Personalities: Paolo Dondina In our section dedicated to personalities, today we will talk about Paolo Dondina, who can look back on a long career in showcasing dogs and who, as an expert judge, had the honour of judging Best In Show at Crufts and at Westminster in the same year in 2011: the only judge to have had this task in the history of worldwide cynophilia.
Below is her biography and an article taken from I nostri cani, which refers to just this double feature.
Crufts and Westminster, an Italian judge as arbiter
THE BEST TO PAOLO DONDINAIn the career of every person, also on an amateur level, there is always an objective which corresponds to a dream, a goal which seems unreachable, far far away.
For a professional, or an artisan, to be considered an international benchmark in the area of one’s own activity or profession, for an entrepreneur to obtain a patent for something innovative and in wide use, for an artist to be a founding creator, for a politician to govern. For an athlete the goal may correspond to the call of an important team, the achievement of a record, the participation of a challenge on the highest levels, a victory at the Olympic Games. In short, reaching the highest international level in a discipline is the dream of all those who apply themselves in the given discipline with passion, consistency, study, exercise, work and human nature as well. These qualities, as is known, are really rare and that is why the highest sport challenges, the most attractive and mythical ones, refer to the Olympus, where the gods reside. In other words to the myth itself; an unreachable world which man can approach only thanks to their ability to express, among other things, the aforementioned qualities; rare but available to everybody.
For a dog show judge the highest ambition is surely to be considered of such expertise on an international level to be called upon to judge the most prestigious competitions. World and European championships or – and here we are entering the legendary – to Madison Square Garden of New York, the most famous dog show of the New World – called Westminster from the name of the club that has been organising the event since 1877 – and Crufts, the most ambitious a really “royal” dog show, not only of the UK but of the whole of Europe, which takes its name from its founder, Charles Cruft, who established it in 1891.
In the field of such important shows, the two most significant dog shows in the world, the true and far away dream of a judge is to step into the big main ring to be the judge of the Best In Show!
In 2011this legendary objective came true, for the first time in history, for an Italian judge: Paolo Dondina, who not only was called upon to judge in both these events but to judge the Best In Show!
The exceptional nature is double and even triple: first and foremost, the invite both to Crufts and Westminster, both in the same year; and then no less than Best In Show, not only at Crufts but also at Westminster, which had never been the prerogative of a single person. One may wonder: what else can there be left for a show judge to desire?
The range of such an invitation is obvious: never, until now had an FCI judge (neither Italian nor of any other nationality – a task which until now had only been reserved for English judges and twice for Australians) had the honour to judge the BIS at Crufts. At Westminster, not only had this privilege never been conceded to an Italian Judge, but was exclusively reserved for North American judges since 1930. In short, there is a lot to be proud of, not only for Paolo Dondina but for the whole of Italian and European cynophilia!
With Dondina, Italy enters in a new, maybe unrepeatable, achievement of the world wide history of cynophilia, reinforced by a taste of Guinness to go along. It is apt to say, that with this double feature one enters directly into the legendary.
Who is Paolo Dondina?
Born in Milan in 1937 he stepped into the rings showcasing for the first time at age 12. From then on his dog loving activity knows no interruptions. Known on global level for his Beagles, which he is breeding since 1967 with the affix “Del Pesco”, and which he brought to the highest show levels, he had his greatest satisfaction as presenter by winning the Best In Show at Crufts in 1975 with a wire haired Fox Terrier.
He received his licence as judge of the Italian Kennel Club in 1973 and 12 years later he is an all rounder. He judged at the most important dog show events of the world, from Australia to the United States, from Asia to Russia, in all of Europe at World shows and European shows.
Also thanks to his activity as lawyer and jurist he was President of the Legal Commission of the FCI other than of the numerous committees of the Italian Kennel Club and of many breed clubs; he is a member of the Kennel Club. He lives and works both in Milan and in his house in Monterchi in Tuscany.
Guido Perosino