Colombia Report March 20, 2006

Day 7- Caribbean Dog Show

The final show was considered the most important of the sets of shows and the day started with beautiful sunshine to compliment the exciting day of judging. Best of Breed and Best Of Opposite winners would be awarded the titles of Caribbean Champion and Champion of the Americas. The organizing committee had faced many challenges, especially weather related and their hard work and preparation was appreciated by many.

 

The catering on the grounds was awesome and we were treated to many Colombian specialties. The selection and service in the temporary restaurant rivaled any dog show I recall in recent memory. We enjoyed lunch with various friends over the 4 days of shows.

We were fortunate to win Best Of Breed with "Remi" which gave him the titles of Grand Colombian Champion, Caribbean Champion and Champion Of The Americas. "Remi" also won a Group 4th later in the day under judge Robert Smith form the USA. Larry continued his winning ways with another Group 3rd on "Jake" and ending up with the titles of Colombian Champion, Grand Colombian Champion, Caribbean Champion and Champion of the Americas....these were the maximum amount of titles available for these shows and both "Remi" and "Jake" had earned them. Friend Diana Oliveros also won Group 1st with her Basset Hound, Col Ch. Beclove Red Storm co-owned with Johan Becerra and handled by friend Francisco Vargas from Venezuela.

The exciting final night's judging and closing ceremonies began and between groups in the packed arena, the crowd was entertained by a live Colombian band with a variety of Colombian dancers in colorful costumes dancing and acting out various traditional Colombian cultural treasures. This was followed by the judging of the baby class and Judge Greg Eva enjoyed the antics of the young 3-6 month old puppies strut themselves around the ring. Next judge Miguel Angel Martinez judged the Junior Best In Show and taunted the crowd into a frenzy of singing, chanting, whistling and clapping for their favorites. Jenny was quite impressed with the passion and camaraderie amongst the spectators as this was her first International show. Prior to Best In Show Association Club Canino Colombian President Morgan Jones Hughes addressed the assembly and thanked everyone for attending and the Club and the whole Committee, chaired by Teleri Hughes was given a well deserved standing ovation for all their hard work. This was followed by speeches by Miguel Angel Martinez, a past President of FCI and Delegate for the Americas and Caribbean who passed the flag for the World Dog Show in Mexico in 2007 to Jose Luis Payro who in turn invited everyone to Mexico. This production featured a live Mariachi band who charmed all into wanting to attend the festivities in Mexico 2007....

The honour of judging Best In Show at this prestigious event was given longtime, well respected Colombian judge Sr. German Garcia. Again the thunderous commotion given to each dog built as Sr. Garcia worked the dogs from the ten Groups. Each of the dogs was highligted by the bright spotlights as they paraded around the ring. The excitement continued as he selected 4th Reserve Best In Show, the Basset Hound mentioned above. The American Staffordshire Terrier from Argentina, Ve Ch From Pap-On Manuel Euskadi owned by Juan Carlos, Jose and Danella De Recao and handled by Herman Pacheco was selected 3rd Reserve Best In Show. Next there was a suspense building run off between the handsome Dogo Argentino, Ar Gr Ar Ch Jur Ur Bombon Del Don Ata from Argentina owned by Cesar Basone and Decio Salvatore who was showing the dog and the rugged Cheaspeake Bay Retriever Col Ve Am Ch Ches-Shores Sol Del Caribe owned by Frank Zaydman and Alvaro Gonzalez from Colombia bred in the USA and handled by Santiago Gonzalez. When the judge pointed to the Chessie the building broke loose in pandemonium as well wishers flooded the ring to congratulate the very popular winner.....music broke out and everyone began to party even before the show photo was done. Waiters bearing trays of food and a warm 'whiskey drink' circulated among the crowd. What an ending to a terrific 4 days of shows. It was over an hour later when the crowd started to thin.

All the show officials wore black vests with the club logo, name of the show and decorated with various lapel pins commemorating the shows. We were fortunate to have some of the committee members give us their 'much sought after' vests as souvenirs of our exciting trip. Thank you to Carlos Solano D'Achiardi, Carlos Quinones and Rafael Otalora Robayo.

The club was in a celebrating mood and they enjoyed several bottles of champaign to celebrate their successful show which they shared with us as we waited to pick up our Championship Certificates. Enough can not be said about how well the show was organized. We said goodbye to many of our dog show friends and headed back to the Gomez home.

On our last night in Colombia Martha and Alberto, our hosts, held a wine and cheese party with again a wide variety of special cheeses, meats and wines. We presented them with framed photos to remember the super time they had given us....It was a sad moment when we realized we were leaving in the morning.