176 HOTdog 2 / 2012

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HOTdog 177

Eukanuba World Challenge • Event

AKC/Eukanuba World Challenge 2012

This is the second time this big event is happening in Orlando Flor-ida, on the other side of the coun-try but with equally pleasant winter temperatures, up to 27°C. California has something magical, Los Angeles, Hollywood, etc. Orlando is situated closer to Europe on the east side of the country, not too far from Miami. That was one of the reasons for this change, but the Convention Centre offers a lot better opportunities too. It is huge and very beautiful. It’s an advantage but also a disadvantage as distances are great, especially walk-ing. Fortunately there were shuttle buses to the hotel every 15 minutes and walking could be nice too if you want to enjoy the mild sunlight. But also inside the halls you could walk several kilometers .

The shows becomes more and more a total spectacle, not just a dog show, but a show that shows a lot of canine aspects to the public, and families in the first place. New breeds were pre-sented to the public, the Mexican Xo-loitzquintle, the Hungarian Pumi, The Azawakh from Mali, the Peruvian Inca Orchid, the Peruvian Hairless dog of the FCI, and the Portuguese Podenco Pequeno. But not only new breeds but also celebrities were present, not hu-mans, but Stella and Yakult, French Bulldog and a Chinese Crested, stars from popular series like “Modern Family”. The main hall was devided up in 7 parts starting with the Obedi-ence competition are and the groom-ing area divided by the first Shopping mall. Between the first and the sec-ond Shopping Mall were all the rings, including the group and section judg-ing ring. The Meet the Breed area is new. Alike Crufts and the FCI World and European shows, breed clubs can present their breeds to the public and inform them. Further on was the Dock Diving part and the Fun Zone before arriving in the Agility competi-tion hall. Dock Diving was very well appreciated by kids. But the new sport “Eukanuba Extreme Soccer Dogs” was introduced and offered even more fun for the kids. Dogs are defending their goals while kids tried to shoot the ball to score. All this was baptized “Celebrate Dogs”, America’s largest canine celebration. Of course there were the several official com-petitions. There was also the AKC Agility Invitational with 618 dogs in competition, there was the AKC Na-tional Obedience Invitational with 127 entries, the AKC Juniors Agility (73 entries) and Obedience competi-tions (46 entries), the National Junior

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178 HOTdog 2 / 2012

Event • Eukanuba World Challenge

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HOTdog 179

Eukanuba World Challenge • Event

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Handling competition (166 young-sters aged 9-17), etc. Together with the AKC/Eukanuba National Champi-onship and the AKC/Eukanuba World Challenge, and all this was good for 15.500 combined entries and par-ticipants from 43 different countries. More numbers are these: 175 AKC recognized breeds, 4181 entries for the National Championship, 93 Gold-en Retrievers, 75 French Bulldogs, 75 Labradors, 69 Aussies, 63 Cavaliers, 61 Rottweilers , 123 Miscelaneous dogs like Azawakh, Laekenois, Ber-gamasco, Boerboel, Chinook, Cirneco dell’ettna, Rat Terrier ect. , and two new breeds in competition: 14 Jack Russels and 5 Treeing Walker Coon-hounds.

The main Ring was at the other end of the building completely separated from the rest. A long corridor with arches in the Eukanuba color leads you to the main ring. The Dock Diving area was indoors and that was a pity to me as with the artificial light it was difficult to make some nice shots, and this discipline is not only big fun, but also a good opportunity to make some spectacular action shots. I was not very happy with the official AKC/Eukanuba World Challenge Podium. The decor is very dark and only il-luminated by 4 garage halogen spot-lights and that is such a huge contrast to the very professional light in the main ring. I understand that the main ring is very important for the televi-sion and the Internet broadcasting, but while TV is instant, photos are for always and are published all over the world, can be studied and seen on demand. Garage lights are not suit-able for an event of this size, casts ugly shadows and creates unreliable colorcasts due to a mixture of yellow and white light. It is also insufficient with all the VIP’s in black smoking lined up behind black dogs like the BIS Poodle and ResBIS Saluki.

41 Dogs were competing for the World Challenge, divided up in 4 Sec-tions. These dogs were selected in their own country along with some that were directly selected at the FCI Section Show and World Show. Not all FCI countries could compete. , they were drawn by lots and divided up into 4 sections. Section 1 was judged by Mr.Cristian Stefanescu from Romania, section 2 was for Mr.Guy Spagnolo from Australia, section 3 for Mrs.Keke Kahn from the USA and Mr.Ramon Valenzuela Podesta from Chile was taking care of the section 4 dogs. From each section 3 dogs went on to the finals and they were judged by Mr.Luis Miguel Teixeira from Portugal. He is a very experienced and respected FCI judge. Unfortunately not all dogs

were that lucky. One dog of section 4 was disqualified before he could go for the finals. During the day someone was playing with the dog, but when he had enough he used the only thing he can to explain to that stranger to stop playing. Unfortunately, the warning of the dog caused a scratch on the arm of the player and notwithstanding the excuses of the player , saying that it was his own fault, a competitor who witnessed this incident reported it to the organization. Mea culpa said the owner, I should not have allowed a stranger to play with him. He is a very nice dog, but I did not pay attention on his excitement. It was a warning but it is not allowed and I’m the one to be blamed. What a pity and what a missed opportunity.

Contrary to almost any other show, this event has a lot of prize money to offer, up to 225.000$ I total for the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship (50.000$ for the winner and 15.000$ for the breeder) and 15.000$ for the AKC/Eukanuba World Challenge. There is a lot of difference, but let us not forget that the foreign competitors re-ceive a free trip for two plus dog, full 5 star accommodation and the possi-bility to compete also for the National Championship. That is not just in the-ory as the Swedish Saluki finished Res BIS in both competitions, an extraor-dinary situation for an extraordinary dog that won a lot. Ch.Shiraz California Dreamin’ won BIS at the latest World Dog Show in Salzburg and was directly selected. The national representative of Sweden was a Fox Terrier, which means that there were 2 competitors from Sweden. Chiraz was entered in the Saluki competition for the AKC /Eukanuba National show too by his owners Nicklas ad Ingunn Eriksson and won the breed under breed specialist Anne MacDonald. Mrs.Carla Molinari judged the Hound Group and met him there again and made him BOG. The finish was near and it was very close to the BIS but he was finally defeated by the Fox Terrier. And for the Eukanuba World Challenge, where he came for in the first place, he saw the final cup passing by going to the representative of the United States, the Black Stand-ard Poodle Ch.Jaset’s Satisfaction, owned by Harris, Beth, Michel Molnar & Jamie Danburg from Florida. It was really close but losing from another top-winner is an honor and returning home with two ResBIS titles and a lot of money after a wonderfull weekend, that must be something even that even Nicklas and Ingunn could probably never dream of.

Karl Donvil. WDPA.www.123dog.net