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Moonshadow Belgian Shepherds, Australia Show Results
Why are Show Results important? In
Australia, there are various types of events in which dogs and their owners
can compete. What we are referring to here is what are
sometimes called "confirmation" shows, or Championship shows. At these shows, judges who are certified by
their state canine council assess each dog against the recognised
standard for their particular breed. In Australia as in many other countries, Belgian Shepherds
are assessed in relation to the standard published by the FCI - The Fédération Cynologique Internationale
(see http://www.belgiandogs.org/STbsdEngels.htm). Dogs are initially
divided into classes based on their breed, age and sex. Belgian Shepherds are
of four recognised varieties (Groenendaels,
Tervuerens, Malinois and Laekenois), and in Australia shows, each variety is
treated as a separate breed. Class
winners compete to be judged the best dog or bitch of their breed, known as
the Challenge. By awarding a Challenge
Certificate to a dog or bitch, the judge certifies that "this exhibit is
of such outstanding merit as to be worthy to qualify for the title of
`Australian Champion.'" The male and female Challenge winners in a breed
then compete for the "Best of Breed" award. Challenge Certificate and Best of Breed
winners are awarded Challenge Points which they can accumulate over their
show careers. One hundred such points
are required to qualify for the title of Australian Champion. Belgian
Shepherds are classified as belonging to the Working Dog Group, so the Best
of Breed Belgians later face the best of breed winners of all the other
working dog breeds - the winner being the Best Exhibit in Group, followed by
the Runner-up Best Exhibit in Group. Other group-level contests determine the
best of each class across the group - Best Baby Puppy in Group, Best Junior
in Group, etc. Finally, the winners from each group face each other for the
Best in Show awards. The
standard for Belgian Shepherds lists a great many details which make up the
ideal dog, and the factors that each judge focuses upon probably vary, so an
award by any particular judge may not mean a great deal. However, consistent
awards by judges do tend to indicate that the dog or bitch is generally seen
as an outstanding example of the breed.
So
showing dogs is a worthwhile way of assessing their adherence to breed
standards, and is also an entertaining amateur sport. Want to know more
about showing? Click here How have Moonshadow dogs
fared in Dog Shows? We
earned our first Challenge Certificate at a Dog Show with our young girl
Shadow (Mashiara Moonshadow)
in April, 1995, and Shadow went on to achieve the status of Australian
Champion before the end of that year.
In February, 1996 our Baxter (Barakuma
Knight Errant) joined Shadow and us in the Show ring with his first Challenge
Certificate. Baxter too achieved his
Australian Champion status in September 1996.
Shadow went on to win 579 Challenge points before her retirement in
1999 and was later declared a Grand Champion by the Belgian Shepherd Dog Club
of NSW. Baxter won 328 Challenge
points before his retirement in 2003. Shadow's son Zulu hit the Show Ring in
September 1998 and earned his Australian Champion title by May 1999. Although
our love for the Belgian Shepherd Breed continued to grow, we were not active
in the Show Ring during 2000-2002. In
2003, however, we returned to the sport with the arrival of our Paco (Corsini Lysander from the UK), who was
already an English Champion when he came to us. First shown in Australia in January, 2003, Paco earned his Australian Champion title by July of that
same year! Paco
and Zulu performed strongly in the Show Ring during 2003 through 2007, and in
2005 they were joined by our latest addition, Rhianne
(Ebontide Parisian Affair), who was also imported
from the UK. Rhianne won her first Challenge
Certificate in March 2005 and achieved her Australian Champion title by
November, 2005. The
year 2005 was a good year in the Show Ring, with the three
competing Moonshadow dogs winning a total of 530
Challenge Points, and winning Working Dog Group level awards seven times. In
addition, Paco's children and grandchildren
performed so well that he won Best Sire in Show at three Belgian Shepherd
Specialty Shows! Personal
and family matters resulted in us not being as active in the show ring during
2006. In particular, we did not
show after September, so our yearly total was only 375 Challenge Points, down
on 2005's record. There were, however, a number of highlights. These included
Zulu winning Best Australian Bred Working Dog on three occasions and
runner-up best Working Dog at the Sapphire Coast Kennel and Obedience Club
show on 17th February, 2006. We were all pleased when on Rob's Birthday, both
Zulu and Paco won at Working Dog Group level, with
Zulu winning best Australian Bred Working Dog and Paco
wining Best Open Working Dog at the same show - the Bega
Valley Kennel and Obedience Club show of 12 February 2006. A few days later, Rhianne
had her turn and won Best Junior Working Dog. A bit later in the year, we
entered Paco and Zulu in two Veteran's Sweepstakes,
and were very pleased when Paco was placed in the
top three in one, and Zulu in the other. We were also very pleased when one
of Zulu's Best Australian Working Dog awards came from Mrs
Barbara Banbury of England, who had recently judged
Best in Show at the famous British Crufts Show. She
praised Zulu very highly when handing out the ABIG award. The 2007 show season got off to a good start for us
with Moonshadow stalwarts Zulu and Paco both wining 3 Best of Breed awards at 4 shows in
January, 2007. With a Best of Breed win at the Dapto
Show, Paco surpassed 600 total Challenge points,
and with his Best of Breed win at the Sapphire Coast Show, Zulu surpassed 700
Challenge points. Our new puppies - Magic (Moonshadow
Black Magic) and Avalon (Moonshadow Avalon) joined Paco and Zulu in the Show Ring for the first time at the Bega Valley Show in Bermagui on
9th February, and at the ACTCA Canberra Autumn International Festival shows
on 17 March and on 19 March, 2007 Magic won Best Baby Puppy in the Working
Dog Group at both shows under Canadian judges! Also a big achievement was our
Paco's winning Best of Breed Tervueren
at the Sydney Royal Easter Show on 15 April, 2007, under Ms Kornelia Butrimova, a
Lithuanian judge! Paco then passed 700 total
Challenge points with his subsequent Best of Breed win at the Working Dog
Club of NSW show on 6 May 2007, and we were very pleased when he took out
Reserve Challenge Dog at the Belgian Specialty Show held by the Belgian
Shepherd Dog Club of NSW on 4-5 August, 2007, under the well-known Belgian
Judge Fermin Aergeerts
(see the critique on our News webpage). Magic again
triumphed at the Parkes weekend of shows on 9 and
10 June, 2007, winning Best Minor Puppy in the Working Dog Group at both
shows, and winning third place in the 6-12 months Sweepstakes on the first
day and first place on the second day! Following this up at the Tullamore and Trundle shows on 11-15 August, Magic won
First in the 6-12 Months old sweepstakes four times in a row at Tullamore. He also won Best Puppy in the Working Dog
Group three times out of five and was the Runner Up Best Exhibit in the
Working Dog Group one of these times. Congratulations also go to his sister
Avalon who won Best Junior in the Working Dog Group in one of the Tullamore shows, and again at the Tuggerah
Lakes show on 19 October, 2007. Paco continued to
roll along, passing 800 total Challenge points at the Far South East Kennel Club show on 10 November,
2007. At that same show, he was
awarded "Best Veteran in Show", and on the following day won Best
Open Dog in the Working Dog Group. Quite an achievement for an almost 10 year
old! A trip to Newcastle the following weekend saw
another Best Junior in the Working Dog Group award, this time to Magic. The
weekend saw both Magic and Avalon having won enough Challenge Points,
including the required 25 points after the age of 1 year, for them to qualify
for their Australian Champion awards. It also saw us surpass our previous
record of 530 Challenge Points in one year, so there was much to celebrate! We took a break during December 2007 and January
2008, but returned to the ring in February 2008, with Magic winning another
Best Junior Dog in the Working Dog Group at his first show of the year, at
Kangaroo Valley. We were even more pleased when at the Sofala
Show on 24 February 2008, Magic won Best Exhibit in
the Working Dog Group! Moonshadow results so far for 2008 are shown below. |
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Name of Show |
Date |
Judge/State/Country |
Dog Name |
Award |
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Sydney KC |
10/02/08 |
Hutton, Mrs V J (NSW) |
Ch/Eng Ch Corsini Lysander (Imp UK) |
BEST OF BREED |
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Kangaroo Valley A&H
Assoc |
16/02/08 |
Thomas, Mrs P J (NSW) |
Ch/Eng Ch Corsini Lysander (Imp UK) |
BEST OF BREED |
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Kangaroo Valley A&H
Assoc |
16/02/08 |
Thomas, Mrs P J (NSW) |
Ch Moonshadow
Avalon |
CHALLENGE |
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Kangaroo Valley A&H
Assoc |
16/02/08 |
Thomas, Mrs P J (NSW) |
Ch Moonshadow
Black Magic |
BEST OF BREED, BEST
JUNIOR IN GROUP |
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Dogs NSW Fundraising |
17/02/08 |
Foord, Mrs M (NSW) |
Ch/Eng Ch Corsini Lysander (Imp UK) |
BEST OF BREED |
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Dogs NSW Fundraising |
17/02/08 |
Foord, Mrs M (NSW) |
Ch Moonshadow
Avalon |
BEST OF BREED |
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Dogs NSW Fundraising |
17/02/08 |
Foord, Mrs M (NSW) |
Ch Moonshadow
Black Magic |
CHALLENGE |
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Rylstone Kandos Show Society |
23/02/08 |
McMahon, Mrs S (NSW) |
Ch/Eng Ch Corsini Lysander (Imp UK) |
BEST OF BREED, 1ST VET'S
SWEEPSTAKES |
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Rylstone Kandos Show Society |
23/02/08 |
McMahon, Mrs S (NSW) |
Ch Moonshadow
Avalon |
CHALLENGE |
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Rylstone Kandos Show Society |
23/02/08 |
McMahon, Mrs S (NSW) |
Ch Moonshadow
Black Magic |
BEST OF BREED |
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Sofala & District Show Society |
24/02/08 |
Canellis, Mr J (NSW) |
Ch/Eng Ch Corsini Lysander (Imp UK) |
BEST OF BREED |
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Sofala & District Show Society |
24/02/08 |
Canellis, Mr J (NSW) |
Ch Moonshadow
Avalon |
CHALLENGE |
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Sofala & District Show Society |
24/02/08 |
Canellis, Mr J (NSW) |
Ch Moonshadow
Black Magic |
BEST OF BREED, BEST
JUNIOR IN GROUP, BEST EXHIBIT IN GROUP |
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Robertson Agric Society |
01/03/08 |
Mulcahy, Mrs C (NSW) |
Ch/Eng Ch Corsini Lysander (Imp UK) |
BEST OF BREED |
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Castle Hill Agric
Society |
02/03/08 |
Turner, Miss N (NSW) |
Ch/Eng Ch Corsini Lysander (Imp UK) |
BEST OF BREED |
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Yass Show Society |
08/03/08 |
Greenall, Mr L (Vic) |
Ch/Eng Ch Corsini Lysander (Imp UK) |
BEST OF BREED |
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Braidwood Show Society |
15/03/08 |
Hall, Mrs P (NSW) |
Ch/Eng Ch Corsini Lysander (Imp UK) |
BEST OF BREED |
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Braidwood Show Society |
15/03/08 |
Hall, Mrs P (NSW) |
Ch Moonshadow
Avalon |
BEST OF BREED |
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ACT Junior KC |
21/03/08 |
Kerr, Mr G (Qld) |
Ch/Eng Ch Corsini Lysander (Imp UK) |
BEST OF BREED |
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ACT Junior KC |
22/03/08 |
Shanahan, Mrs L (NSW) |
Ch/Eng Ch Corsini Lysander (Imp UK) |
BEST OF BREED |
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ACT Canine Assoc |
24/03/08 |
Jermey, Mr P (Qld) |
Ch/Eng Ch Corsini Lysander (Imp UK) |
BEST OF BREED |
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The Bay City ABKC |
04/04/08 |
Vernon, Mr G (NSW) |
Ch Moonshadow
Avalon |