By request, an English translation of the post about Lotus’ BIS.
A very special day for us that ended with a very special win!
But let’s start at the beginning: the day started very early with the departure towards Amiens. At 4 in the morning with all three dogs in the back, we set off to France. We had entered for this show to meet up with Karen who had entered as well, and she would take Breea home afterwards. Although it’s good Breea finally would get to start her ‘real life’, I wasn’t looking forward to having to hand her over. We’ve been working towards this day, but saying goodbye is difficult.
Most French shows send you a timetable for judging, but this organisation didn’t and the website didn’t provide much information either so we left early to make sure we were on time even if we’d be the first breed in the ring. After arriving and settling down, it turned out we were the last breed to be judged and we had about 80 dogs before us! We had good company in Karen and Wendy and it was nice to see Helmie en Jos coming all the way too. It wasn’t a relaxing day, we couldn’t sit ringside so one of us kept checking to see how far the judging was. After a lunchbreak and then several Spaniel breeds, it was finally the Barbets’ turn. Our judge was mr. J.J. Dupas, a French breed specialist.
Claude was the only male and he was awarded an Excellent which made him Best Male. Lotus was in Intermediate class with Martha and Sade. The judge took his time and gave all dogs his attention, very nice to see even though we wouldn’t expect anything else from this judge. He awarded Lotus 1st with an Excellent, which gave her the CACS (the French championship point) as Champion class doesn’t compete for this point in France. Bissou in Champion class got an Excellent as well, so it was between her and Lotus for Best Bitch and CACIB. Lotus won!
For Best Of Breed (BOB), the judge took his time comparing Claude and Lotus and awarded it to Lotus.
This made me very proud. This win gives her the 4th CACIB for the International Show Championship, which she won in recordtime: 4 shows in 2 weekends, 4 times BOB with CAC and CACIB. Between the first and the last CACIB there needs to be a year and a day, so Lotus can officialy finish this title around this time next year at the eraliest.
The ring of honor had already begun in the meantime and they had announced in the morning that they would change the sequence as mentioned in the catalogue, and Group 8 would be judged as first group. So Lotus and I were ready to go after the other judgements (puppies, pairs etc). To my surprise, they ended up following the catalogue-order anyway. Typical French :-).
So in the end we had a bit of a wait, but finaly it was our turn to enter the collectingring. However, no judge turned up for pre-judging… When they were wrapping up the placements of Group 7, the speaker announced that the designated judge for Group 8 had already left, so the judge for Group 7 would also be judging Group 8. This was mr. J. Goubie, who is also a French breed specialist judge for the Barbet!
He pre-judged all the dogs, taking his time to go over all of them, and didn’t waste a lot of time in the big ring. He picked Lotus for the first cut of 6, which is an honor on itself. After having the selection of 6 gaiting another big circle round the ring, the speaker announced places 3, 2 and 1. To my surprise and joy Lotus was Best In Group (BIG)!
While resting comfortably on Cloud Nine, Lotus and I waited for the BIS-judgement. This would be done by mr. Dupas, who also judged our breed. In the collectingring he went over and moved each dog, after which every groupwinner entered one by one. Although Lotus must have been a bit tired by then, she still moved superbly. In the big ring, every dog was moved once again in a straight line. When he had examined all the dogs, everyone left the ring once more to stand in the collectingring. The speaker announced the Pomeranian won BIS-3 and a Toypoodle was BIS-2. I never even imagined for a second that such a young girl, from a breed that never wins anything anyway, would even stand a chance.
The judge surprised the speaker by not telling him who to announce for Best In Show, but instead he went into the collectingring to get the winner himself. Lotus and I were on his right so I wasn’t surprised he veered off to the left at first. But then he turned and he held out his hand to me!
LOTUS BEST IN SHOW!!!
A unique win, never equalled by a Barbet at an FCI Show! Even more special that it’s in France, on a big international show with more then 2550 entries, under French breedspecialists and a dog we bred ourselves.
The 3 winners with the BIS-judge:
With the organisors and the other judges (left to me, right for the viewers, mr. J. Goubie):
We are still very much on Cloud Nine, we are so proud of our Lotus!
After this high it was really time to say goodby to Breea, an emotional moment. I know she has the best new owners possible and Karen has already let me know she’s settling in well in her new home and pack.
Nuphar's Barbets 
