France ~ March 19^th and 20^th, 2005

In France, the system works quite different than it does in Canada and the US. There can be only one Club in France for each breed and each year each of the clubs must hold a National Breeding Championship Show.

On Saturday March 19^th nine of the National Breed Clubs held their Championship show with a total entry of over 2,000 dogs. The Spitz Breed Club (which the Poms are in) had an entry of 133 dogs, many of them champions (dogs must be at least 15 months old to obtain any credits towards its championship in France). There is a BIS for each of the individual Breed Clubs and then a BIS show overall.

Andy went Best in Show in the Spitz breed over the 132 other Spitz dogs and Annie was Best Bitch in Show (Spitz breed). Andy also went Reserve Best in Show overall to the dog that won BIS out of all nine of the clubs. In other words, Andy defeated over 2000 dogs under a Swiss judge. Andy repeated this win, going  Reserve Best in Show again on April 10/2005 defeating some 1,800 dogs (and picking up another CAC and a CACIB). 

On Sunday there was a Specialty under a French judge. Andy got BOB in the Spitz breed and Group 1 All Breeds under a Norwegian judge. . . not sure what the entry was, or which other breeds were in the Group.

And they each got  a CAC certificate (3 are needed for French Championship) and a CACIB certificate (4 are need for an International Championship, and these must be obtained  in three different countries with from the first to the fourth).  I think Annie needs only one more CAC to become French CH and 2 more CACIBs to become International CH,  but Andy needs more . . . you can’t get any of these certificates in France until the dog is 15 months old, and then of course you have to wait on the shows.

Just click on the photos of Andy (17 months old) and Annie (22 months old) to view additional pictures of them

Andy and Annie are owned, loved, wonderfully conditioned, trained and handled by my good friend Annie Gouraud