BHUBANESWAR: The Capital which hosted the 59th and 60th National Level All Breeds Championship by Orissa Kennel Club saw a delightful assembly of about 300 dogs across 38 breeds. The two-day canine carnival having two segments - speciality tests and obedience/agility trials - concluded here on Sunday.
The day-1 was scheduled for speciality tests for German Shepherd Dogs (GSDs), Labradors and Beagles with a parallel segment for obedience trials. The day-2 extended to all breeds from across the country. The breeds ranged from the sturdier species like Belgian Malinois, Labrador, Golden/White Retriever, Rottweiler, Great Den, Husky and Boxer to the smaller petite ones like Pomerian, Pug, English Cocker Spaniel, Beagle and Schipperke, apart from short as well as long-haired varieties of the GSD.
Judge Yashodhara Hemchandra said the Schipperke’s participation was first of its kind in the country.
“This is the first officially sanctioned introduction of the Character assessment (CA) segment. It is an attempt at breed harmonisation and increased focus on the GSD’s working ability. We aim to develop along the lines of IGP, a challenging sport which was originally designed as a breed test for the German Shepherd,” said Subrat Prusty, secretary of GSD Confederation, Kalinga Chapter.
In the speciality segment, which tests a dog’s degree of conformation to the breed’s archetypal standards, parameters like gait, posture, temperament, behaviour and susceptibility to distraction were assessed.
Judge of obedience segment Rajendra Salvi said there are seven categories according to Kennel Club of India (KCI)’s syllabus. “If a dog scores 290 marks out of 300 in the C6 category, it is awarded a Challenge Certificate (CC),” he said.
The show also witnessed participation by Indian breeds like the Caravan/Mudhol Hound and Rajapalayam Hound.Hemchandra, a Labrador and Beagle specialist, opined that while Beagles put up a brilliant show, the performance of Labradoors was disappointingly “average”. “I think seminars on different breeds must be conducted. People often want a certain dog to bypass its natural look and fit into a certain prototype. That’s the reason pure breeds are rare,” she said.
In the obedience and agility trials, Tata Steel and Tata Motors jointly won the title for their dogs. Enzo, a GSD owned by Rabindra Nath Sahoo, won in the Best Breed in India category.