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'Weelde 2017'
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news - 25/02/2017
Weelde 2017  -  Belgium

dogs breeders dog pictures by Karl Donvil
Weelde 2017 The KKK of Belgium is not the Ku Klux Klan but the Koninklijk Kempische Kynologenclub and they have their seat in Turnhout. For many years they were the organizers of the show of Hoogstraten. Unfortunately, due to restrictions of the auction halls, they were forced to look for shelter elsewhere. Last year they found an intermediate solution in an old empty printing factory. But now it looks like the sky has cleared for many upcoming years. Weelde, nearby Turnhout, hosted a NAVO basis with 17 large halls where the jets were stored. Only two of these halls were

sufficient to host 2083 dogs for the show. The halls are in perfect condition, relatively young and are now owned by the city of Weelde and can be rented for various events. Heating and sanitary provisions are still to be solved but that seems to be done in the future when the rent will be re-invested. For now heating canons were rented as well as the sanitary provisions. It was comfortably warm inside and the toilets were high standard. Anyway, the possibilities are enormous, enough parking facilities and halls to organize a gigantic World Dog Show! The only minor point is that nearby there are no highways so that the last kilometers are on country roads. The "Schaal der Kempen", as the show is called, has a bright future ahead.

On the showground there was plenty of room to go from one point to another. The main ring was large and covered with the bleu replaceable carpet tiles, that were first used on this show. The winning dogs received a vase with flowers, but unfortunately they were placed on the podium itself that was only large enough to hold the dogs. Most of the time a part of the dogs was covered by the flowers and that is a point of improvement for next year. Another point is the catalog. It had no statistics about the origin of the participants. The nationality of the judges was not indicated either. On the other hand, and that's a very positive point, in the middle of the catalog we find, alike last year, the preliminary judges list for next year. This way the exhibitors can plan in advance and find out if it fits in their agenda and if the choice of the judge offers a real chance to obtain the missing title for Champion. And once this show is scheduled, it takes away the interest in other shows. Smart!

The number of dogs was not evenly divided. Saturday had 934 entries, Sunday 1149. 23 Judges were invited, 9 from Belgium, 7 from Ireland, two from the Netherlands, 2 from Britain, two from Germany and one from Norway. It seems clear that Irish Judges are very popular over here, the last couple of years on every show there were several invited and they were very popular amongst the exhibitors. The 7 Irish judges were good for 974 entries! Imagine! The total dogs/judging day was not exceptional with a score of 57,86 but good enough. This number is an index not only for the popularity of the judges but more for the balance between income and expenses. Composing a judges panel is an art. Judges must be economic, the price for his flight, hotel, etc must be compensated by the number of dogs that were entered for him or her. And even popular judges can be a bad investment if he/she has been invited too often for the same breeds or in the same countries. And of course, for many breeds local judges are a solution. They are cheap so that it's not a big deal if they don't have a high score. The consequence is that local judges influence the score downwards. Our score here must in fact be upgraded somewhat as there were 9 Belgian judges .

On Saturday Strand Anne Tove from Norway was one of the more successful judges. 26 Westies showed up and helped for the good score of 77 entries. On Sunday she had all the poodles, 49 in total. Frank Whyte from the UK judged only Labradors on Saturday and he had 70 in total. Tom Hehir was back in the country after a very successful show of Mouscron where he had a record of 115 Dachshunds. Now he was judging some Terriers and some Sighthounds on Saturday and that was again good for 111 entries. On Sunday he had 54 but all together 165 dogs was far from bad. The dachshunds were this time for Mrs.Tanja Backes from Germany and she too had a good score of 92. Piet Roosenboom was one of the Belgian judges and on Sunday only. But his 42 Bulldogs were co-responsible for the nice total of 71 entries. But the success of the Celtic tigers was overpowering. Gerard Cox for example, another familiar face on our shows here, did all the Schnauzers on Sunday, 78 in total. Saturday was good for 55 entries. Michael Leonard had a total of 154. On Sunday he had 104 entries, all breeds from group V. But the most popular Irish couple were the Muldoons. John had 77 entries on Saturday, Shelties, Beardies and Border Collies. On Sunday he had 96 dogs in his ring, Spitz breeds, including 25 Miniature Spitzes, plus 40 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. His wife Colette had an unexpectedly high score for Sunday. While only 19 entries on Saturday, she had a dazzling number of 181 dogs who would loved to be judged by her. As this was impossible for one judge only, certain of her breeds had to be sacrificed and divided over two other judges, 40 to her compatriot Margaret O'Gorman from and 50 to Mr. Theo Leenen from Belgium who already had 48 Great Danes.

Best In Show judge was Mrs. Rita Reyniers, who's basis as a judge is linked to this club since many years. She had to place all dogs, however, 5 of them would be placed ex-aequo on place 6 and that's a good thing. It's less splitting hairs. Her number 3 was the Labrador Retriever "Whanahnish Simply Sensational" , a very young dog, owned by Pim Candel from the Netherlands. The dog was entered in Junior class and won the breed. He was placed 3rd Best Junior on Saturday in the main ring by Mr.Theo Leenen. He is not even 15 month old. The breed was judged by Mr. Frank Whyte (see above) and the group by Mrs.O'Gorman. Res BIS went to the Afgan Hound "Eyes Gazing We'll Always Have Paris", a 4 year old bitch, owned by Guy De Moor from Belgium. She was entered in Champion Class and chosen BOB amongst 23 under judge Mr. Gustaaf Van den Bosch from Belgium. It was Mrs.Ingrid Hectors from Belgium who chose her winner of her group. Best In Show went to France. "Evgeniy Onegin S Zolotog Grada" is the complicated name of this Russian born Open class winning male, proudly owned by Mrs.Natalya Thiebaut. He is a little more than 2 years old and was the choice of Belgian judge Mr.Van Raamsdonk for the Breed and Mr.Roosenboom for the Group.

Congratulations to the committee and we wish them a bright future in Weelde. It was a good start and that is the best publicity you can get. Next year I expect a record number as all those who attended this show will speak for the best. I'll be back anyway. Look in the catalog or on the website www.kkk.be to see how your chances are and reserve January 6 and 7.



Text and photos: Karl DONVIL

Results: Karl DONVIL and KKK





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