Norway

By Nada Kajander

Norway’s topography is not flat by any measure. This country is extreme with mountains, valleys and everything in between. People live in the craziest places one can imagine. I always thought people in this country could survive anything. They bury themselves in the snow at wintertime and actually enjoy it! Survival skills like this are taught in school. It is scary and unbelievable that they must prepare for these type of accidents, but the Nordic people are definitely one with nature.

For a normal person, traveling in Norway is difficult. The roads are very narrow, the landscape is extremely mixed and the speed limits are low. If there would happen to be a highway, it is most definitely VERY expensive to travel on. In fact, everything is VERY expensive in Norway. This country is rich from oil and it has managed to store this wealth in stocks.

The Norwegian Winner Show 2012 is organized in Lilleström, a town conveniently situated near the border of Sweden. We were fortunate that this year’s winter has been very mild so there is no snow or ice on the curvy little roads.

The venue for the Winner Show is a beautiful exhibition center with halls connected to each other. The breeds are organized on separate days which makes it easier for those with multiple breeds to show. Even the time schedule is well done with guidelines and hours to show clearly marked.

The parking is convenient to the buildings if you arrive in time, otherwise you have to walk long distances to the show. This is a big problem for many, especially if they have to drag all their stuff and dogs alone.

This show has an interesting way of checking each dog into the ring. Every dog’s number is scanned straight into a computer system. I do not know the reason for this since everybody gets the ring numbers in advance and no entries can be made on site.

The vaccination control was done straight after the check-in by random selection. This strict control did not explain all the small puppies and mixed breeds strolling around at the show. How can they be so concerned about the vaccinations of the show dog, and their health, yet let these others mingle with the vaccinated dogs?

And oh, by the way, it is not cheap to attend this show. Entry to the show, as a spectator, costs 30 dollars, parking is 15 dollars and everyone pays.

I made this trip with my 9 year-old boy, Yannick, and six dogs. We stay at a very nice hotel that takes dogs and is situated near the airport in Oslo, the capital of Norway. My son loves to show dogs and once in a while I’m forced to let him help me. I usually try to avoid it because of the bad response we too often get from judges. I think it’s unfair and very sad that a child is not treated with the same respect as an adult who is doing the same job. At this show, we got a taste of both since Yannick had to show twice. One dog was totally ignored because of the young handler but the next one was seen for who she was despite of the handler’s age. Actually, I made the decision to let him show more in the future. At this age he already shows better than many adults here, since we hardly have any professional handlers, so why not let him do it when I need help. It’s my loss if we don’t get the recognition we desire, but the attitude from the judges might change a bit if more eager youngsters were allowed to show.

One very nice thing with this specific show and some other Winner shows around here is that a photo is taken of the Best of Breed in each breed and then published in the Kennel Club Magazine. This is a feature many people value a lot. Usually, we only get pictures taken if the dog placed in group and this takes place in the ring WHEN placing. After this, we normally start a wild search for any photographer who was on the spot because, of course, we have no idea who they are in advance.

Although we may not be able to have pictures taken very easily at our shows, we do get prizes. Sometimes win them and sometimes we have to buy them. A rosette is given to the BOB and BOS dogs in Norway and, for the rest (CC, CACIB, ASO) you can choose from different things provided by the Kennel Club of Norway. There is also a kind of ranking system that can be used by the ones who show and win a lot. With that it’s possible to save for some more valuable prizes.

For the more “normal people” who only show their dog a few times or only once, there is also the very popular option of buying rosettes. I understand that it can be a wonderful way for some to remember an exciting day.

The weekend at the biggest and most important show in Norway is over and I think it was a success. The halls were very tidy, close to 6000 dogs were critiqued and judged, numerous shows and activities were provided both days in the main ring, and also championship competitions in dog dancing and obedience were held. As usual, we handlers miss all of this and go home mainly remembering our own moments with our dogs.

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Posted by admin on Nov 27 2012. Filed under Featured, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.