compensation for the couple of hours of judging dog per dog in every group. New was that on the large screen in the middle of the arena the course and obstacles were displayed. Exactly 40 years ago Crufts started with the Agil- ity competition in order to fill the gap between the Obedience Champion- ship and the Finals. Since then Agility became one of the most popular dog sports all over the world. Maybe one day this will become an Olympic disci- pline as the handler must be fit, swift, fast and smart and have his dog under control. It is a real sport and much more popular than many other Olympic games like curling or bobsledding. Crufts is certainly a record holder when it comes to trade stands. It is the place to be for every trade stand holder and the turnover is almost always a suc- cess. The ones I know were all very sat- isfied from day two on. Anything new on the market and you’ll find it here first. This year’s eye catcher was Nerf for dogs. Nerf is the famous harmless toy gun for kids. Now they have a big version that shoots tennis balls for dogs to chase. Another eye catcher were the ready-made grooming salons dog, available on wheels too if you want. Very nice! What I noticed was that most big booths like those of dogfood companies were less focused on VIP’s. Most of them didn’t have secured areas any longer. Last year Crufts attracted 162,000 visitors. It will be about the very same again this year. I noticed that, contrary to some years ago, Thursday and Fri- day were already having a lot of visi- tors. Could it be that more and more people take a day off from work to see their favorite breeds or go earlier in the hope to avoid overcrowded halls in the weekend? It is hard to under- stand that Crufts attracts more visitors while every day Channel 4 is focusing several hours on television and there is every day over 11 hours of live stream- ing! While for many smaller shows life- streaming means no added value and keeps people staying home before the screen instead of visiting life, for Crufts is seems extra publicity. People want
to be there, feel it, experience it! It’s like the difference between playing a record or visiting a life concert of your favorite band. I think the secret is that Crufts has so much on offer, entertain- ment the whole day long, things to see, things to buy. No less than five halls are covered, and the huge Genting Arena is filled every day. The finals need to be booked in advance and it is usually sold out weeks before. Crufts is expensive, especially for exhibitors and visitors from abroad. Finding a hotel can start to be difficult from September on, you have to eat, travel by car or plane, buy entry tickets, show guide and catalog, etc. But some people keep on coming and get addicted and often when they become Crufts Qualified on one of the many shows in Europe and the world, they want to go for it. Many don’t care if they make a fair chance or not, but they come and participate. On many of their own shows they only enter a dog if they hope to have a chance to win, but for Crufts it doesn’t seem to mat- ter. Being able to say, “My dog partici- pated at Crufts,” immediately creates a “whaw”-reaction. It is a matter of pres- tige for many! This edition we found competitors from no less than 48 different coun- tries for the show only. France had the most with 462 dogs, followed by Italy with 411, the Netherlands with 334, Germany with 319, Russia with 297 and Ireland with 295. There were 37 dogs from the United States and six from Australia. There were even two Salukis entered from Bahrain, a small gulf state that had a show two weeks earlier for Salukis only with over 200 entries! But of course, most dogs were dogs from England. Last year there were about 27,000 dogs participating but about 6,000 of them were entered in other disciplines but the show itself. Crufts is no longer reserved for Pedigree dogs only. Hundreds of cross breeds are entered in several sports competitions and they have their own show com- petition “Scruffts” wherein they can participate in several subgroups. By definition this competition is based on subjective criteria as there are no breed
standards. But at least they are not for- gotten and can be as nice, sweet, intel- ligent and athletic as their blue-blooded cousins. But of course Crufts is in the first place meant for the last group. The most popular breeds were again the Golden Retrievers with 592 entries. In the Hound Group the Whippets are still very popular with 414 entries and in the Pastoral Group the Border Collie is unsurpassed with 390 entries. There were two new breeds in competition, the Swiss White Shepherd in the Pasto- ral Group and in the Toy Group the Rus- sian Toy. In the Gundog Group we can find the Braque d’Auvergne, a French gundog and in April another French breed will officially be recognized, the Barbet, an old waterdog, ancestor of the modern Poodle. Thanks to the Netflix series “The Crown”, the Welsh Corgi Pembroke, once the favorite breed of Queen Elisa- beth, escapes from the list of vulnerable breeds. Newcomer to this list is the Bull- mastiff, believe it or not, with only 429 registrations last year, dropping with 73% in a decade. Not yet in danger but also losing popularity with around 75% in one decade are the Yorkshire and West Highland Terrier. Booming on the other hand is the French Bulldog with 30,887 registrations and it is expected that he will probably dethrone the Lab- rador who has still 35,068 registrations, being the most popular breed in the United Kingdom. Because of the immense popular- ity of Crufts, the British Kennel Club is often target of protest when it comes to animal health in general. Again this year just before the winning dog was announced, two people managed to jump on the carpet showing slogans against the ethical politics regarding dog breeding. It is a good thing as often it keeps the targeted people alert and make them think about the message. It often results in new positive initia- tives for the benefit of the dogs. The Kennel Club is already doing a lot, espe- cially since the chocking BBC program against the health problems as a result of show breeding. It is still a long way to go, but the Kennel Club initiatives have been copied all over the world and there is a big progress in general. That is one of the greatest benefits that the Crufts show has generated worldwide. Crufts is undoubtedly the “greatest” dog show in the world with a magical attraction. From the moment you get addicted and you are no longer able to come—you are in serious problems, it’s your “health meter”. See you next year along with 160,000 other visitors, 800 Press people, over 21,000 dogs and their handlers or the millions who watch Crufts via Live-streaming!
158 • S how S ight M agazine , A pril 2018
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