Dear friends,

A little bit more than 2 years ago in Milan, you chose me as the President of this great organisation for a second term. Privilege that I have made my life and priority.

The past two years have been hard for our organisation. Internal and external forces have tried to destroy what we have built together for more than a hundred years. The work we have done together in benefit of pure-bred dogs around the world. Everywhere in the WORLD, from Peru to Egypt. From Vietnam to The Netherlands. From Norway to China.

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Rafael de Santiago
FCI President
20th Jerez International Dog Show 2017

The city of sherry hosted the 20th Jerez International Dog Show at the IFECA in the González Ontoria park on 5th November. It was organised by the Sociedad Canina de Andalucía Occidental and 683 dogs were entered for competition.

It is not unusual for us to have some rain around the date of the Jerez show - this has happened on various occasions - but this year we had wonderful weather in Jerez all day long.

Some people decided to try to prepare their dogs before the World Show in Leipzig whereas others chose to keep their powder dry for the event due to be held in Germany the following week.

Although there were some people who thought that the two dates being so close together might affect the number of entries for the show, actually this did not have much of an impact at all.

We had an excellent panel of judges made up of Mr José Tomas Delgado, Mr Paul Stanton, Mr Salvatore Tripoli, Mrs Paloma Iglesias, Mr Alex Palacin, Mr Dalibor Antic, Mrs Rene Sporre Willes, Mr José Carlos Sastre, Mrs Miriam Villalta and Mrs Carmen González-Felgueroso.

Public attendance was rather better than on the Saturday, with a fair amount of hustle and bustle around the corridors of the IFECA.

The presence of commercial companies is a thorny issue when it comes to holding dog shows; being able to make sure there are as many stands as possible is a tough task which can sometimes become disheartening due to a lack of response from businesses in terms of taking part in our events and, indeed, the number of companies at IFECA this year was rather smaller than in previous years.

BIS
Dogo Canario GRANDO PRESA DE CASA GOXY
Owner: LLANO PALACIOS, Felipe Alberto (ES)

Siberian Husky AQUILES SANTSERRA
Owner: ANGUITA HUERTAS, Domingo (ES)

Spanish water dog AVISPAO DE RUBIOLFARO
Owner: CANDON GAVIRA, Manuel (ES)

The choosing of the best junior handlers acted as a curtain-raiser for the grand finals.

The finals themselves began on time in the ring of honour and, as always, they were led off by the choices of the best junior handlers, after which came all of the finals. When group VII arrived, we relived what was a golden era for the Sociedad Canina de Andalucía Occidental as we remembered Pepe Haro whilst awarding the trophy for the best dog in group VII, which bears his name. This is always an emotional moment and one that shows how his influence is still felt among us.

Spanish Water Dogs taking part in the finals were cheered by exhibitors and breeders as they entered the ring of honour, thus ensuring that the event was a very lively one.

The Best in Show final on the Sunday was judged by Mrs Rene Sporre Willes from Sweden, who chose the same dog that had won the previous day: the Dogo Canario Grando Presa de Casa Goxy owned by Felipe Llano, which thus did the double over a single weekend at the show in Jerez de la Frontera.

Second place went to the Siberian Husky Aquiles Santserra, and finally, in third position on the podium was the Spanish Water Dog Avispao de Rubiolfaro.

With the group photo of the podium we bid farewell to this twentieth Jerez show, which was very well organised. Congratulations both to the organisation and to the winners.

Marcelino Pozo
www.cynologies.com