RR World Congress is something like the Olympic Games for the Ridgebacks. It is held every four years, always on a different continent and in another country. Participants are breeders, canine officers and judges, with many years of breeding experiences. It is a unique opportunity to gain new information, new experiences and new friendships with people who join a love for the RR.

This year the Congres was held in the Irish town of Portumna, in a very nice premises of Shanna Oaks Hotel. It was still closer than Texas in 2004, so we started to establish the details.

 
It was necessary to watched out for all vaccinations and other essentials to let our dogs go to the Islands, to find a combination of ferries, which were eligible and to find a suitable accommodation, where they would accept the dogs. It was not easy at all, but finally we were succeeded.

 
Within two weeks we drove nearly 8000 km, of which more than half in Britain and Ireland, this means on the left side :-). The journey itself was 2600 km long and lasted almost 3 days (Trencin - Vienna - Paris - Dunkerque - Dover - Fishguard - Rosslare - Portumna - Lorha). We sailed by two ferries. We knew that the weather in Ireland, it means „raining, raining and again raining”, but none of us knew that it will be true for more than 200 percent? This year's Irish summer was the third rainiest in the history of more than 120 annual measurements. When we saw on a local TV report some closed roads due to flooding, we realized how lucky we had been. It was not our type of flooding, there were roads only flooded, not rideable. Nevertheless, we drove cross Ireland almost 3000 km. We saw a lot of it and we could confirm that Ireland is a beautiful country and the Irish people are fantastic. But who could believe that in Ireland grow palm trees…

 
Walking your dog in Ireland is quite a challenge - it is very difficult to find a free area which would not belong to anyone and would not be fenced. So roadside remained. As for the information from local guy, there is a list of 5 breeds – RR including, which must constantly be on a leash. Another problem is lack of accommodation where they can accept dogs. Many B+B had a condition that the dog had to be in a cage during the whole stay :-(

 
It was attended by over 150 delegates from four continents and 26 countries. Two days - 10 lectures - 2 „open forum” and a lot of discussions… lectured the Irish, Americans, Englishmen - were difficult to understand them. But with hindsight we can say that the information gathered at the congress are very valuable for us. We met people who devote to breeding for decades and lot of our questions were answered. Very valuable is the knowledge that we know to whom to turn for serious issues in different areas of life for our four-legged friends, whether they concern health, breeding, or ethology.

 
The exhibition - it was the second reason why we wanted to attend the RR congress. Mr. Richard Van Aken (CHS Cartouche, South Africa) was the judge. Judgeing in the congress hall of the hotel passed very quickly. Spaces were cramped, which did not meet neither dogs nor exhibitors. It was also a reason why many dogs did not present in full form - it was exactly the case with our Bardy. Another dog was „breathing“ just behind his tail. And this Bardy really doesn´t like :-(

Girka was a completely different case. While I had a bag full of goodies, nothing mattered her and she presented perfect. She got a beautiful second place in champion class.