Cordoba University Veterinary School, Spain, Wins Coveted Hill’s Top Dog Competition

From left to right: Pilar Portero receives the first prize on behalf of Cordoba University Veterinary School in Spain,Carlos Cuenca from Cordoba University Veterinary School in Spain, Dr. Juan Carlos Gimenez from Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Spain. During 2013, vet students from Europe and the Middle East have been enthusiastically voting for their vet schools, to try and win the coveted Hill’s Top Dog competition. Now the results have finally been announced and the veterinary school at the University of Cordoba in Spain has been awarded the grand first prize of 5,000 EUR. In second place came Medicina Veterinária da Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Portugal, winning a sizeable 3,000 EUR for their efforts and third prize of 2,000 EUR went to Veterinärmedizinische Fakultät der Universität Leipzig in Germany. This truly international competition aims to identify the veterinary school most highly rated by its veterinary students and every year creates enormous excitement as the votes build up over the months preceding the final round. A record number of 52 veterinary schools participated and were allocated into 13 different leagues inspired by names of various breeds of dogs and cats such as the Prancing Pixie Bobs and Lording Labradors. Students of each veterinary school then voted-online and the school with the highest percentage of its students’ votes within each league could send one ambassador (accompanied by a group of supporting peers) to the finals in Barcelona. On the first day of the Barcelona trip the whole group of students attended a Clinical Nutrition workshop lead by Dr. Cecilia Villaverde, a Spanish nutritionist and associate professor of animal nutrition at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The trip also included attendance at the two-day Southern European Veterinary Conference SEVC and a fascinating tour of ‘Barcelona Gothic’. On the second evening the Hill’s Top Dog awards dinner culminated in a tightly contested, highly entertaining Jeopardy game. Much to the delight of the host students, the veterinary school at the University of Cordoba came out as the overall winners of what has to be one of the most enjoyable and inclusive competitions in the world veterinary calendar. All of the participating students agreed it was a very memorable experience that provided a unique networking opportunity for up-coming veterinarians, that otherwise would have little chance of meeting colleagues from such geographically distant locations. The Cordoba, UTAD and Leipzig contingents can now go home and start thinking how the Hill’s award money can be allocated by their student associations to benefit the students and their studies. Veterinary schools interested in entering the Hill’s Top Dog awards might be able to put themselves forward next year in 2014, and avoid missing out on the generous prizes, top quality CPD and a unique occasion to meet fellow veterinary students from all over the Europe and the Middle East.

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