Like my Norwegian invitation two weeks prior to this show, this trip to Finland was my very first to this most beautiful country. It was very unfortunate that I was only able to stay one night as I would have loved to have seen a little more of those thousands of deep blue & green lakes, forests and the vast nearly empty countryside, which we drove through on the way from the hotel to the show ground.
However these two days were packed with everything one could possibly cram into such a short space of time. Starting from sitting for 2 hours in a traffic jam on our M25, which is the ring road around London or as some people would call it Europe’s biggest car park. Similar experience on my trip to Norway had already pre-warned me and I had left home with plenty of time. Still sitting two hours stationary in the car on your way to catch a flight and not knowing when one would get moving again, all in nearly 30 degrees doesn’t make for a very good start of a journey!
But as things sometimes go, once you get over the very first hurdle you are up and running, because from then on everything went as smoothly as possible. I had a great flight with some stunning views, was met at they airport by the most charming young lady, who not just took me to the hotel but also looked after me during this whole trip and was a very experienced ring secretary throughout the next day.
Judging was supposed to start at 10am in a lovely sized ring in the middle of the countryside. However with the temperature already starting to get into the mid 20ies the committee and I decided that it would be kinder to dogs and exhibitors to set up the ring under the big near by pavilion.
I had a lovely big entry of 65 dogs with the vast majority of those exhibits deserving a 1st prize ribbon. There were some very experienced handlers, who got the most out of their dogs mixed in with some handlers, who would have benefited from a few handling classes. No OES looks at it’s best when one pulls out it’s hind legs like a German Shepherd. It makes them look most of the time far too long and it also changes the typical & required rise to the loin into a sloping down topline, which is a serious fault in our breed. When moving your dogs, please do remember that every dog has his own speed at which he looks best. To find out how fast or slow you have to move your dog, practise at home somewhere outside and also indoors with someone experienced watching you & telling you when it looks best. Too many dogs were moved far too fast and appeared therefore very close behind. Obviously not every dog does have a correct gait, i.e. moving true front & rear and displaying plenty of reach and drive. But you can help your dogs by moving them at their best individual speed to make the most of every dog’s ability.
There is one more point I would like to draw your attention to and that is the size of many of your bitches. While we don’t have an upper size limit and therefore one could not call this a serious fault, there were some girls shown, which quite clearly appeared to be coarse & masculine and this is a fault! In my opinion one should always be able to determine without checking from behind, who is a female and who is a male. Maybe the use of some smaller framed stud dogs could bring the size of the future female generations down a little.
Apart from all this I was very happy with all my winners, especially with the BOB winning bitch Egor-Dego Bonadea, the BOS Gauner aus der Boverheide, the two CAC winners and the lovely veteran Blockheads Knockout. All these, I feel, could win anywhere.
Last but by no means least, I would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to all the exhibitors who took my decisions very graciously and also to the lovely ring-stewards, who even made a point of coming to the airport to say good bye.
Thank you all, I had a great time!

Christina Bailey