World Dog Show: World Dog Shows: History, Facts and Figures
ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY KARL DONVIL continued
2009 Slovakia WDS
2010 Denmark WDS
2008 Sweden WDS
Herning and while everybody was somewhat worried if there were enough hotels etc, it proved to be one of the best shows. There was a very nice camping area and excellent parking facilities and the organization never had hoped to welcome 60,000 visitors to see the 19,354 dogs on show. New too was the moving podium. The dogs no longer had to climb a podium but could stay in the middle of the main ring while the podium was moved forward into the ring. The dogs were more relaxed and posed much better for the press. Paris had a lot of dogs, a record, a world record. As there was not only the World Dog Show, there was also the Championnat de France. Breeds on term on one day for the WDS could be entered on the next day for the Cham- pionnat de France. So every day, in the very same halls you could go to the Ch. de France or the WDS. Even the main ring program was in two parts. All this went smoothly and resulted in an enor- mous 38,000 entries, 21,600 for the WDS and the rest for the Ch. de France and other competitions. 60 different nationalities could be found on the floors of these huge halls. However, due to a problem, the cleaning company
that was hired did not show up. No way to find a last minute solution for such a big event. Imagine the lawns around the halls after four days of show covered with the excrements of 38,000 dogs! Inside the halls on the contrary, there was another team responsible for clean- ing and there it was spotless. Notwith- standing the success of the show, I saw many people of the committee weeping out of shame for something they could not help and did not deserve. In 2012, we were invited to Salzburg in Austria. It was very warm but there were no major problems. Salzburg was not so easy to go to but in the end there were 18,607 dogs entered from 56 different countries. Only for the record, but FCI WDS have judges coming from all over the world. Here 139 judges were invited representing 34 nationalities. Involvement of the government was casting a big shadow over the 2013 edi- tion of the WDS that was to happen in Budapest, Hungary. A split in the Ken- nel Club and take-over by the authori- ties was subject to lots of troubles as that was opposite to the statutes of the FCI. In the end, green light was given and 18,030 dogs participated. The USA entered 57 dogs and was one of the 72
different countries attending this show. High hopes were again for Finland that would host the 2014 edition and they had a nice entry of 21,247 dogs. Finland has around five million inhabitants but they had 10,838 dogs in competition, imagine! Finland is a dog country but also a trendsetter. In the background one could see immediately the names and results on a big screen and all the results were in realtime online on the internet. The main ring was in one word fantastic, just like the organiza- tion. New was the boarding in yellow tape of the grooming areas and the fast lanes. It made a big difference to move around and a big plus for security! Inter- esting other novelty was a Kennel Club museum on the show. For this show 73 dogs crossed the ocean from the USA to participate and try to win a World Champion title. Nobody expected Mila- no to be a good edition. There was little communication beforehand and the usual troubles in the organizing Ken- nel Club’s committee. The show was planned together with the World Expo that happened at the same moment in the same area. Would that be a good plan? It was. Bright new halls, plenty of parking, lots of dogs and, compared to
154 • S how S ight M agazine , J uly 2018
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