Having a ball: Kazal to prove he's Ekka's top dog

One Moreton Bay dog owner is out to prove her pooch is one top dog by entering him in the canine competition at this year’s Ekka.

Annette Dobson from Albany Creek and her six-year-old Hungarian Wirehead Vizsla named Kazal (pictured above) will be out to impress the judges in a bid to be named Best in Show in the gundog category.

“From my point of view, the Ekka is better than ordinary dog shows because the Ekka brings purebred dogs together for the general public to see, which is very important,” Annette said.

“These dogs are specially and carefully bred for purpose and good health.

“I have decided to enter Kazal this year because he will be competing against his grandson, who will be coming up from Victoria with his owner.

“It doesn’t matter if Kazal wins or his grandson because it will be a win-win situation.”

Annete said people, especially visitors from Europe, become excited when they see Kazal at the show.

“People are keen to learn more about the breed, but you also get others who know the breed from other countries in Europe, and they get excited when they see a Hungarian Wirehead Vizsla at the Ekka and in Australia.

“A few years ago, I had two my two dogs at the Ekka and someone was so impressed by them that they ended by buying from a breeder in Hungary and now they are one of the main breeders in this country.”

Hungarian Wirehead Vizsla’s are well regarded gun dogs – which is a dog trained to work with hunters by locating and retrieving game.

Annette said Kazal is extremely good at finding and tracking people in both rural and suburban areas.

Recently, she took Kazal to bushland north of Gympie where he was tracking “lost” people.

“He can find people in the bush, even after several hours,” Annette said.

“Even in suburban areas he can track people over a kilometre away.

“He can also track someone if they got into a car and then out again.”

Competition overview

The Canine Competition judges some of the best dogs in Australia. Each year, thousands of dogs compete for the prestigious Best in Show award each year.

The competition sees a variety of breeds in toys, non-sporting, working dogs, hounds, gundogs, terriers, utility and all sports competitions including rally, dances with dogs, agility and jumping.

Head along to the show

The Ekka will be held over nine big days from August 6-14 at the Brisbane Showgrounds, located at 600 Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills.

The Ekka showcases the best of Queensland, attracting more than 21,000 competition entries from woodchop to giant vegetables, 10,000 animals from beef cattle to cats and dogs, world-class live entertainment, award-winning food and wine, carnival rides and showbags, family shopping, educational activities and much more.

Gates are open every day from 9am-9pm.

For more information about the show, log onto https://www.ekka.com.au/

Fun facts about the Ekka

At the last Ekka in 2019:

• 220,000 plus Dagwood Dogs were eaten.
• 180,000 plus Strawberry Sundaes were eaten.
• 40,000 plus cheese toasties were eaten (That equates to two tonnes of butter and four tonnes of cheese).
• 210,000 plus schooners of beer were served.
• 1620 plus volunteers help put the show on.
• $220 million plus was generated for the Brisbane economy.
• 3 tonnes of fireworks were used each night.