Min Pin Postage Stamps From Around the World:

(From Mr. Saxby's Collection, the United Kingdom http://members.lycos.co.uk/notty/)

	"The World Dog Show'
	By: Katie Winters (as published in the Pinscher Patter, Sept 1998)
	I have never been to the Olympics, but I feel certain that for dog show enthusiasts the World Dog Show in Helsinki, June 11-14, 1998, was an equally exciting and thrilling event. The venue at the Fairgrounds Centre was ideal for this enormous show with over 15,500 dogs. The huge building was clean, spacious, and rings were generally large with solid wooden benches for spectators (admittedly tough on the derriere!) forming the outer perimeters. Dogs on leash and in crates are allowed on the modem, clean handy trains throughout the city. It was a delight and satisfaction to experience a Min Pin, Mexican hairless dog, Borzoi, etc. joining its masters in restaurants and bars throughout the town. Dogs were everywhere and what fun it was! The four day show was kicked off by a city dog parade the previous afternoon extending five miles. The parade started at the Olympic Stadium and went to a huge stone-paved square in front of a most impressive white Lutheran church that looked like a Greek Orthodox cathedral. In the square we sat on stone stairs at least a city block long and about half a block high. In the middle of the area was a brass monument to a respected leader astride his favorite horse. The line of dogs in the parade seemed endless with over 2500 dogs--many costumed in native dress for the event. Show people and their dogs were joined by townspeople and their dogs (purebred and mixed breeds), and baby carriages carrying the smaller dogs. There were one or two Min Pins walking in the parade. The Min Pins were shown on Sunday with an entry of 122. Because of the critiques the judges write on each dog, it took all day for two judges to judge the breed. The judges were from Finland and Norway. The Finnish and European Min Pins are different type from the American, that besides natural ears and tails, they have more substance, are stockier, and lower to the ground. The Finnish and many European dogs had natural ears-- upright and bent over, and long tails. A Finnish breeder of Min Pins told me Europeans do not like hackney movement and thus do not breed for this trait. There were several descendants of Ch. SANBROOK POWER SURGE, who was sent to Sweden in 1990, shown, and also a few offspring of CH. SANBROOK SILK ELECTRIC. There were Min Pins from all over Europe, Eastern Europe, Israel and Russia. It was surprising to find I had met earlier at a Great Dane National in San Diego, the owner of the Bitch World Winner, and the Veteran World Winner. She is Sussie Nilsson, who now lives in Sweden. When Sussie returned to Sweden, she took Min Pins from the U.S. with her. Her Veteran male is MULTI CH. NEZLAN'S RUFF CUT (Ch. Sanbrook Silk Electric X Dawnaquinn Wildangel at Nezlan) bred by I. Maupin, USA, and her Bitch World Winner is MULTI CH. MIC LYN PATENT PENDING (Marilu's Just Dessert of JW x Bo-Mar's Rockin Reba) bred by Peggy Cunningham, USA. Both of Sussie's dogs, being of American breeding, had cropped ears and tails. The winning World Winner for Min Pins was a black and tan dog from Belgium. Of interest to me also were the black and tan Min Pin entries of an Israeli breeder who lives in a kibbutz and reportedly has 50 Min Pins. This older man, who is a frequent exhibitor in World Shows and has support from the state of Israel from his dog show hobby, won the World Min Pin Breeder's Award and World Best Min Pin Brace. The World Best in Show winner was the showy American, Dutch Papillon who won the Toy Group at the Garden two years ago. The pomp and circumstance of this final event, together with a sound and lights show and music, equaled the spectacle of a rock concert. This 1998 World Show was one never to be forgotten!