Belgrade Winter Dog Show-Belgrade International Dog Show held every year in December is a CACIB which closes dog show season in Serbia. In March the opening season CACIB also takes place in Belgrade. We enrolled our Dogo Canario male – Toyo and our Tosa female – Kali but we only took Toyo since Kali started her heat earlier than expected. We were glad to see two Fila dogs from Romania enrolled but also kind of sad because we didn’t take our golden girl Ama to compete this time. Jenaro is still too young to compete and it is always hard with more than one or two dogs at shows. It isn’t a natural environment for dogs and in my opinion it isn’t possible to evaluate the dog realistically at the shows – only the exterior can be judged.
Former Yugoslav Republics were known for the interest in dog breeding and among the breeds that are widely renown (like Rottweiler, Doberman, Labrador Retriever) there was also an active interest in molosser breeds. People have shown enthusiasm to see and learn about short haired molossers such as Fila Brasileiro, Tosa inu, Perro de Presa Mallorquin, Dogo Canario, Boerboel but over the years only the number of Dogo Canario dogs at the shows has increased. Long haired molosser breeds are also very popular in Serbia, especially Srednoaziatska Ovcharka and a domestic breed Illyrian Sheep Dog.
Harakhan kennel paused with active breeding for almost a decade. We were the first to import purebred Filas from Brasil (Itanhandu kennel and Sao Jose da Lapa) to the territory of former Yugoslavia and tried to spread the understanding about Fila Brasileiro breed. People were curious at first to see the authentic Fila and hear about the difference between a purebred and a mix breed. But their interest was short-winded when they realized that the price of a healthy purebred Fila puppy showing ojeriza cannot be the same as the price for an English Mastiff type Fila with no temperament, or even worse, the type of dog that is bloodthirsty towards other dogs and the children. Serbia and the surrounding countries knew only for such Filas. That’s why we stopped breeding and only kept dogs for our own purpose, to enjoy in their beauty and love them.
This year’s winter CACIB was our first domestic dogs show participation after a decade. Some things changed here but the most important unfortunately didn’t change: judging still goes hand in hand with the partnerships made outside the rings.
