Arap began his exhibition career in Serbia in 1985, that's where he got his first CACIB in the town of Cacak. Arap was 45 times exposed in 7 different countries; he has rarely been ranked second with RCAC or RCACIB. I can show off with his 29 CACIB and his 29 BOB. He is the only one of the champions that belonged to me, or coming from my kennel, who, in this part of Europe where the breed is so little known and in competition with fifty breeds of group II, obtained 3 times the BIG2 or 3, and the announcer in Brussels said that on the 3rd place of the podium was a Caucasian Shepherd!!
The only thing that Arap failed to win was the title of world champion, and we took him to Copenhagen in 1989. He got just behind the dog Efo od Gim-a with a RCACIB. Arap was 70cm high, Efo 68 or 69 cm. The only advantage that Efo had towards Arap, was that he had a little bit larger chest and a deeper lower jaw, but besides that, he had a less beautiful expression and a little too long muzzle. In the ring Arap was haughty, proud-looking and dominant as a rooster or even better as an Arabian horse. I will never forget the aloud exclamation that came from the well-known Italian judge, Mr Giuseppe Alessandra, when Arap entered on the ring "Magnifico, Splendido"!
To my astonishment Arap is still popular today, many years after he entered the paradise of dogs. This is how his picture was used on the specification sheet for the standard of the Sarplaninac: it was the work of the young cynologists from the town of Mladenovac, and his head has also been used to make the banner of the Srpski Sarplaninac Klub, founded in 2010.
The inspiration for these presentations came from the book of Mr Obrad Skipic, published in 2002, “From the roof of the world at the top of the Balkans”, where the picture of Arap was found as the living model of the standard, next to the drawing of Pleternjak. This picture of Arap was made by the German photographer Mr Markus Rogen from Munich during the exhibition in Dortmund in ‘88 or ‘89.
