sels in 1995, good for 14.100 entries. I was very excited. At that time Pedigree Pal was the main sponsor in all the dogs shows and I was used to see their big stands, but what was build for the WDS was beyond my imagination. A real small palace with a second deck for the VIP’s. It was certain that lots of money was involved the more so because there were two Range Rovers to be won, one for the BIS and one for the visitors. In ‘96 the show was split between two countries, Austria and Hungary. It was strange at least. My second WDS was the one of Helsinki in 1998. I remember the beautiful main ring, warm weather and lots of visitors. Finland, alike Norway and Sweden, is known to have a lot of members notwithstanding the low number of inhabitants. Mexico was next on term. With only 4000 entries it was a prestigious show. The opening and final ceremonies were in one word spectacular and beyond any imagination. The opening theme was the Inca time and a temple decor was build and Indians were there to give a spectacle. For the finals, horses were lifted on the second floor where the main ring was and they gave a fantastic performance of cavalry art. The ring stewards were all equipped with a laptop, don’t forget we were still 1999! Unfortunately the halls were too small for this event, not for the dogs, but there were over 300.000 visitors in only 3 days! I took handlers 20 minutes to reach a ring and many carried the dogs on their hands above the people in order to move a little faster. The air-conditioning was unable to cool down, only because of the heath produced by the people. The trophies were massive silver jaguars and statues differing in size but the heaviest several kilograms in weight. Milano, Italy, was the host in 2000. I remember a lot of chaos and even fighting among the press people in the main ring in order to take a proper photo. They had a good entry number of 15200 dogs. Porto was a rather small show with only 7200 entries. It was decided to unite the people of the press and the first action was taken by myself to start the World Dog Press Association in order 56
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to enforce better working conditions for the photographers. I also remember the finals when several Lippizaners entered the main ring and gave a nice performance of classic cavalry art. It was here too that the local breeds were presented by people in local dress. Amsterdam was on term in 2002. 40.000 visitors was a record for Europe. It was here that the World Dog Press was officially baptized already uniting over 65 members worldwide. Dortmund in Germany was host city in 2003. A nice entry of 18.716 dogs was nice but for the rest it was Deutsche Gründlichkeit but little show. That was no difference for Brazil that organized the next World Dog Show, but it started in minor with 11 dogs that died due to the heath. A few died on the tarmac of the airfield where they were kept in the bright sun in their cages without drink or food and brought to the show on the back of a truck. And some died at the show. Little details were given and no public sorry or whatever. It was very hot and a super boring show. Only about 2000 dogs were entered and they came day after day as one day it was the Americas show, the second the Brazilian Championship Show and the third day the World Dog Show. Brazil can be a dangerous country and that was clear from the fact that during the International Junior Handling competition, at a certain moment the main ring was made totally clear to let one boy in, accompanied with two bodyguards beside him. A weird situation for someone not familiar with public danger. On the very last day, when we thought that nothing nice would happen we suddenly heard drums in the background and before we knew there was a group of Brazilian Carnival dancers came in the main ring and before we knew everybody on the stairs, jumped over the fence and went dancing, even the FCI president, Mr.Hans Müller, who was absolutely charmed by the scantily dressed girls with gigantic plumes. It was a strange choice of the FCI to allow the WDS to happen two successive years in South America. The weight of the Americas and