European Dog Show 2021 was supposed to be in May 2021 but because of the pandemic it was postponed to the last days of the year. Not the best days for most people, but I never have any plans because of the dogs, so I decided to go even though our breed was New Years evening 31 and all the way in Budapest Hungary. Sweet friends of mine took 3 of my dogs, so I ended up with only Spy and Heaven on the trip. We started out Wednesday 29th and goal was to reach Teplice in Czech Republic before 2000 which was easy. We arrived at 1700 and got our room at a nice pension in the middle of the town. We were all worn out so early to bed and up at 0700, because I needed to pass by VW in Prague. The engine light started somewhere in Germany, so I felt like getting it checked when I could, and luckily the guys at VW Prague hooked Caddy to the computer to check what the issue was, after a little discussion with the receptions girls. Nothing serious so it was safe to continue but he recommended to get it checked when back home.
Arriving in Budapest at 1500 so in nice time to check in and relax before meeting up with Nastia for a short training in a park in Budapest. It went well so we were all set for next day. Nastia adviced me to start early because there had been long queue just to enter parking, so I was all packed and ready to depart short before 0600 so we arrived at Hungexpo 0605 and was about car no 10 in line. Not bad. Officially the gates would open at 0700, but 0615 they started letting us in, and also the gates to Hungexpo halls opened when we started lining up, so at 0630 I was all camped up next to our rings. A little later Nastia arrived and we started grooming both Spy and her junior girl.
Judging was breeder from Allmark kennel in GB Mrs. Angie Allen. Spy looked almost his best... his excess of coat does not work well with humidity and since it was as grey and wet as most of Europe after the frosty days at christmas, his coat was unruly despite every intend to control it. Finaly it was champion males and Spy did a great job with Nastia, but no love or placement for him. I got a lot of sweet comments from other breeders around the ring, so I am very pleased with his performance even without any gold to show. Unfortunately the finals ended up kind of embarrassing because it was decided based on politics and not the best dogs, at least in the opinion of most people from the aussie family. It is sad when it should be an advantage to get a judge with knowledge of the breed, but sometimes it is more important to let the right people win than it is to let the better dogs win.
