Europen Winner Show in Ireland

BOB labrador
BOB Tibetan Spaniel that was delightful!

Swedish judges Göran Bodegård and Kennet Edh checking out the Kennel Club show for the Irish breeds.



A striking kerry blue terrier from Russia.

Chariman Ronnie Irving in action as a ring steward.

One of the beautiful halls.

On the lft one can see my favourite, the wire fox terrier that won BIS!

BOS whippet

BOB and group 4 whippet.

BOB & BOS and judge Göran Bodegård

BOB & BOS at the Irish Whippet Club specialty.

All these winners show around Europe seems to be my thing these days!! Last summer I showed my dogs at the World Show in Stockholm and in October my friend Linda and I drove all the way down to Hungary to participate in the European Winner Show in Budapest. Well Friday last week I set off for Ireland and Dublin, this time as a “tourist”, as the European Winner Show took place in Dublin this year. Claire Graham (Colloney whippets) was kind enough to pick me up at the airport so that I could see the bitches being judged at the extra Irish Whippet Club Show that was held in conjunction with the Winners show. I had heard that Irish people always show great hospitality and that was true. When the judging was over I was invited to take part in a lunch and loads of different food, wine and so on was placed on a table for everyone to enjoy!!! It was very nice and again thanks to all of you!! BOB Friday was Ch Collooney Golden Girl of Sheol who is also an English champion. BOS came all the way from Italy and he was Whiprose Irish Coffee at Sobers. Actually I think three whippets entered were named Irish Coffee!!
After that I left the show ground and went for my hotel to meet my travelling companions Ulrika and Ulrika. The three of us had lots of very fun and giving days together in Dublin with dogs, food and a few Guinness!! Lots of laughter!!

Saturday morning it was time for the whippet judging. For being the European Winner Show the entries were very low and that was not surprising as the costs to travel with dogs to Ireland are very high!! 54 whippets were entered and the judge was Göran Bodegård, these days an all round judge but from the sighthound group from the beginning. As no critiques were done the judging did not take long….

BOB this day was a Barnesmore dog residing in Jersey. His full name is Barnesmore Trick Or Treat (Ch Barnesmore Galileo X Ch Barnesmore Black Orchid) and is owned by Mrs Mottershaw who judged at the sighthound show in Sweden in January this year (not whippets). He went on to group 4 under Andrew Brace. BOS was a bitch that Göran had given the breed earlier on and she was Ch Mossbawnhill It’s All about Me (Ch Looricbrook Trussardi at Shalfleet X Collooney Mamma Mia). These two won the titles and the CACIB. As usual when it comes to whippets these days it was a truly international background in the ones entered. The sire of the BOB dog is bred in Northern Ireland but lives in Italy and has a sire from Sweden. The BOS winner has a sire from Canada residing in the UK of mainly American breeding and a dam sired by a dog from Sweden with Australien/American background and so on, and on…. This was the same for a lot of the entered whippets!

Sunday we spent most of the day on a beautiful lawn at a show organized by The Kennel Club for the native Irish breeds. It was a very nice show with lots of beautiful dogs and a very relaxed atmosphere. Unlucky for me I did not feel that the sun was quite “aggressive” in the wind so I ended up looking like a crayfish…. It was nice seeing the chairman of The Kennel Club Ronnie Irving being “on the floor” functioning as a ring steward. To me it is so interesting that such a small country as Ireland can have so many extremely distinct breeds of such a variety of type!
Monday I spent some time watching a couple of the toy breeds before joining my friends at the labrador ring. Then I had to go for the airport and go home again.

The size of this show was like a “normal” all breed show in Sweden and I felt sorry for the organizers that not more people took the effort to go to Ireland. On the downside the finals in the afternoons were very badly organized so in the end we and many more around the ring lost interest and left. The puppies came in to compete and were placed and then it could be a break of up to 20 minutes before the next final was called in to the green carpet. Maybe we are spoiled here in Sweden that the finals are always so very well organized? The finals were organized in FCI fashion so all this was probably all new to the Irish and maybe that caused the problems?
Saturday afternoon I went by the fox terriers to have a look at the wires and saw this extremely breathtaking bitch winning BOB and in the end she won BIS. She is the dog I will always remember from this show!!! I fell in love!!

The only downside of going to Dublin I feel is the prices. It is very expensive and digs big holes in your wallet… The only thing I find more expensive in Sweden is taxis.
Thanks to my two travel companions Ulrika and Ulrika who made this memorable trip!