The World Dog Show is the Mecca for any dog show enthusiast and a privilege to take part in. None more so than for Laura Browne, an Algarve resident for seven years, and her Portuguese Water Dog Light My Fire da Pedra da Anixa (aka Harry), a winner at this year’s World Dog Show held in Salzburg, Austria, last month.
Harry was one of 46 Portuguese Water Dogs entered in this year’s World Dog Show, competing against some of the best of the breed, with entries from countries such as Finland, Holland and Sweden.
He was entered into the Champion Class which he won and then went on to win the CACIB (Certificado de Aptitud al Campeonato Internacional de Belleza), which gave him his World Winner 2012 title.
Having won Best of Breed, Harry then had to make his way over to the main ring competing with the other Best of Breed winners from group 8 (gundog group). Again, Harry, led by his handler Marta Flores Ribeiro, performed exceptionally and achieved second place.
The annual World Dog Show is held in a different country each year. This year, there were more than 18,600 dogs from all over the world, including the US, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Italy, Spain and, of course, Portugal. With a show space of 40,000 square metres, these are huge events that attract dog owners from countries far and wide.
Harry is now five years old and has an amazing show history behind him. He is Portuguese Champion and won Best in Show at the Lisbon International Show at only 14 months old. He is also Champion in Gibraltar, Spain and Slovenia. He became Junior Euro Winner in Budapest and Junior World Winner in Sweden where he was Best in Breed from 105 Portuguese Water Dogs entered.
Dog handler Marta and her husband have been showing dogs professionally for more than 18 years and are among the best handlers in the world.
Harry’s breeder, Isabel Santos from Azeitão, near Setubal, has been breeding Portuguese Water Dogs for 16 years and was overjoyed with his recent success.
