After a lazy ferry journey from Helsinki, Finland to Travemünde, Germany we drove to Sondershausen where it was a two day's show for terriers (2.-3.7.2011). The judge for scotties on the first day was Ms. T Deres Tyagunova from Russia and she had 12 scotties to judge. On the 2nd day the judge was Mr. H. Grüttner from Germany and he had 11 scotties to judge. Luca received VV1 at boths shows which as far as I understand means 'very promising'. Vini's result from the shows was 2 x 'excellent', 2 x RVDH and 1 x RCAC. The full results are on the web pages of the Scottish Terrier Association.
The judging system in Germany was a bit confusing for me. During the show I had no idea if dogs had received excellent or very good and which dogs had received VDH or CAC. Even now I have no idea what is the difference between VDH and CAC. After the judging you could copy the results from the board if ring steward had written them down. I have been working as a ring stewardess in Finland for ages now and have complained about ribbons that are given to exhibitors showing the quality of an exhibit (red = excellent, blue = very good, yellow = good etc.) Now I can see the value of our system for the public.
After Germany we headed toward Paris and World Winner Dog Show. In Paris we met our dear friends Clair and Connor. First task was to find the temporary camping site at the show which required us to stop some locals and ask for advice. After driving here and there we found the place but were disappointed by the services offered. Last year I was camping at WWDS in Denmark and arrangements were excellent.
On Thursday (CHAMPIONNAT DE FRANCE) we showed under Mme Sylvie Desserne from France. Luca was 4th in his class with 'very good' and Vini was not placed but received 'excellent'. On Friday (MONDIALE) judge was M. Kenneth Edh from Sweden. Luca was 2nd in his class with 'excellent' and Vini received 'excellent' but was not placed. Full results are here.
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| Vini (on the left) in open male class, photo by Timo Aho |
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| Junior males 1-4 (Luca on the right), photos by © Fredriksson |
Visiting dog shows abroad is such a pleasure because of having the opportunity to meet scotties and scottie people. It is always interesting to see scotties in other countries and compare the quality in Finland with them. Big shows like world dog shows give an opportunity to see a lot of scotties at the same show. It was again so nice to reconnect with other scottie owners and breeders from all over the Europe.
I would also like to thank my handlers for showing my boys so beautifully in Paris: Hilde Fredriksson (who won the junior handling competition in Paris on Sunday and became world champion!), Clair Chapman, Reijo Portala and Jouni Perttula.
