Day 1

Austria is one of the founding countries of the FCI and had not yet been involved in the FCI Centenary celebrations. We had Germany with the FCI Centenary Winner Dog Show in Dortmund, France with the FCI Centenary World Dog Show in Paris, the Netherlands with the FCI Centenary European Dog Show in Leeuwarden, Belgium with the FCI Centenary World Champion of Champions in Brussels and it was now up to Austria to join with the World Dog Show 2012 in Salzburg, the lovely town near the mountains, home-town of Mozart.

© Karl Donvil

Best of Group FCI Gr. III
American Staffordshire Terrier DON KING OF RING'S
Owner: Zeljic Natalija

The first day is always a test day. 4 Groups were up for judging, Group III, the Terriers, Group VII the British and Continental Pointers, Group VIII, the Waterdogs and Group X the Sighthounds. Most things were very promising and well arranged. Since the last big event in Vienna, there was a huge improvement with regard to the organisation. Unfortunately, certain things that the Austrian Kennel Club had no control over, turned into a real horror for the exhibitors. Notwithstanding the fact that the Austrian kennel club warned the police authorities many times about the thousands of cars that would arrive around the same time, they would not listen. The result was that a lot of exhibitors were queuing hours to reach the halls.

Fortunately the nice weather was helping a lot in bringing back the good mood.
The halls were pleasantly calm, large enough to make big rings and easy walking around. The trade stand holders were happy too and we could hope that it would stay that way and with some luck and less traffic jam Saturday would look even more promising.

© Karl Donvil

Best of Group FCI Gr. VIII
English Springer Spaniel LINMOOR ZIMPLY ZALIENT
Owner: Katarzyna Ksiazek

The finals took place in the arena, a perfect place for the finals with a huge main ring and a giant LED screen in the background. The layout was kept simple but efficient, judges on one side, podium in the front, dogs coming in on one side, the podium was on the opposite side and stairs for the public all around. It was a joy to work for the Press.

Day 2

Hot, warm, hot. The weather suddenly turned into hot, that was the only big problem the committee had to cope with. Not that inside it was unbearable, but the problem was the numerous STUPID people who left their dogs in the cars on the parking areas.

© Karl Donvil

GROUP V BOB
Siberian Husky SNOWMIST'S QUICKSILVER SPEIGAS
Owner Kim Leblanc

The committee was so afraid of getting negatively in the spotlights whereas they did such a fantastic job to make this event become a success. Unfortunately STUPID people ruined all their efforts. And yes, although the police looked around, other people were reporting and the numerous announcements over the public address system, a Sarplaninac died in the car. That was not the only casualty. Another dog died too, but not due to the show. He ran under a car when panicked by fireworks. That can happen anywhere of course. I feel sorry for the organisers as they really do not deserve it.
Besides the usual traffic problems everything seems to have worked out fine again. I saw a lot of happy people and, as usual, others that have always complaints.
We had Group I (Shepherds), Group V (Spitz and primitive breeds) and group IX (Companion dogs). There were a few highlights. In the main ring programme, we had a few nice intermezzo’s from a fantastic Italian opera singer. What could one expect in the home-town of Mozart?

© Karl Donvil

GROUP IX BOB
Poodle ALEPH AMERICAN IDOL
Owner: Charlotte Sandell

The second highlight was the visit of Mrs Fiona Swarowski, yes ! from the famous Cristal imperium, who offered a cup and collar to the winner of the Couples. She gave a very warm speech begging people to love not only pure-bred dogs, but to be good for all dogs. She supports a Dog Shelter and adopted something like 15 street dogs herself. She has the heart on the right place, a great lady.

Day 3 & Finals

Last day and another very warm and sunny day. It is always risky to have bright days as there are just too many people who think that they can leave their dog in the car, safely locked, thinking that otherwise they would be stolen. A few minutes are enough to cause death.
Fortunately there were no casualties. Almost constantly there were announcements over the public address system to warn the owners. A team of inspectors went around all day long to check the cars, and I can assure you they were busy. Inside the halls it was bearable and even pretty cool but outside there were also rings in large tents. According to what I heard from the judges, it was pretty hot there.

I talked to some commercial stand holders to find out if they were pleased. They have had better shows before but this one was far from bad in general. Main sponsor was Purina. It was the first time they did this. They were pretty pleased. Outside, at the entrance of the halls, they had put a huge swimming pool: dogs could jump in to catch a ball or a toy. This was big fun and well appreciated by the public. It was really amusing to see how dogs were trying to find out how to get their ball back without jumping in. Some finally jumped, but no second time, others enjoyed and, for some, water fear struck them and they decided to stay dry.

© Karl Donvil

FCI group IV
Dachshund NORDEN LIHT UNKAS KRYLOVA A.S.

At 3 o'clock, the main ring programme started and it proved to be a rather long day as the finals have a few protocol ceremonies plus the Best In Show and Best Junior In Show. Again things went smoothly and we knew what the final competitors would be. There were 3 groups to judge, the big Group II (Molossoid breeds, Pinschers and Schnauzers), Group IV the Dachshunds and the, in my opinion, the most interesting and noble group, Group VI, the Scenthounds. In fact this is the largest FCI group but on regular shows the diversity is so little that it is disappointing. On the big shows like the World and European Show, for me, this group is a highlight, as you get the opportunity to see some very rare breeds. Ever seen a Segugio Italiano, a Brandlbracke, an Alpenlandische Dachsbracke, a Tiroler Bracke, a Briquet Griffon Vendéen, a Planinsky Gonic, a Dunker or a Hygenhund, a Srpski Trobojni Gonic (easy to pronounce, no?) or a Schwyzer Niederlaufhund? This Group has over 60 different breeds (and numerous sub-varieties as every French Castle has its own type).

© Karl Donvil

FCI group VI
Basset fauve de Bretagne SHIROBLAM FIRST SLIP
Owner: Elisabeth Strömberg

Besides the daily judging of the Couple Class, Breeders Group, Baby Class, Veterans and the Best of Group Junior winners and Best of Group, there was on Sunday the World Championship Junior Handling, the judging of World Best Junior in Show and of course the BIS World Winner of the FCI, some entertainment and the handing over of the FCI flag. The honour to organise the next World Dog Show goes to Hungary, at least that is what we all hope as some problems have arisen in the country between MEOE (the FCI member) and the Hungarian government (editor’s note: the operational problems of the Hungarian kennel club have been successfully solved; see the message from Mr Korósz, President of MEOE on the FCI website http://www.fci.be). The ceremony was preceded by some folk entertainment, singing and dancing. It is always a pleasure to see this kind of dancing.

But then it was time for the finals, starting with the Best in Show Junior. There were only nine dogs present for the final competition. The winner of Group 10 did not come back. Judge was Mrs Ganami Kertes from Israel. Her Res Junior BIS went to the English Pointer Weimpont Keep Smilin’, bred and owned by Edwin and Kristina Lenaerts from Belgium. BIS Junior was awarded to the Black Toy Poodle “Shantaram Hands Off” owned by Guilani Alessandra. Mr Hans Müller, President of the FCI for many years, was asked to award Best In Show. This time all Group Winners were present and the competition was pretty high as all top dogs were lined up. The public had its favourites, the spectacular movers on top. When the dogs were touring a last time around the big main ring the applause raised to a climax when the Saluki showed up. Mr Müller’s choice for Res BIS went to the Welsh Corgi “Andovol Pinkerton”, a famous multi-champion from Russia, owned by Olga Shilova. For the BIS Mr Müller had to admit that not only the Saluki was the top-favourite of the public, but indeed he was really a spectacular mover. Shiraz California Dreamin’ came from Sweden and won the group on previous World and European Shows. He is owned by Nicklas Eriksson. This dog is a fantastic shower, especially for a Saluki. He runs always in front of his owner and moves around as a tornado. It was a good and correct choice. I have no idea how long both these dogs will continue to dominate the main ring of big international shows, but I have the impression that it will still go on for a while.

All the collaborators and the members of the organising committee were relieved, the show was good and successful and there were no major problems. Months of hard work and finally the end was there.

Before I conclude this report I will give you a few statistics.

• number of dogs entered: 18,607 from 56 different countries
• number of dogs entered for the Club Shows: over 5,000
• Junior Handlers: 60 from 28 different countries
• 139 judges coming from 34 different countries
• 5 Best scoring countries: Germany with 2,632 entries, Italy with 2,517, Russia with 2,286, Czech Republic with 1,374 entries and Austria with 1,176
• Far-away countries: Chile 2 entries, China 1 entry, Costa Rica 9 entries, Iceland 1 entry, Kazakhstan 1 entry, Columbia 3 entries, Mexico 9 entries, Puerto Rico 3 entries, South Africa 1 entry, Japan 26 entries, Thailand 5
• Non FCI-countries: USA 45 entries, United Kingdom 172 entries, Canada 11 entries

Report and photos : Karl Donvil