If you get happy just looking at a St Bernard peeking out
of a car window, the 39th and 40th All Breed Championship Dog Show is the place
to be. With the Fire and Emergency Services Ground crowded with different
purebred dogs from across the country, the owners, trainers and the dogs
themselves were in a very lively mood. Today, the second day of the
Championship will see the participation of exhibition dogs. The first day,
November 8, 2014 saw the speciality dog show. The competition is judged by
Linda Buckley, Peter Martin and N Rahdakrishnan.
For Suraj Caculo, his dogs are like family. His pets
include Junior, a seven and half months old Doberman, Buddy, a three year old
St Bernard, Rancho, a German Shepherd and Jumbo, a 104 kg English Mastiff.
“Living in Miramar, it becomes difficult to take the dogs out and we lack a dog
park in the city. I take all four of them to Miramar beach in the mornings but
the only problem there are the stray dogs that are roaming around on the beach.
The dogs are very friendly and never fight. I have installed cameras in the
house which can be accessed via my mobile phone. This helps especially when the
family is travelling abroad,” says Suraj.
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Nitin Lokhande and Sagar Patil have travelled all the way
from Kolhapur with their Greyhounds, Jet and Lucy. They have been regularly
participating in the competition for the past 6-7 years. “This year we have
brought four dogs, three Greyhounds and one Rottweiler. They are well trained
and we travel with the trainer as well. There are as many as 75 per cent of
participants from Kolhapur this year,” says Nitin. Having visited various
venues for such competitions, Nitin finds Goa very pleasant. “The Goa
competition has been organised very well and Steve Almeida is very forthcoming
with the accommodation and care of the dogs. He is very supportive,” adds
Nitin.
Enrique D’Souza from Tivim is a landscape artist who is
passionate about his four dogs. His Dobermans, Jade and Jarvis, are
participating this year. “Dobermans have a lot of drive and a good temperament.
I train them along with James D’Cruz. They love socialising at home with Jena,
a Doberman and Zoro, a Rottweiler,” says Enrique.
Enrique feels that pets should enjoy their freedom. “I
set them free in the house and the compound walls are high so they don’t go
out. Since there is a lot of space in Tivim, I take them out for walks every
day. Their training is also planned in the same manner; if they don’t show interest,
they are not trained for that day.”
