Dear readers,

With 2012 drawing to an end, now is the time to take stock, come up with some figures and draw some conclusions.

Our e-newsletter is now two years old, so we thought it would be a good idea to look back and take stock of what we have managed to do so far.

Two main considerations have guided our thinking and our concern to provide you with interesting and entertaining articles - the diversity of our articles and the FCI's "geographic" aspect.

The articles published this year have covered a wide range of topics, whether scientific or informing readers about events organised by our members. And this is basically our goal: to let you share in the lives and activities of our members. This has seen us featuring the different section shows and the World Dog Show through articles full of facts and figures, interviews, reports and numerous illustrations. In addition, we have done our best to showcase ALL FCI sections, according them the place they merit within the Federation. Again, this has seen each issue featuring a report on a show from each FCI geographical section, at the same time providing a forum for the president of the organising committee of these events. Finally, we have also done our best to give working dogs the place they merit by reporting in detail on the various championships held throughout the year. In this last issue of 2012, readers will find interesting articles on the latest working dog championships.

Junior handling, a very important aspect of our hobby, has also caught our attention and we are very pleased to be able to feature reports from several promising young handlers.

A number of texts have been supplemented by interviews, helping to make our newsletter more vivid, more attractive and closer to you.

Our partner in excellence, Eukanuba, has also been kind enough to provide us with a steady stream of very interesting articles on health topics related to our four-legged friends, as well as a detailed report on the Eukanuba World Challenge. With its very much appreciated veterinary articles, our other partner, Viyo, is also an important contributor. We would like to take this opportunity to thank both of them.

© Tricia Haro

Visit of the Minister of Agriculture, Food Industry and Environment Mr Miguel Arias Cañete and of José Haro to the FCI stand

In our view, this newsletter is an ideal showcase, enabling readers to get to know other members and national kennel clubs better. This is the reason why we have continued with the programme we started several years back of presenting canine organisations.

There have been lots of additions to our photo gallery this year, with contributions coming from members and numerous journalists. Again, we would like to thank all contributors.

We would like to wind up by inviting you to our stand at one of the shows we are present at. Whether it's information you want or something else, we are there to answer your questions. This year we had a stand in Bucharest (October), Herning and Jerez de la Frontera (November), and Brussels (December). Next year you will find us at a number of shows including Budapest (the World Dog Show, May 2013) and Geneva (the European section's show, August-September 2013).

Don't hesitate to drop by - we want to hear what you have got to say.

© Marie Luna Duran

FCI stand in Herning

The whole newsletter team wishes you a great Christmas and all the best for 2013!

Y. De Clercq
FCI Executive Director

All our articles are available on
http://www.dogdotcom.be/en/archives.aspx