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NEWS AND EVENTS

2009 Eukanuba World Challenge Details Announced

(Geneva February 28, 2009) Eukanuba, manufacturer of the super-premium pet nutrition, is pleased to announce the launch of the 2009 Eukanuba World Challenge. Once again, the finals for this magnificent event will be hosted at the AKC/Eukanuba National Championships on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th December at the Long Beach Convention Center in California. Last year's event, held at the same venue, remarkably surpassed the tremendous success of the inaugural 2007 World Challenge. This year the event looks set to be even more impressive, with further expansion that will include the world's top dogs and new participating countries.

The 2008 Eukanuba World Challenge Champion was selected from the group of 12 "Challenge" finalists, by the distinguished Mr Hans Muller, FCI President and world-famous all breed judge. He revealed the 2008 Eukanuba World Champion as the Saluki "Dakira Sawahin" from Germany, owned, bred and handled by Dagmar Hintzenberg-Freisleben. After winning the Challenge, an ecstatic Dagmar declared, "I got it. I made a dream come true."

Eukanuba is continually striving for advanced excellence. This year, a new format involves a semifinal to be held at the FCI World Dog Show in Bratislava in October. This improvement will enable more top-ranked dogs and additional countries to participate in the Eukanuba World Challenge and compete for a place in one of the four sections, attending the World Challenge final in California. Unlike in previous years where the dogs were divided into geographical regions, this year's event will see dogs classified and assembled into four non-geographically related regions. This will create groups consisting of dogs from different continents predicated on the draw of countries held at the 2009 World Dog Show in Bratislava. At the final, each of the four section judges will select three dogs that will advance through to the ultimate competition to compete for the title of the 2009 Eukanuba World Challenge Champion.

The addition of an exciting new semifinal competition, to be held during the 2009 World Dog Show, will be judged by respected all breed judges nominated by the FCI and will add a new dimension to this unique competition. The semifinal will see Eukanuba extend the invitation to 20 European Countries' top winning dogs to compete for one of three places in the final in California. This will be in addition to 21 of the European countries who already participated in the 2008 Eukanuba World Challenge.

One of the most exciting developments of the new format is the proposal to include winners of the world's most prestigious dog shows. They will all be invited to compete for the title of the 2009 Eukanuba World Challenge Champion. This will be a truly unparalleled event bringing together the world's most coveted top winning dogs to one venue.

Anne van Merkensteijn, Eukanuba Marketing Associate Director commented: "Eukanuba, FCI and the AKC have accomplished an ongoing collaboration, which undoubtedly enhances the world of dogs and brings together those top winning dogs whom otherwise may never have the opportunity to share the same spotlight and compete upon the same world stage".

The highly regarded "all breed" judges for the Eukanuba World Challenge 2009 are Mr Sergio Lopes Meira DeCastro, President Confederacao Brasileria de Cinofilia, from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; Mr Greg Eva, President of the Kennel Union of South Africa, from Cape Town, SA; Mrs Carla Molinari, President Clube Portugues de Canicultura, Alcabideche, Portugal and Mr Roberto Velez-Pico, Executive Secretary Federation Canofia de Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR. The 12 finalists, the three best dogs selected from each section, will be judged by Mr Frank T Sabella from Wellington, Florida, USA, who will then select the 2009 Eukanuba World Challenge Champion, awarding the title along with the $10,000 prize. The runner-up and the first runner-up will receive prize money of $3,000 and $2,000 respectively, all courtesy of Eukanuba.

The full list of participating countries for the semifinal and the final will follow separately.

For further information, please contact Lorna Hastings on lorna4ann@yahoo.com or Zbyszek Kalenik on kalenik.z@pg.com or visit www.eukanubaworldchallenge.com for regular updates.

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