The trip to Poland

The BIS judge going over Memma on the table
Just a few seconds before the placings were announced.

In the collection ring

A dachshound with a military rain coat.

Monica waiting in out tent for the finals

The shopping mall that was huge!!

A white pekingese in the group ring off course caught my attention!!


We forgot to bring a camera so all photos have been taken with my mobile, hence that poor quality in some of the photos!!

Friday I left home for Poland together with my friend Monica Thyrell who owns Memma’s (Ch Play A While Lady Orlando) sire Ch Adagio Ta Moko. I asked Monica early on if she thinks that it is important for her to celebrate Midsummer. Luckily for me, this so very important day for most Swedes, is not very important for Monica!! She would be happy to come along for the long drive to Poland! We started off early Friday morning towards Trelleborg, as we were going to catch the midday ferry to Sassnitz in Germany. I have never gone this route before and I was very much smitten by the Rügen island landscape. From my history books I knew this is old Swedish territory and next time I go this way I will have to stop in Stralsund that is on UNESCO’s list of heritages worth saving for the future.

Soon we left Rügen behind us and found the motorways towards Stettin were the show was going to take place. I had booked us a hotel room in Stettin and luckily all the hotel chains had their own big signs showing the way to the hotels. We fed Memma and took her for a walk and since Monica had never been in Poland earlier I thought we must try traditional Polish food so we went to a restaurant serving Polish food and had a lovely meal!! We went to bed early on so that we had the energy needed for a long day at the show. In the morning I asked a nice women in the reception about that football stadium the show was to be held so that we would find the way. No information was given by the show were to go (we are used to that in Sweden..). We ended up at a huge stadium but no dogs in sight…. What should we do, well I found a taxi and he drove in front of us to the smaller stadium and the dog show. Finding a parking place was not easy and in the end we had to park a long way from the show in a forest….
Whippets were later during the day so we cheered on some other Swedish friends also at the show.

Finally whippets entered the ring. Memma was not in a very good mood, probably because of the long journey but luckily when the show lead was around the neck and we entered the ring she was showing!!!! Soon I had a paper in my hand stating that Memma had won BOB and the CACIB so now the international title was secured and that is why we went to this show!!
After a couple of hours of waiting we went in to the group ring and soon the speaker announced that the whippet was the group winner!! Wow!! The judge who also judged Memma in the group turned around and said; NOW YOU HAVE TO COME BACK TOMORROW. We had booked a ferry back the night between Saturday and Sunday and we both had other arrangements Monday…… A friend helped us to rebook the boat for Sunday night and the club put us up (for free!!!) at the hotel were the judges stayed.

Sunday we slept long and then went to a huge shopping mall so that I could have some new clothes for the BIS final!! After that we went to the show. The weather was very nice but in a couple of seconds the rain was pouring down and I ran like a maniac to our car (again very far from the show…) for our show tent. Luckily the rain stopped in an hour and the sun was shining all through the finals. AS usual the BIS was last and we were called in group by group, so naturally Memma and I entered the ring last. Compared to the Swedish shows there were huge numbers of spectators that had stayed on to see the finals, mostly families enjoying the Sunday out. Judge Luís Pinto Teixeira from Portugal was placing the dogs according to his choice. Three placing were awarded and Memma went in as BIS-2 and that was very fun. Mr Teixeira said to me that Memma was absolutely stunning!!

We had to leave at once so we did not miss the ferry but finding the way out to the motorway was an adventure... But finally we found it and 12 hours later we were back home.

I recommend other to go and show in Poland and why not Stettin? The show was well organised and the city it self has a very interseting history worth while cheking out!!