LIEGE 2019: Records are broken!

From the September 2019 Issue of ShowSight. Click to subscribe.

Liege, Belgium | july 27-28, 2019

With lots of pride Mr.Boclinville, the president of the club “Syndicat d’Elevage Canin de Liège”, told me that he had a record entry this year. I was somewhat suspicious as this was a double show and committees use to count up the entries of both shows in order to make it look more successful. But when I saw the real numbers of entries I must admit that this edition was one that really passed the, in my opinion, minimum requirements for a double show or a single CACIB show and that is 1,500 entries. Only a couple of years ago shows in Belgium with over 2,000 entries were no rarities. Here we reached even 1,834 entries on Saturday and 1,579 for Sunday. The reason why Saturday was better is that it counted for the Benelux Winner where you can win this title. Every year one show in one of the three different countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, have one show that counts for Benelux Winner. If you win three titles in three different countries and under three different judges the dog can cash the title of Benelux Champion. Winning twice is enough to win the title of Benelux Veteran Winner and Benelux Junior Winner. The success of this competition proves my statement that people are searching for an extra challenge in order to distance them from the CACIB that is often obtained too easily and not always a guarantee for top quality, at least that is my opinion. In 2017 this show had another good result with 1,721/1,620 entries, but last year was poor with only around 1,300 entries for each day/show. It was obviously a relieve for the organization and a nice treat as it was the 65th edition of this show.

Double shows have a loaded program for the finals for the simple reason that all the breeds are on turn every day and that counts for Junior Class and Veteran Class too. But Liège has more traditions to keep alive, the Golden Lead and the Golden Groomer competition. Both competitions have a strong reputation and are well attended from far over the borders. I have no numbers of the Grooming part but every day there were at least 15 tables with groomers busy modeling their subjects. The grooming competition is separate from the show with its own tribune and finals, but the Best Groomers have to present their work in the main ring of the show for the ultimate finals just before Best In Show is chosen. The Golden Lead is no longer for Juniors only. There are the young ones until the age of 13, the ones till 18 years of age, Open Class from 18 years on and Senior Class from 40 years on. All are judged in the main ring challenging for Best Handler of day and Best Handler in Show. The Golden Lead had competitors entered from seven different nationalities. And besides that, there is still the honoring of the Sighthounds who are performing on the race track and are according to the standard and able to compete in a regular show. This Challenge is called Beauty and Performance. If you want to have all this done well in time it is important to start in time and hold on to a very strict time table. And they managed on both days, although the Junior Class sometimes I had the impression that things had to go on too fast.

The catalog was very complete, maybe a floorplan of the showground could have made it perfect, but I suppose no-one really needs it. For the rest, It had statistics, explanation about the titles, addresses of the exhibitors and trade stand holders, and this is one of the shows that tributes to their breeder-members so that visitors could get in contact with trustworthy breeders.

There were 22 nationalities present among the exhibitors and of course most were from Belgium, 725 on Saturday and 640 on Sunday, the Netherlands send 347 on Saturday but only 234 on Sunday, a big difference which emphasizes the importance of the title for exhibitors of the Benelux countries. If we compare to France with 280/273, Germany with 239/200 and the UK 100/100 it is obvious that for those exhibitors it doesn’t make so much difference. We see the same in more remote countries. Nine countries had as many exhibitors on Saturday as on Sunday. I must also mention one entry from as far as Australia!

Only 23 judges were invited and I wonder if that had to do with the unexpected result in entries or f that was clearly calculated. The dogs/judging day rate was exceptionally high with 77:5, in other words, there was an average of 77:5 dogs for every judge each day. But of course, nothing is so nicely balanced like that. But it was amazing to see that on Saturday, except for a novice judge, there was only one judge with 58 dogs to judge and even that was good. Eliza Dr. Loizou from Cyprus was welcoming 100 entries in her ring on Saturday including 32 Miniature Spitzes who are now very popular and belong to the most popular breeds over here. Jos De Cuyper was also one of the top judges on Saturday with no less than 115 entries for him. On Sunday, and probably again thanks to the Miniature Spitzes, Mr Alessandro Zeppi from Italy had the best score of Sunday with 101 dogs altogether and the second-best score of the weekend with 196 dogs in total. Mr.Ozan Belkis from Turkey was the overall best scoring judge of the weekend with 230 dogs in total, 100 on Sunday and 130 on Saturday when he was the best scoring judge that day.

There were no flashing numbers when it comes to certain breeds, on the contrary, I had the impression that the number of dogs was sometimes remarkably low. There were only nine American Cockers, 28 Golden Retrievers and 31 Labradors. Other breeds that are very popular now were also poorly represented like the “only” 12 American Staffordshire Terriers, the 33 Chihuahuas, 29 French Bulldogs, and 15 Pugs and except for the Miniature Spitzes, there are apparently no new star breeds coming up for the moment. Although I was surprised to find 26 Irish Wolfhounds entered for Mrs. Hanna Wozna-Gill from Poland, I don’t see this as a trend yet. For those interested in rarities and new breeds, there was a Miniature American Shepherd, a Barbado Da Terceira, a Continental Bulldog, and a Markiesje.

On Saturday it was Mr. Jos De Cuyper who was granted the honor to chose the Best In Show. His third place went to the Miniature Spitz “Dan-Star-Kom Secret Male Of Love”, a Russian three-year old male that was entered in Open class by Julie Van Varenberg-Van Den Brant for Mrs.Eliza DR.Loizou. His Group was judged by Mr. J. Serafimov from Macedonia. Second place was for the American Cocker Spaniel “Very Vigie Nobody Is Perfect”, owned by Simon Whincup from the United Kingdom. The dog was bred by Mr. Pichard, is two years old and entered in Champion Class for Mr. Alessandro Zeppi from Italy. Mr. Belkis was the Group judge.

The Best In Show title wend to the Irish Red Setter “Nucky of McBirdy”. This male was entered in Open Class for Mrs. Catriel Pauna from Romania. He won from 15 competitors and was chosen Best of Group by Mr. Pauna again. Nucky is five and was bred by Mr. and Mrs. Duhant-Keteleers and is owned by Lauwers, Milligan-Bott, Bott. On Sunday Mr. Igor Viguzov was the VIP judge. His third place went to the Shih-Tzu “Saffron Sherhy Revolution For Chodon”, a female entered in intermediate Class for Mr. Vyguzov himself. This Russian dog was bred by Irina Cherkasova and the dog is now keeping company to Mrs. Dorien Van Slycke. Mrs. Myrian Vermeire gave the ticket for the ultimate finals. Runner upto Best In Show was for the Kaninchen Dachshund Longhair “Rodels Magic Moonlight”, a two year old bitch bred by Perttu Stahlberg and owned by Anca Giura from Romania.

The breed judge was Arianna Giorgi from Italy and she judged the Group too. The Best In Show was for the runner up of Saturday, the American Cocker Spaniel “Very Vigie Nobody Is Perfect”. He was now judged by Mrs. Eliza D. R. Loizou and got his ticket for the Best In Show Judging from Mr. Zeppi. A British Victory this time!

I just hope that Liège will keep this standard if they want to go on with double shows and that it does not affect the small shows too much. The next edition will be on 25 and 26 of July 2020. Enter your dogs as you can probably expect fine competition and that is what makes winning much more fun! 

Best in show Benelux Winner

Judge: Mr. J. De Cuyper (Belgium)

1. Irish Red Setter
   Nucky Of Mcbirdy
   Owner: Lauwers, Milligan-bott, bott, A. W. D. J. (Belgium)
2. American Cocker Spaniel
   Very Vigie Nobody Is Perfect
   Owner: Whincup, Simon
   (United Kingdom)
3. Miniature Spitz
   Dan-star-kom Secret Male Of Love
   Owner: Vanvaerenbergh-van Den
   Brant, Julie (Belgium)

Best in show Golden
Dog Trophy

Judge: Mr. I. Vyguzov (Russia)

1. American Cocker Spaniel
   Very Vigie Nobody Is Perfect
   Whincup, Simon (United Kingdom)
2. Kaninchen Teckel long-haired
   Rodels Magic Moonlight
   Owner: Giura, Anca (Romania)
3. Shih Tzu
   Saffron Sherhy Revolution For Choden
   Owner: Van Slycken, Dorien
   (Belgium)

Couples Benelux Winner

Judge: Mrs. A Giorgi (Italy)

1. Miniature Spitz orange/grey shaded/other colours
   Dan-Star-Kom Griffin Boy &
   Pomvipstar P.S. I Love You
   Owner: Vanvaerenbergh-van Den Brant, Julie (Belgium)

Couples Golden Dog Trophy

Judge: Mr. V. Baranauskas (Lithuania)

1. Giant Schnauzer black
   Lord Of Darkness&Gently Born
   Stylish Feature
   Owner: Bakhareva, Marina
   (Russia)

Group I Benelux Winner

Judge: Mrs. D. Klein (Romania)

1. Welsh Corgi Cardigan
   Waggerland Unavailable
   Owner: Dijkhorst-Noij &
   Croft-Elliott, R.c.m. & L.
   (Netherlands)

Group I Golden Dog Trophy

Judge: Mr.B.Chmiel (Poland)

1. Tatra Shepherd Dog
   Obywatel Zagubione Marzenia
   Owner: Oudshoorn, Sylvia
   (Netherlands)

Group II Benelux Winner

Judge: Mr. V. Baranauskas (Lithuania)

1. Dobermann
   Saltiga Iz Zoosfery
   Owner: Ushakova, Irina (Russia)

Group II Golden Dog Trophy

Judge: Mrs. A. Rogowska (Poland)

1. Neapolitan Mastiff
   Quint Casa Di Fiducia
   Owner: Aesseloos -Vander Motten, Giovanni – Hans (Belgium)

Group III Benelux Winner

Judge: Mrs. I. Pablaka (Latvia)

1. Scottish Terrier
   Moveable Feast Champ
   Owner: Jegorov, Jevgenij

Group III Golden Dog Trophy

Judge: Mrs.L.Alic ()

1. West Highland White Terrier
   Cee-Cee Roll Czar Krakowa
   Owner: Adamski, Ryszard
   (Panama)

Group IV Benelux Winner

Judge: Mrs. A. Edlander (Sweden)

1. Teckel miniature wire-haired
   Nibelung Ot Mariny Kuranovoy
   Owner: Berkhout-Falkner, Sophia
   (Netherlands)

Group IV Golden Dog Trophy

Judge: Mrs. A. Giorgi (Italy)

1. Kaninchen Teckel long-haired
   Rodels Magic Moonlight
   Owner: Giura, Anca (Romania)

Group IX Benelux Winner

Judge: Mr. J-F Vanaken (Belgium)

1. Miniature Poodle white-black-brown
   Nagiri Deigini
   Owner: Deigini, Allevamento (Italy)

Group IX Golden Dog Trophy

Judge: Mrs. M. Vermeire (Belgium)

1. Shih Tzu
   Saffron Sherhy Revolution For Choden
   Owner: Van Slycken, Dorien (Belgium)

Group V Benelux Winner

Judge: Mr. J. Serafimov (Macedonia)

1. Miniature Spitz
   Dan-star-kom Secret Male Of Love
   Owner: Vanvaerenbergh-van Den Brant, Julie (Belgium)

Group V Golden Dog Trophy

Judge: Mrs. E. Loizou (Cyprus)

1. Miniature Spitz
   Pomvipstar P.S. I Love You
   Owner: Vanvaerenbergh-van Den Brant, Julie (Belgium)

Group VI Benelux Winner

Judge: Mr. J-P. Achtergael (Belgium)

1. Beagle
   Anvi High Line Great Happines
   Owner: Shahar, Dorit (Hungary)

Group VI Golden Dog Trophy

Judge: Mrs. G. Litova (Bulgaria)

1. Fawn Brittany Basset
   Laserna Storm In A Teacup
   Owner: Jones, Mr. A. & Mrs. L.
   (United Kingdom)

Group VII Benelux Winner

Judge: Mrs. C. Pauna (Romania)

1. Irish Red Setter
   Nucky Of Mcbirdy
   Owner: Lauwers, Milligan-bott,bott,
   A. W. D. J. (Belgium)

Group VII Golden Dog Trophy

Judge: Mr. J. De Cuyper (Belgium)

1. Irish Red Setter
   Remorker Something To Talk About
   Owner: Strüwing, Nana & Camilla (Denmark)

Group VIII Benelux Winner

Judge: Mr. O. Belkis (Turkey)

1. American Cocker Spaniel
   Very Vigie Nobody Is Perfect
   Owner: Whincup, Simon
   (United Kingdom)

Group VIII Golden Dog Trophy

Judge Mr. A. Zeppi (Italy)

1. American Cocker Spaniel Particolor
   Very Vigie Nobody Is Perfect
   Owner: Whincup, Simon
   (United Kingdom)

Group X Benelux Winner

Judge: Mr. J. M. Doval Sanchez (Spain)

1. Borzoi
   Blesk At Hermitage D’eole
   Owner: Guillon, Sylvie (France)

Group X Golden Dog Trophy

Judge: Mr. H. Wozna-Gil (Poland)

1. Whippet
   Iason Ailesbury Of Gentle Mind
   Owner: Matthews, Lynda
   (United Kingdom)

Groups Benelux Winner

Judge: Mrs. E. Loizou (Cyprus)

1. Samoyed
   Van ‘T Huis Te Woude
   Owner: Van Der Elst, Tanja
   (Netherlands)

Groups Golden Dog Trophy

Judge: Mr. O. Belkis (Turkey)

1. Miniature Spitz
   orange/grey shaded/other colours
   Dan-star-kom Vanvaerenbergh-van
   Owner: Den Brant, Julie (Belgium)

Junior Benelux Winner

Judge: Mrs. G. Litova (Bulgaria)

1. Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever
   Gold Star’s Pitch Perfect
   Owner: Breuer – Pieron, Alain – Julie
   (Belgium)

Junior Golden Dog Trophy

Judge: Mr. J-F Vanaken (Belgium)

1. Giant Schnauzer black
   Gloris Knockout Jack
   Owner: Van Der Linden, Jeanique
   (Netherlands)

Puppies Benelux Winner

Judge: Ms. M. Vermeire (Belgium)

1. French Bulldog
   A’Vigdors Damiano
   Owner: Borde, Patrick (Germany)

Puppies Golden Dog Trophy

Judge: Mrs. D. Klein (Romania)

1. Shiba
   Rockabye Baby Of Wolf Point
   Owner: Daponte, Nancy (Belgium)

Puppies Minor Benelux Winner

Judge: Mr. I. Vyguzov (Russia)

1. Whippet
   Collooney Stonefox Mean Mr Mustard
   Owner: Smith, Lisa (United Kingdom)

Puppies Minor Golden
Dog Trophy

Judge: Mr. Serafimov (Macedonia)

1. Siberian Husky
   Dark Phoenix Kivaliq De Luna Siberiana
   Owner: Vercauter, Thierry (Belgium)

Veterans Benelux Winner

Judge: Mrs. A. Rogowska (Poland)

1. Alaskan Malamute
   Libertia Reggae Master
   Owner: Burnside, Scarlett & Mark
   (Belgium)

Veterans Golden Dog Trophy

Judge: Mr. J. M. Doval Sanchez (Spain)

1. Australian Shepherd
   Sheep’s Kin Turn Ewe On
   Sablery, Iris (France)

Working Group
Benelux Winner

Judge: Mr. B. Chmiel (Poland)

1. Giant Schnauzer black
   Lord Of Darkness
   Owner: Bakhareva, Marina (Russia)

Working Group Golden
Dog Trophy

Judge: Ms. C. Pauna (Romania)

1. Flat Coated Retriever
   Meister Jp Diamond Passion Cut
   Owner: De Vriese – Vercruysse,
   Stefaan – Nancy (Belgium)