Dear Member,

Please find enclosed the F.C.I. questionnaire sent to all Kennel Clubs and the Irish Kennel Club’s initial response.

The F.C.I. is now reviewing their regulations and systems and it is an ideal time for us to influence their findings.

If you have any thoughts or suggestions please send them to the Irish Kennel Club Secretary before 31^st December 2009 for the consideration of the General Purposes Committee.  Please take this opportunity to have an input.

Yours sincerely,

____________________

Sean Delmar

President

Thuin, 31/8/2009

Dear member,

Please find attached a questionnaire in English sent by the president of the FCI show commission, Mr Wilberg.

We thank you for your attention.

Cher membre,

Veuillez trouver  ci-joint un questionnaire en anglais envoyé par Mr Wilberg, président de la commission des expositions de la FCI.

Nous vous remercions pour votre attention.

Geschätztes Mitglied,

Anbei erhalten Sie ein Fragebogen in englischer Sprache, welches durch Herrn Wilberg, Präsident der  FCI-Ausstellungskommission, zugeschickt worden ist.

Wir danken Ihnen für Ihre Aufmerksamkeit,

Estimado miembro,

Le rogamos encontrar adjunto un cuestionario en ingles enviado por el presidente de la comisión de exposiciones de la FCI , el Sr. Wilberg.

Le agradecemos por su atención.

Yours sincerely

G.Soravia

For the FCI Secretariat

Dept. for FCI Commissions

To all FCI-NO show departments:

The FCI Show Commission has started the work of revising the FCI Show Regulations, and to prepare this work a working group has been appointed consisting of  Leif-Herman Wilberg (Norway), Bernhard Meyer (Germany), Anne Marie Class (France), Barbara Müller (Switzerland), Gerard Jipping (Holland), Tamas Jakkel (Hungary).

The aim of the Show Commission is to try and harmonize the show regulations in all FCI NOs as much as possible to make it easier for exhibitors, judges and spectators to visit different countries and to follow the procedure of the judging. The working group is also very concerned about making our shows more interesting to everybody involved.

The working group held their first meeting before summer, and agreed to send out a questionnaire to all the FCI-NO to get an overview as to what extent the FCI Show Regulations are being followed in the different countries and the national regulations on how they award CAC’s and make up champions.

The working group concluded that the intention of the FCI grading system has gone through a serious devaluation over the years, and the highest award excellent has now become the most common grading, and the grades good and sufficient are rarely used. Reading the FCI Show Regulations there should be no doubt that an excellent dog should be of champion quality, yet today in most countries it is optional weather the judge want to award the CAC to the excellent 1. The working group believes it to be difficult to reinstall the original value of the grade excellent and has discussed the possibility to introduce a new grade, champion quality, to be awarded in the competition class after all the excellent dogs has been placed. The name champion quality will clearly indicate what quality is needed. The working group has also discussed the possibility of making a best of sex class to build up to a climax in the judging of each sex and to see all the best dogs in the sex in the ring at the same time. The two best of sex are then meant to meet to be awarded best of breed, BOB and best of opposite sex, BOS.

In addition to answering the questions included in the questionnaire the working group will be very interested to hear what the different countries do or believe can/should be done to make our shows more interesting for everybody involved.

The working group would like to have your answers as quickly as possible, and our ambition is to present the result of our questionnaire and a first proposal for revised FCI Show Regulations at our next meeting in Milan end of January 2010. We would like to have your answers by October 1st 2009 so that we have time to evaluate your answers and prepare a proposal for our meeting.

Sørumsand 03082009

FCI Show Commission

Leif-Herman Wilberg

President

Questionnaire from the FCI Show Commission to all FCI-NO

National CAC and Champion regulations:

-         if the judge gives an excellent to a dog, will he have to award the CAC or can he withhold?

-         in which classes are CACs awarded in each sex?

-         do you award a special junior CAC counting towards a junior champion title or will juniors compete for the adult CAC?

-         will veterans compete for a CAC?

-         will dogs entered in champion class that are not national champions compete for CAC?

-         how many CACs are needed to become a champion?

-         are CACs withheld often or rare?

-         will it be a good idea that a dog has to win one CACIB to become a champion?

-         do we need a separate champion class, or will the judging and showing be more fun without a champion class?

-         to make it more interesting for foreign dogs to travel, what about awarding champion title to foreign dogs that are already national champions in another country, if they receive one CACIB in the country where the show is held?

Questions related to working dogs:

-         do we need a working class?

-         do you require breed specific tests for a dog to enter in working class?

-         do you have working class for breeds not specified in the FCI list for working dogs?

-         what kind of qualifications is needed to become a champion in your working breeds.

-         what is the reaction in your country to the fact that the FCI General Committee has introduced a new title, show champion for working dogs?

Questions related to show organisation:

-         what do your country do to try and inform the exhibitors and spectators about the proceedings in the ring?

-         will the exhibitors at your shows have to stay till the end of the show or are they called in by a time table and can leave after judging?

-         national breeds not recognized by the FCI, do they appear in a separate section in your catalogues?

-         are these breeds allowed to compete in the ring of honour?

-         is there any discussion about the way the breeds are divided into groups in your country?

-         what do you think about dachs hounds having their own group?

-         according to the FCI Show Regulations it is allowed to judge more than one group together in the ring of honour. Is this done in your country?

-         do your country only print the official titles from FCI World and Section Shows and National champion titles in the catalogue, or do you also print different kind of winner titles?

-         there is no regulation about showing spayed bitches, what do you think about the possibility to show castrated dogs if they had to prove with a certificate from the National Kennel Club that the dog had been shown with two normal testicles in the scrotum at an age older than six months?

-         do you have specific rules to prevent bitches showing pregnancy and bitches with puppies not yet weaned to attend dog shows?

-         do you have regulations for how to treat a dog that comes too late for judging?

-         when there are awarded less than four excellents in a class, do you also call back the very goods for competition?

-         do your organizers use prejudging before the competitions in the ring of honour?

-         do your kennel club or show organizers have a liability insurance, if so what does it include and what does it cost?

-         do your country use translators in the ring, or are the critics written in a FCI language that the judge will understand?

-         do you think that critics at World and Section Shows are necessary.?