“London’s Exhilarating Win Places Him On Top of the World”

The sixth annual prestigious Eukanuba World Challenge took place on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th December hosted at the 12th annual AKC / Eukanuba National Championships in Orlando, Florida, USA. 42 top winning dogs represented their countries from around the globe, competing in one of the four non-geographical sections for the highly prized title “Eukanuba World Challenge Champion 2012” along with the $10,000 prize money.

The ultimate winner, and title-holder, of the “Eukanuba World Challenge Champion 2012” selected by FCI International All Breeds Judge Mr Luis Pinto Teixeira from Portugal is AKC ‘Grand Champion Jaset’s Satisfaction’. Four and a half year old “London” represented the USA, qualifying as a result of winning BIS at the AKC / Eukanuba National Championship 2011. He was bred in the USA by Sandra Tompkins & Chris Bailey and co-owned by Michele Molnar & Jamie Danburg. Professional handler, Ann Rairigh, expertly handled “London” to this win and all his show ring success, including winning his 89 BIS’s. Ann said of this great win “It is exhilarating. I am so thrilled and proud for him. ‘London’ thinks he is the world’s greatest dog. He has it all and he knows it. He knows he did good, I could not ask for a better dog”. Ann continues to describe “London” as a dog who loves to have fun. She says “He is a dog with a big personality who knows how to get everyone’s attention with his fun loving sense of humor”. His co-owner, Michele says “London is an awesome dog, it has been a great pleasure to be able to share him and showcase him to the world”. Other co-owner Jamie said, “It is an honour and a privilege to have such a wonderful dog and an exceptional handler. It was great teamwork. Thank you to all the great people at Eukanuba for being so supportive. It is all about the dogs”.

© Lisa Croft-Elliott

Luis Pinto Teixeira said “This year’s event was completely different from when I judged a section in Long Beach in 2007 at the inaugural Eukanuba World Challenge. I have judged all breeds for many years at shows all around the world but judging this is a moment of both honour and glory. It is one of the best shows in the world. It was very exciting to have such a beautiful line up of dogs to go over.” Luis cited his reasons for his selection, commenting on his winners, “The Standard Poodle is a top quality dog, he is full of class with fantastic poodle movement. The Saluki is also another dog full of class, excellent breed type and he gaited so effortlessly with such grace. He has a very clever handler who allowed the dog to take the centre stage. My third dog was the Corgi who again excelled in breed type. I must say that all the dogs in my final line up were outstanding and every one of them deserved to be there. Excellent ambassadors of their breeds and for their countries.”

Jose Luis Ibáñez, Eukanuba Breeder Manager EMEA & Show Chair EWC said, “Eukanuba is extremely pleased with the Eukanuba World Challenge being such a well received and exciting global event, showing extraordinary dogs from around the world. This is what the Eukanuba World Challenge is all about, bringing together some of the most magnificent dogs. The highly successful live streaming with the UK’s Andrew Brace’s and Russian speaking, Svetlana Valoueva’s live commentary enabled those in the dog fancy from around the world to share in this sensational event.”

Ron Menaker, AKC/Eukanuba National Championship Show Chairman, says “It was a great final line up consisting of dogs of very deep quality with outstanding breed type. The Eukanuba World Challenge brings together some of the best dogs in the world”.

Rafael De Santiago, FCI Vice-president, said, “It is a magnificent event. I believe that the dogs competing this year were of the highest quality, surpassing well beyond anyone’s expectations. On behalf of the FCI, I thank our partners in excellence for this wonderful showcase for all the breeders and exhibitors. It takes good working relations between our major canines organisations, Eukanuba, AKC and the FCI, to produce a great event like the Eukanuba World Challenge, bringing together all these outstanding dogs. I extend our congratulations to all the winners”.

The runner up was Nicklas & Ingunn Eriksson’s Saluki, “Multi Ch Shiraz California Dreamin’”. Nicklas said, “I am very excited by this win, it has been lots of fun being here and competing against so many excellent dogs. Eukanuba does an excellent job with the organisation of this major world event. Harley has qualified as an EWC representative an amazing four times. Twice as Sweden’s Top Dog, once in 2009 where he was also EWC Runner up, and again in 2011; once as the FCI European Section Dog Show 2010 and this year as the FCI World Dog Show 2012 BIS winner. Bred in the USA by Elena & Michael Edwards & Valerie Nunes-Atkinson, he was handled by co-owner Nicklas, winning the $3000 prize. Six year old, ‘Harley’ created Eukanuba World Challenge history by being the only representative to also win the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship Hound Group under sight-hound specialist FCI All breed judge, Carla Molinari who describes “Harley’ as “Poetry in Motion”. He had won Best Of Breed under Saluki breed specialist and UK judge, Anne McDonald. His winning ways culminated with ”Harley” being awarded Reserve BIS by AKC Judge, Edd Bivan. If he had won BIS he would have been invited back as an EWC representative for the 2013 event.

The first runner up winning $2,000 was the Pembroke Welsh Corgi “Multi Ch Andvol Pinkerton”, representing Russia. Five year old, ‘Tosha’, owned by Olga Shuvalova, bred in Russia by Marina Volkova and handled to this and many other successes by professional handler, Olga Shilova. ‘Tosha’ holds Champion titles in 25 countries, he is the winner of 24 All Breed BIS’s and was Reserve BIS at the FCI World Dog Show 2012 behind ‘Harley’. In addition to his many Champion titles, he was FCI World Winner three times and holds other winner titles including FCI Asia and the Pacific Section Show Winner and FCI The Americas and the Caribbean Section Show Winner. Olga said, “This is such an exciting win, I am completely over the moon. ‘Tosha’ and I competed in the EWC 2010 representing Russia and I was hoping that we would do as well this time around. We did better than I could dream of. There are many great dogs here competing so to win at this level is fantastic. We are all so delighted. And this win is a first for Russia. No other Russian representative has won this placement. ‘Tosha’ was bred in Russia, is owned by a Russian and was handled by me, a Russian. So it is truly an accomplishment for Russia and Russian breeding and handling”.

The winning country’s Kennel club, the AKC will be awarded $5,000 recognition prize; all prize awards are courtesy of Eukanuba. As the 2012 event concludes with another extraordinary dog being crowned EWC Champion, the launch of the 2013 EWC begins with the USA country representative being selected. BIS Winner of the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship 2012, Wire Fox Terrier Grand Ch. Afterall Painting The Sky will be the 2013 USA representative. Bred by A J Pertuit Jr & Betty Seton, Sky is co-owned by Victor Malzoni Jr., Torie Steele, Scott & Mary Olund and Diane Ryan. Four and a half year old, Sky was handled to her success by the highly successful and renowned professional handler, Gabriel Rangel.

For further information and to keep up to date with the Eukanuba World Challenge visit www.eukanubaworldchallenge.com or visit our facebook page.

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