Showsight - July 2018

World Dog Show World Dog Shows: History, Facts and Figures ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY KARL DONVIL

1998 Helsinki WDS

T he Federation Cynologique International, better known as the FCI, was first established in 1911, a joint union of kennel Clubs of Germany, Austria, Belgium, France and the Netherlands but disap- peared due to World War I. In 1921, the Société Centrale Canine de France and the Belgian Royal Society Saint Hubert recreated it. It took until 1968 for the FCI getting legal per- sonality by decree. Since then there was only growth. Almost every country in Europe, except for the UK, Asia and South America are Full members of the FCI, Australia and New Zea- land and a few more countries are Associate members. Africa, including the Middle East, is a white spot except for South Africa and a few countries that are Contract partners now. North America and Canada have their own Kennel Clubs. The FCI is a big organization with seat in Belgium in the city of Thuin. The purpose of the FCI is to set up standards for dogs, international recognition of pedigrees and standard- izing all kind of competitions and titles. But, in fact, every country can still have its own rules, recognize specific breeds and do as they like. Of course it is in their own interest to not deviate too much from the FCI rules as that is a guarantee that other countries will want to recognize them. No need to explain in fact what the benefits are of not being isolated from your neighbors. Of course and as a natural consequence, one day they had the idea of organizing a world show, open to all the countries. In fact, any show is open to all dogs, wherever they come from. But a World Show is different as judges are invited from many different countries and the title of World Champion can be won and that is, of course, something every exhibitor wants to have stamped on the pedigree of their dogs. The very first World Dog Show ever held was in 1971 in Budapest but no register is made about the amount of entries. In 1972 Brazil was on term with “only 732 entries.” In 1973 Dortmund had its first WDS and had a good entry of 4,900 dogs. In 1981

they were again on term and here we see a more significant number of dogs, 8,800. The following year Japan was host to the WDS and had a entry of 1,400 dogs. Not much but it was the first and only time an Asian country was guest country. It is no secret that a lot of Asian countries and Japan in the first place, have dogs that are more related in type to the Ameri- can dogs than to the European. But that is probably not the reason. In 1985 Amsterdam had the first WDS with 10,000 entries. A Saluki won BIS, Abrisa vom Felsenkeller, owned by Tim Teilers from Holland. Why do I mention this dog? It was the very first dog to ever win the WDS two times as the fol- lowing year he won again in Tulln, Austria. In 1987 the show was held in Tel Aviv, Israel. Here it was the Samoyed “North- wind's Rising Star” that won. Only 1,200 dogs in comeptition. A year later when the show was organized in Lima, Peru he won again BIS, but I have no record of the number of entries for this edition. My own first WDS was the one in Brussels in 1995, good for 14,100 entries. I was very excited. At that time Pedigree Pal was the main sponsor in all the dogs shows and I was used to seeing their big stands, but what was built for the WDS was beyond my imagination. A really small palace with a second deck for the VIPs. It was certain that lots of money was involved the more so because there were two Range Rovers to be won, one for the BIS and one for the visitors. In 1996 the show was split between two countries, Austria and Hungary. It was strange at least. My second WDS was the one of Helsinki in 1998. I remember the beautiful main ring, warm weather and lots of visitors. Finland, alike Norway and Sweden, is known to have a lot of members notwithstanding the low number of inhabitants. Mexico was next on term. With only 4,000 entries it was a prestigious show. The open- ing and final ceremonies were in one word spectacular and beyond any imagination. The opening theme was the Inca time and a temple decor was built and Indians were there to

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