World Dog Show 2017
By Kendra Hutch
This past November, I was fortunate enough to travel to Germany for the World Dog show. I had a fantastic time, and it was such a wonderful learning experience.
So why did I decide to pack my bags, travel a half a world away, and leave my dogs for a couple weeks? First the size of this show. The biggest show in the US takes two days with approximately 5,000 dogs entered, and this show took 4 days with 31,000 dogs! There was not only the opportunity to see conformation but also dog diving, dog dancing, and agility with some of the highest level of performing dogs. Another big lure for me going: the opportunity to see some of the European Lappies. As a bonus, this show had an entire hall filled with vendors. So much dog shopping, but so little bag space to bring it home.
The first day there, I'm sure my eyes were huge. Thousands of dogs, people, languages, breed differences and the way they showed. Some breeds I didn't recognize right away, like Aussies and Schipperkes, because they had tails. There was a total of 83 rings showing all different types of dogs. I was shocked at how small the ring sizes were. They were half the size of what I was used to showing in. I'm still not sure how the Great Danes, Scottish Deerhounds, and other large breeds were able to move properly in such a small space.
Grooming was done around the rings. They entire time I was there, I didn't see one blower, curler, or flat iron. Most dogs were brushed out but several left me wondering. Most surprising was the strict enforcement of no grooming while in the ring. When watching Groups, the stewards would take away any brushes or combs that they saw handlers using. These would be given back after the handlers had left the ring.
Another happy surprise was how patient the judges were with the dogs. I saw several judges approach the shy ones with caution and allow for them to warm up to them before starting their examination. They didn't appear to get frustrated or disgusted when the dogs wouldn't hold still or shy away. I got the impression that it wasn't expected for the dogs to be happy statues. Judges also wanted to see lots of movement. I felt bad for a pregnant handler that had to run around the ring at least 10 times and down and back at least 5 before the judge finally picked BOB winner. Several of us spectators were wondering if we were going to be running her to the hospital next.
The Lappies there were gorgeous. Many of them I have seen pictures of, and the pictures didn't come close to capturing their beauty. For Europe's standard, this was a small entry of 39, but it was still more than what I had ever seen in one place before. The owners were all very nice and worked hard to understand me even though we spoke different languages. I'm anxious to plan my next trip to Finland to meet even more of these sweet lovable dogs and owners.
I enjoyed the dog dancing as it was very creative, fun, and beautiful. The speed in the agility ring was unbelievable. The dogs spent more time with feet in the air than on the ground. I was surprised however, that so many of the dogs missed their contacts. For those of us that are crazy dog people this this was the perfect vacation. Only thing that would have made it better was if I had my two dogs there with me.
