBER _KDZ5856
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