Page 226 - ShowSight - January 2020

Kortrijk Eurodogshow 2019
BY KARL DONVIL
As last year was a double show with 4,236 entries for the two shows, it had 2,361 dogs for this edition. Depend- ing on how you look at it, it is a slight increase this year. The damage caused by the multitude of double shows in a small country like Belgium is significant. Many dogs have the titles that they need already and most of the dogs that need required papers for breeding probably too. That means that a whole generation of dogs no longer needs to enter for the shows, hence the expected and massive decrease in numbers of dogs on shows. The good thing is, as a dog’s career and life are much shorter compared to that of man, and a new generation is ready for the show before you know. We can expect that single shows will grow again in a few years on condition that double shows are banned or brought back to a strict minimum of exceptions. Shows that face serious dif- ficulties to survive must be confident and find other means to gain more entries again. That is why I expect that soon we will have a Eurodogshow with numbers that come close, or who knows, even surpass the record numbers of before.
The Kortrijk Eurodogshow has to keep up its reputation of new trendsetter and every year they make me curious to find out what they have on offer now. Some old items that proved not success- ful were abandoned. There is no longer a combination with a Cat Show. Others are still going on, like the Terrier Special, the many demonstrations as there are the Rescue dogs, Blind Dogs, Flyball, Guarding and Defence demonstrations, Obedience. Dog Dance is also one of the where the public could enjoy some stunning perfor- mances. Ever seen a dog duo-jumping-rope along with his master synchronized on the beat of the music? Amazing! That the Kortrijk Eurodogshow is called “little Crufts” has his reasons for sure. There is so much to do, so much to discover, so much to see and to buy. As usual you could find many trade stands and they get a welcome feeling here as one of the important pillars of a good dog show and are offered a small, cozy and well-attended reception on Friday evening after building up. And they keep coming back, year after year and that is not because of this reception, but because Kortrijk
attracts public and a lot of visitors is usually translated in a good turn over. Sometimes, there are just too many of them, and that is not ideal either as they have to share the same cake and some will not come back again.
The big novelty this year was the “Go-To-Show” item. Most house dogs never go to a show because they have no pedigree. Some are bought in commercial Kennels where they had the option to “pay extra if they want to have a pedigree”, others were rescued from dog shelters, or for whatever reason. In order to raise their interest in Dog Shows those people could subject their dogs to a visual classi- fication to find out what breed they belong too, undergo a behavior test in order to see if they are socialized enough to go to a show and a veterinarian examination to see if they are fit and healthy. When this is done they can enter for the Go-to-Show competition where an allround judge judges them just like any other dog in the regular competition. They are however not placed and there is no competi- tion, but they get a report with the good and the minor points of how their dog relates to the breed standard. We will see this prob- ably on other shows too in the future, but Kortrijk once more had the “première” with success with around 120 entries. It is a great idea and makes dog shows more accessible.
The main ring is beautiful as always with the three winning podia in the middle. Although the ring is large enough it creates disorder in the main ring. As every judge can do as he likes, we get many different ways of presenting the selected dogs, sometimes in front of the podium, sometimes perpendicular to it, others make the dogs not move but move themselves, so that part of the dogs run in front of the podium while the rest behind it, etc. For a show like this, while timing is so crucial for the organization, it is time to think about this as a serious point of improvement. That can simply be done with a carpet path on the floor in a contrasting color, a good ring steward (who is, in fact, the boss in the ring) and good briefing in the morning and just before entering the main ring. If necessary distribute a written text that they can study. And another point of concern is the many people who jump into the main ring to
218 • ShowSight Magazine, January 2020