In the past the title “Biggest Dog Show in the World” was claimed more than once. Is it Crufts, was it Bratislava? Certainly, without any doubt, Paris 2011 will be the biggest and it will probably take long before it will be dethroned.

Alike the show in Dortmund, we had two shows in one weekend. There was the French Championship Show in the morning and the World Dog Show in the afternoon. No less than 38,000 dogs participated in one or both shows. The number of individual dogs present was estimated around 25,000 dogs. They represented dogs from no less than 69 different countries as far as from Australia, South Korea, Japan, Argentina, USA, etc. There were no less than 240 trade stands and 224 judges were invited from 34 different countries. 1,500 volunteers were there to help it bring to a good end. It was a very prestigious show in many aspects. But if you know that the Société Central Canine is a real institution in France, belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture, and with a huge Expo Park nearby Paris and the two French International Airports, Charles de Gaulle and le Bourget, you know that they can handle a little more than other countries. The SCC counts over hundred employees, 30,000 breeders, 550,000 members, 1,075 clubs, 195,013 registered dogs in 2010!

The halls and the area were large enough to hold all this. Only the two largest halls were rented and that was enough to provide the handlers with big rings. I had not the impression that it was more difficult to go from one point to another. Inside the halls the trade stands were positioned close to the entrance. That seemed to be much appreciated as one had to pass through them in order to go to the rings. In general the trade stand holders were happy with this, especially as they expected thousands of visitors (25,000!) and this resulted in a good turnover. Unfortunately, due to regulations of the expo park, many traders had difficulties to set up their stand and refill their stock.

The first day, as usual, there were many problems to be solved, but already on Friday things went on smoother. This was also the case with the time schedule of the day. Having two shows on the very same day and only one main ring is very complicated and a strict planning if a must. After a delay on Thursday, on Friday it was getting much better. There were many people complaining, but I must say that I met a lot of people without any complaint at all. And, without minimising things, there will always be problems and if it happens to some, it is as if the world is going down. Outside the halls the cleaning was not enough, the signs for the rings were rather confusing and I’ve heard some people had difficulties finding their ring as is was not clear in the catalogues. Probably this had to do with the two shows happening together. I also heard people complaining about stewards not talking any language but French while I know that the Sociéte Centrale Canine even had some translators for Russian.

One hall held the breed stands and this was not just restricted to a few, but there were many. This is really interesting as France has so many breeds that you rarely meet outside of the country and especially the pack of hounds that leave the stables of the “grands Chateaux” only once a or twice a year, like for the Championnat de France. It is a real example of living folklore that you can only see in the Chateaux or during the Championnat. This is probably also the reason why this World Dog Show had probably the most diversity in breeds, covering almost the complete spectrum of FCI breeds and I had the opportunity even to see a Vietnamese Ridgeback that is clearly different from a Thai Ridgeback. It probably came along with a Television crew from Vietnam that covered the event together with many other channels.

The huge numbers of visitors was probably the result of a good PR campaign prior to the show. No less than 240 Press registrations were made and on almost every channel of the French commercial and national Networks the event was covered. No wonder that this helps a lot. To most foreign visitors it might have appeared strange that there we no signs at all in the area to give directions to the halls. French people are used to it as the mayor forbids anything that can distract drivers. On the other hand, if there are signs it can help to find the way without hesitations. On my GPS it was not possible to find the halls as the area has no address. I had to choose “airport Charles de Gaulle”. In such situations signs can help a lot and prevent traffic problems also. Anyway, I suppose the SCC would have done it if it would have been allowed.

The main ring was nice and some said it was too small. According to the initial plans it was smaller as told to me, but in the end it could easily hold all dogs, groups, etc. The VIP and Press Area were obviously too small to hold everyone and caused tensions the first day. On Sunday too it was almost becoming a big problem due to a bottleneck at the VIP entrance until suddenly an extra area for the spectators was created and all problems seemed to be solved, at least for the bottleneck. On Saturday evening the public was entertained by a performance of French Cancan, which was much appreciated. On Sunday the schedule was already overloaded and except for a performance of Doggy Dance by an Austrian girl dressed as Amadeus Mozart and her dog, and the wonderful castrato-like singing by a man, there was nothing else but the main and final judging. I think that in this respect it was just perfect, not overloaded but a small interlude for the public.

Mrs Lisbeth Mach from Switzerland had the honour to judge Best In Show Junior. Since 2008 she is an all-round judge and she is so famous that it will be hard to find a country with cynologic activity where she has not judged. The 3rd place went to Russia and was for the grey female Poodle “Evak's Shalimar” owned by Mankova Natalia. Her Runner up for BIS went to the Bracco Italiano bitch “Fruga Di Val Ravanaga “ owned by Colaco Elsa & Miguel Nerviani (ES). Het Best in Show Junior was also a bitch, the Basset Artésien Normand “Fricassée de Lapin da Terra Quante”, owned by Cafe Pedro from Portugal.

Mr Guy Mansencal, a Pyrenean Shepherds fanatic, with a career of 46 years as a judge in every corner of the world was granted the honour to judge Best In Show of the FCI Centenary World Dog Show. He really judged with passion and pride. After a few rounds and an extra check, he pointed the Wire Haired Fox Terrier “Afterall Painting The Sky” to the 3rd place. This bitch is owned by Malzoni Viktor/Steel Tony from Italy and was bred in the States by Pertuit – Seaton. There were no less than 130 co-competitors in his breed. The second place went to Finland. The Pug “Tangetoppen's Unbrealbl'New's” was bred by Olsen-loken and is owned by Ramanen Mari. This 3-year old young female won it from 196 colour mates. The only winning male in the final was its Best In Show two-year old American Akita “De Kraner's Worverine Revenge”. And so the BIS cup went to Italy this year (owners : Diestro Nati - Rodato Elio and breeder : Montoto Francisco). Before being able to compete for Best In Show the dog had to beat 93 other American Akita’s and win his group.

This show created mixed feelings. Good to excellent to some, frustrating to others. This will always be like that and, like in all shows, one can expect problems. Maybe here the problems were bigger as the show was much bigger. Was it perhaps too ambitious to combine two big shows? All I can say is that they brought it to an end, with a BIS, with happy traders, new French Champions in other countries but France, much media attention and a huge number of visitors. And as the weather was fine, a lot of frustration faded away after a visit to Paris and a good glass of wine or Champagne.

Next rendez-vous in the circuit for the selection for the “Champion of Champions“ show is Leeuwarden. It will be a real challenge for The Netherlands to handle another huge event. At the time of the Paris dog show they already had over 10,000 registrations.

You can find all the results of this show on www.worlddogshow.fr

Karl Donvil