Thuin, Canine Capital of the World!

In 1954 the General Secretariat of the FCI settled in Thuin. It is curious to note that dog lovers throughout the world know the name of the town in which the FCI operates and offers the services that its 13 employees provide on a daily basis. Thuin now figures on the world map in the hearts of all dog enthusiasts on all continents! This is a reality that, although not on a grand scale, has not escaped the town’s elected representatives, who have on several occasions expressed their delight in counting an international organisation celebrating its centenary amongst their population of 14,650 inhabitants!

Conscious of the role that the FCI plays as an ambassador for Thuin, Philippe Blanchart – Acting Mayor – and the Town Council have named the city “Canine Capital of the World”. In this centenary year, this designation crowns the good relations between the FCI and the town that welcomes the Federation by focusing attention on Thuin, which would become a Mecca for dog fanciers, providing a positive window to the world by displaying knowledge, projects, initiatives and other breakthroughs concerning an animal that in this day and age has an important place in our society.

What could therefore be more natural than this designation knowing that Saint Roch, the Patron Saint of Thuin, is also the protector of animals and frequently portrayed with his dog?

Marie Luna Durán
FCI Marketing and Public Relations Manager
The International Aptus Show in Helsinki celebrated FCI’s 100th anniversary

We had the pleasure to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the FCI at the international Aptus Show in Helsinki on the 22nd of May. The Aptus Show is organised yearly by the Helsinki Kennel Club. For many years the show venue has been the Helsinki Ice Hall in the centre of Helsinki.

This year we had over 2,400 dogs entering our show during two days. As the weather was pleasant and sunny, we were able to have some show rings outside the show venue. We had over 200 FCI breeds entering the show.

The Aptus Show is sponsored by Royal Canin and Orion Pharma Animal Health. With our sponsors and with help from the Finnish Kennel Club we were able to organise nice settings for the final competitions of the show.

Atmosphere in the main hall on Sunday was positively exciting as we waited for the on-line connection from Madrid to begin. It was a very special moment to receive the greetings from FCI president Mr Hans W Müller on the big screen of the Ice Hall. The speaker of our final competition, also an all-rounder judge, Mrs Marja Talvitie, did fine work in translating the greetings to Finnish. Before the beginning of the final competitions, we also received greetings to the FCI from the chairlady of the board of the Finnish Kennel Club, Mrs Helena Suni.

We had the honour of having a FCI representative at our show, Ms Marie Luna Durán. She presented a beautiful rosette from the FCI to the BIS dog of our show, beagle bitch Daragoj Della Duck.

© Outi Toni

BIS dog at our show was chosen by Karl-Erik Johansson from Sweden. As always, we had a very international representation of judges at the show. The best junior dog at the show was chosen by Ilona Onstenk-Schenk from the Netherlands and the best junior dog in Finland in 2010, The Royal Canin Junior Grand Prix dog was chosen by Ann Ingram from Ireland.

© Outi Toni
© Outi Toni

There was also a junior handler competition at the show both on Saturday and Sunday. The youth division of the Helsinki Kennel Club organised a programme for children at the show.

Liisa SUONINEN
Public relations contact person
Int Aptus Show 2011