FCI World Dog Show 2014 – Helsinki (FI), 8-10 August

The FCI main conformation event of the year is over and will remain in everybody’s mind as the symbol of what a perfectly well-organised dog show should be.

Year 2014 was for Finland the 125th anniversary of their creation. It was a superb reason for the Finns to apply for hosting the 2014 FCI World Dog Show, 16 years after having had the pleasure to meet the dog scene on the occasion of the 1998 FCI World Dog Show, with an interesting entry of 15,300 dogs.

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Y. De Clercq
FCI Executive Director
Interview with Francesco Balducci

Does it make you nervous when you think that in one year from now you are on term to organise the FCI World Dog Show 2015 in Milan?

We are quite at ease at the moment, not nervous at all. We were nervous in the past when we saw that the time was passing by very quickly, but now we know that we have reached the stage when we have to work about details, which is comfortable. We are more so after having seen the WDS in Helsinki. This show is most professional and it is for us a test if we are able to reach the same level and now we think and know, logistically speaking, that we have a good venue that allows to be full of hope for the next future.


The Finnish Kennel Club has again set a new standard on how to organise a dog show of this kind. What are the most important points you are going to copy for the Milan WDS 2015?

The most important thing is about logistics and organisation. We have seen great organisation for rings, parking, no traffic jams, everything ran smoothly. That is a very important part of the show. We will try to do the same and this a reference for us. Of course we want to do something more.


Can we expect any surprises next year? No need to reveal them, but a tip maybe?

Surprises are surprises of course, but we will not have bad but nice surprises. But allow us to have some discussion about where and when we can maybe improve, but it's less a matter of improving than of doing something different.


Are there things you'd like to say about, for example, the judges or the exhibitors or other things that you think are important to share with the readers? We are always curious to hear good news.

About the judges, even when we repeat that it was really fantastic here, we will add the Italian hospitality, one of the characteristics of our country. We need to use that characteristic. And for the exhibitors, probably the best is to have the best organisational logistics, we will do our best to have this assured for them.


With regard to language and welcoming different nationalities it is known that not many Italians speak any other language. Have you been thinking about that?

Everything is considered but of course the main language will be English. But for example Russian will be a challenge, but we are working on it. There will not be problems about that. The young people, in particular, speak English due to Internet and Facebook, this problem is mainly a problem for the older generation.


And my last question: what is the minimum of entries you need to have and with how many entries are you really happy?

Twenty thousand will make me happy and the minimum I want to have is 19,999.


That is a perfect answer and I wish you even more dogs!

Interview: Karl Donvil