World Show in Geneva/Switzerland from 23 to 25 August 2023

World exhibitions are always something special. I have been to many world exhibitions in the last 50 years. It is always a gamble whether you win. A lot depends on the judges. The Worldshow in August 2023 was in Geneva, Switzerland. At the beginning of the year I had thought about whether it would make sense to take part in such a big, exhausting and expensive event again. I was able to convince my best travelling companion (apart from my dear husband Paul) to accompany me: Chris Beirendonk.

A 4 day trip. On Wednesday there was the Grand Prix CACIB Show judged by Mr. Doedijns from the Netherlands. The World Show took place on Wednesday, judged by Mr Mark James from England. On Friday a Breed Special Show was attached, which was judged by the well-known breeder Mrs. Christina Bailey of the “Zottel” OES from England. She is a breed specialist, having bred well over 100 OES champions herself and produced many famous dogs. Her judgement carries weight.

Last week Tuesday morning was the day. At 7.30 Chris was standing in front of the door with “Viv”, who was entered in the junior class and the big show luggage. I had the same, but “Uschi” was entered in the champion class and had clothes for 3 show days.

The weather forecast was that it would be between 36 and 38 degrees and it was. That’s why we had some ventilators in our luggage.

We left on time at 8 o’clock in the morning.

Together 134 years of life90 years of passion for our beloved Old English Sheepdog

1600 km distance there and back

and 2x the spirit of 25 years

On the way, we stopped in France to let the dogs out. The asphalt in the car park was so hot that the dogs had to put on their socks. Around 5 pm we arrived at the hotel, which was only 5 km away from Palexpo in Geneva. It was hot….. Car unpacked, dogs fed and everything planned for the next morning. The halls opened at 6 a.m., the judging started at 9.30 a.m. That means: the alarm clock goes off at 4.15 a.m., dogs let out, styling of Conny ( Conny always needs much longer) and Chris. Departure at 5.30 a.m. At these Giga events you always have to be there very early, otherwise the space around the rings is quickly occupied.

We reached the hall very quickly, but about 100 m before we were stuck in a traffic jam for 35 minutes. This traffic jam got longer and longer and there was chaos on the motorway at the airport, which is opposite the halls. Several taxis with passengers arrived too late, etc. Many exhibitors arrived 1 hour to 1.5 hours late. It was chaos. Parking (20 euros per day) was well arranged and the way to the hall entrance was short. Around 7 a.m. we stood at the ring with our entourage and could relax a bit. Angelika Bardelli from Switzerland with her “Luana” was already there before us.

There was no airco in the halls, but it was bearable due to a fan system. The rings were big enough and the space around was also ok.

There were 14 OES entered and 12 were shown and the participation was international: Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Hungary and Bulgaria were represented.

Here are our results:

“Verliebt aus dem Elbe-Urstromtal” owner A. Bardelli won the youth class with Excellent 1.

“Very Vain Viv of Snowbootbears” owner Chris van Beirendonk became Excellent 2 in the youth class

“Uschi Glas aus dem Elbe-Urstromtal” our girl won the Champion Class, but then became only 2nd Best Bitch.

Photo: The bitch from intermediate class; “Dizzny’s Star Avenger” from Ingella Wallstrom/Sweden, Best Bitch and BOB “Air Zeppeline Lucinda of Mat’n Nik”, owner M. Autolitano/Italy and our “Ch,. Uschi Glas aus dem Elbe Urstromtal” from Champion Class Res- Best Bitch

A warm gesture from the judge Mr Doedijns

Now it was 11 o’clock and the Bearded Collies I would have liked to see were already judged. It never gets boring at such a big show. All the very very important people are there and also the less very important ones. Anyway, there are lots of opportunities for wonderful short meetings and nice conversations. We had subsisted on tomatoes, cucumbers and protein bars all day until 2pm. Now it was time for a hot meal. We would certainly be much too tired in the evening to go out for dinner. At the show there was a stand with breads and pizzas, but also one that offered 3 different hot meals. That’s what we wanted. I had trout with vegetables and potatoes, Chris a variation of Chinese and Indian with rice, plus a cola and a still water: 56 euros, it was very tasty, lukewarm and far too little.

We had time to visit the famous Our Dogs stand and take a photo with Vince Hogan. He is the editor of Our Dogs and I was able to admire my beautiful 50th anniversary kennel ad.

In our hotel there were only French channels on the TV and BBC, so not very exciting to go back to the hotel at around 15.30. We installed ourselves between the two halls with dogs and baggage. There it was bearable and we could watch the judging in the ring of honour on the huge screen. It was relaxed and we met many nice people, as we were sitting near the exit of the hall.

At 7 pm the judging of the Grand Prix Show was finished and we went to the hotel. Despite the heat, we let the dogs out on the grass around the hotel. All water bottles were filled up, we were much too tired to eat anything. Finally we went to bed and worked on numerous emails and Facebook. Lights out and good night, the alarm clock was set for 4.15 again.

Impressions from 23.8.2023

Same procedure as the day before. This time the road from our hotel to the motorway was closed due to road works. Thanks to GPS and Google Maps we mastered all detours and arrived at the hall without any traffic jams.

We had left the cages at the ring the day before, so we only had small luggage to transport. This time we were already at the ring at 6.15 am.

Today, 24/08/2023 it was the World Show and 26 Old English Sheepdogs were entered, of which 23 were present.

Here are our results:

“Verliebt aus dem Elbe-Urstromtal” owner A. Bardell , youth class with excellent 2.

“Very Vain Viv of Snowbootbears” owner Chris van Beirendonk became Excellent 1 in youth class and World Youth Winner

“Uschi Glas aus dem  Elbe-Urstromtal” our girl won the champion class, nothing more. However, “Uschi” had fulfilled all conditions for the Swiss Show Champion today.

Placement Champion Class Bitch: 1. Uschi Glas aus dem  Elbe-Urstromtal, 2. Inge van Engelen/Nl with “Youandi Millesime, 3. a Hungarian bitch ” Fluffy Hurricane Betsy

all winning dogs: Best Male, Best Female, Best Junior Male, Best Junior Female (Viv) and Best Veteran

After the judging was over around 1pm, the party really got going. Mrs. Schilber, the president of the Swiss OES club, had asked everyone in advance to bring something to eat/drink. Preferably something typical of the country. Several combing tables were arranged, a long red tablecloth was laid on top, and then everyone laid out what they had brought. There was a lot of it, it was very tasty, and there was also plenty to drink. All the spectators who loved bobtaill were invited, like Mareen from Australia or the nice couple from South Africa and so on. It was just great and we all had a lot of fun. I think it was one of the best after-show parties I’ve been to.

I have known judge Mark James since 1979, when he was still working as a kennel helper at the famous “Reeuwijk” OES Kennel in the Netherlands. Matteo from Southern Italy is a very dear friend who had many great dogs of mine and whom I have known for 24 years.

we then moved back to our regular place between the 2 halls and again watched the judging in the ring of honour. This time we arrived earlier at the hotel at about 6 pm. Actually we were hungry, but dead tired. So we ate the last crackers and cucumbers, lying on the bed of course. Then we had to take the woofies out again and feed them. Chris suddenly felt like celebrating: Pyjama party!!!!! I had to realise that my Pyjama had disappeared from our room. We had received the remaining goat cheese from the nice Frenchman and a wonderful bottle of white wine from my Beardie friend Marita Gintere. The Swedes had left us the very tasty lingonberry jam. Chris had taken the precaution of putting everything in our small hotel fridge. Everything was now very nicely decorated by Chris and off we went.

Our 2 doggies were also allowed to enjoy the cheese, the rest we ate with relish and emptied the wine to the last drop. The result was that we were slightly drunk and laughed our heads off about everything. Around 11 pm we fell asleep blissfully.

The alarm clock went off again at 4.15 am. This time there was stress, all our luggage had to go in the car, as we wanted to drive home after the exhibition. Chris and I are a well-rehearsed team and we were in the hall only 15 minutes later.

Today on 25-08-2023 we were in the hall with the rings for the different special shows. There were all the trade stands and the big ring of honour. It was so hot and humid at 6.30 in the morning that it almost took your breath away. Later it became a bit more bearable. Outside it was still between 36 and 38 degrees. Today, 17 OES were entered, 14 of which were exhibited. The judging started at 10.30 a.m., but as already written….. who is not at the ring in time, has no place. In these hall there was very little space around the rings and there was a big crowd. The Bearded Collies were judged afterwards and from our kennel there were 3 present on this day, from whom we expected a lot.

It was a great day for our breed Bobtails as well as Beardies.

Chris was alone in the junior class and became Junior Best. With the 3rd Youth CAC “Viv” has now won the title “Swiss Youth Champion”.

“Uschi” won again the champion class. Afterwards she became best adult bitch and won over the world champion. “Uschi” got an excellent judge’s report from Mrs. Bailey and this gave me the confirmation that I still breed the correct type with the typical gait of the breed. I was happy.

Our “Firstprizebears” Beardies won: 2nd Best Male, Best Female, the daughter 2nd Best Female and the half-sister Best Baby.

Around 4 pm we started our journey home. My poor Chris had a migraine. So I decided to drive the whole way. At around 10 pm we stopped in Luxembourg for petrol and had our first hot meal of the day: Fries from Mc Donald and a cheeseburger without a bun.

At 0.30 we were in Masseik. Chris transferred luggage into her car, she still had 1.5 hours to drive home. I did all my Facebook pages and emails. At 4 o’clock I was finally in bed. Paul was kind enough to give me Saturday off so I could relax a little. On Sunday, the full workload started again. Unpacking the car, unpacking the suitcase and office work.