As every show, it all started small. In 1964 Mr José Misselyn organised the first
edition in Menen, a small town near Courtrai. In 1970 I entered my Great Dane for
this show and I remember that it already took place in the first expo halls of Courtrai.
25 years ago I started to work as a reporter for a national magazine in Belgium,
WOEF, the Eurodogshow was my first show, and since then I have been a yearly
visitor and have seen it grow larger, bigger and more professional. Courtrai became
an example for many other shows and even for big shows like the World and European
Shows. The know-how of building up a show of this size is invaluable. One of the
big secrets lies in the fact that most of the committee members are direct family
or at least related to the Misselyns who are renowned in the area as real dog people
in every aspect. And this year I saw two newcomers working in the main ring, two
juniors, a new generation!
The number of visitors was very good, around 22,000. The cooperation with the city
is amazing. The parking around the halls is always reserved for the exhibitors.
The visitors can park in other places in the neighborhood from where they can take
the shuttle bus to the halls.
© Karl Donvil
from left to right : Joel Vanlerberghe, Johnny Misselyn, Bruno Misselyn and Roger Loonis
So how could the Royal Society Saint Hubert (Belgian kennel Club) refuse to give
a double CACIB for the 50th anniversary of this show? The goal was 6,000
entries and they finished at 6,225, which is an amazing result! A double CACIB would
mean a double show, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. On other years, there always
were different kind of competitions going on, but those were cancelled this time
in order to have enough space to host all the dogs and build up the 35 rings for
judging. The main ring was reserved for demonstrations and entertainment like Dog
Dancing, Fly Ball, Police work etc. The Rambla (main corridor) had a Children’s
Village with several attractions to entertain kids under the supervision of an adult
babysitter so that mum and dad could show the dogs. The main ring was moved a little
more central in order to make more room for a bigger pre-judging ring. Indeed, as
the time schedule was tighter, it was of utmost importance that no time be lost
in the main ring. And compared to the normal editions, this one would have all the
groups to be judged in the main ring every day, Saturday as well as Sunday. This
worked perfectly on both days and it was amazing how smoothly everything went and
how early a show of this size could end. Notwithstanding the comfortable size of
the main ring, it proved to be much too small to hold the Babies, Puppies and Juniors
of all the breeds. On regular shows you have around 200 to 240 different breeds/varieties,
while here there were around 300. That means that about 100 to 150 babies, puppies,
juniors were together in the main ring, ending in a double circle. This is too much
at once and also too much for a judge to choose from. But after all it was not a
real problem.
This Jubilee show was an exceptional opportunity to see almost all the recognised
breeds, but also some very rare breeds and some old breeds that are not shown any
longer in big numbers. There were two Bouviers des Ardennes, a Broholmer, two Cirneco’s
dell Etna, two Korean Jindo Dogs, 2 Shikoku’s, a Thai Bangkaew Dog, two Tornjaks,
an East Siberian Laika and even a Turkish Kangal Dog. For the public, this show
was very interesting as they could choose which day to come as all breeds were shown
on both days.
A double CACIB meant a double show. If you look at the number of entries you have
3,133 dogs on Saturday and 3,092 on Sunday. In absolute numbers it is a more or
less regular show as the Eurodogshow usually has around 3,000 entries. The Belgians
were of course best represented with 1,342/1,340 (Sat/Sun) entries. France came
second with 730/781 entries followed by The Netherlands 379/310. The good relations
with the UK resulted in a very good entry from overseas with 248/253 dogs. And I
think one can say that the Eurodogshow is the number one “overseas show” for the
British. Germany had 205/183 representatives, Russia 54/54, Denmark 44/44 and Ireland
24/23. Amongst the 28 nationalities present here I also found entries from as far
as Georgia, Greece and Israel.
© Karl Donvil
There were 72 different judges from 20 countries, 39 of them were judging one day
only, the rest both days. 15 of them were from Belgium, another 15 came from the
UK, 8 from Germany, 6 from France, 4 from Sweden and the rest from all over Europe,
except for one from Mexico and one from Indonesia.
BIS judge on Saturday was Mr Norman Deschuymere. His 3rd place went to
the white male Puli “Weetoneon Artic Storm”, a British-bred dog, 8 years old and
entered in Champion class under Mr R. Vanhoenacker from Belgium. He is owned and
bred Mrs Lacey, Mr Szyczewski Avril Edward and comes from France. He had no competitors
in the breed. He won the group under Mr Paul Jentgen from Luxemburg. The Res BIS
went to the Weimaraner “Grey Classic’s I Kick Azz”, male, 4 years old, bred and
owned by Edwin and Kristina Lenaerts from Belgium. 10 Weimaraners were entered to
be judged by Mr W. Van den Broeck from Belgium. The ticket for the finals came from
Mr Miodrag Vretenicic who judged the group. The BIS winner was a Bullmastiff from
Germany with the name “Aspen Ridge Restarting Golden Uelsi”. This Russian dog was
bred by Tracy Michele Mackiewicz and is now owned by Svetlana Akdeniz Masalskikh
Bilo from Germany. This male was entered in Champion Class to compete with 26 other
Mastiffs and is 4 years old. With its marvelous temperament it stole the heart of
Mrs Liliane De Ridder-Onghena who handed it over to the judgement of Dr Andreas
Shemel who judged the Group.
© Karl Donvil
Best in show
Judge : Mrs.Liliane De Ridder - Onghena (Belgium)
Bullmastiff - Aspen Ridge Restarting Golden Uelsi Akdeniz Masalskikh Bilo,svetlana - Germany
On Sunday it was Mrs Liliane De Ridder-Onghena who judged BIS. For her 3rd
place she chose the Blond Labrador Retriever “Leonardo of Angel’s head” who was
little more than a year and was entered in Junior class under Mrs Pat Harrison from
the UK. This young male had strong competition as no less than 58 Labradors were
entered. The Retriever Group was judged by Mr Theo Leenen. “Leonardo” is a product
of the famous and successful kennel of Thierry and Nicole Onkelinx-De Smedt from
Belgium. ResBIS went to the Scottish Terrier of Mrs Valentina Popova from Russia
“Filisite Brash Koh-I-Noor” bred by herself. “Filisite” is almost 2 years old and
entered in Champion Class. it was challenged by 10 competitors under Mrs Gitty Schwab.
It was Mrs Siv Jernhake from Sweden who judged the Group and gave the ticket for
the finals. Our Bullmastiff “Aspen Ridge” won the breed again, under judge Pamela
Jeans-Brown from the UK, beating 30 competitors this time. And it won the group
again, judged by Mrs Myriam Vermeire from Belgium. So there it stood again in front
of Mrs De Ridder, but this time lined up for the finals, and believe it or not,
it was chosen again as BIS, twice in one weekend, on the same show.
15-16 November 2014 are the dates to note down in you agenda, since you will have
a new chance to see whether your dog is also a strong competitor, or the chance
to come as a visitor to this magnificent Canine Festival, the 51st edition
of the Eurodogshow. But…as there have been two shows this year …, isn’t this the
52nd edition then? ;-)
Text and photos: Karl Donvil
Results: Karl Donvil and Eurodogshow