by Fred Lanting

It was another great show, another great tour, another wonderful group that I conducted to see the biggest breed show in the world, followed by sightseeing and breeder visits. This year, with the show again in Karlsruhe, we had the opportunity to tour a little of France and sample the wines of Alsace and see the birthplace of the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty.

The show itself, a 3-day affair and this year with about 2,200 GSDs, is the experience of a lifetime for many fanciers. A few join my guided tour group (the only non-profit one going) again, but most are first-timers; many additionally are novices in both European travel and in the breed, so everybody gains a great deal. The relative uniformity of the international-style GSD (which by definition excludes most of the “Alsatians” and “AKC-types”) is marvelous to behold. The novice finds it hard to tell them apart until someone points out subtle differences. Contact me at if you’d like to come to Bavaria in 2005 or Holland after the 2006 show. This is an experience that will be relished by all dog lovers, regardless of breed, and there are enough sights and other diversions to occupy the non-doggy spouse or friend who’d like to see part of Europe under experienced tutelage and guidance.

 

If you are not a GSD person, just skip over the names of the dogs or the info on the courage test, something that is required to pass before admittance into the conformation competition for dogs and bitches over 24 months of age. Incidentally, dogs are strictly limited to the classes comprising their ages. There are no other class divisions except for the small (age-separated, again) herding-titled dogs. The 24-months and up classes require a Schutzhund title or equivalent, and the HGH dogs also have elements of protection in those herding titles, so such things as courage and gunsureness/strong nerves are constantly being selected for this way.

The question of how much turmoil and change might come about with the change of judges for the all-important Working Males class (those 24 months and older with working titles) turned out to be needless worry. Erich Orschler did not rock any boats or even make small waves as he put up for Sieger/VA-1 the dog almost everyone expected to someday get the title, Larus v. Batu. The fact that the judge bred him was nothing for him to worry about, either, as Orschler is retiring from judging after this year (mandatory in the SV’s discriminatory age-limit rules). It would have done no good, anyway, if anyone had complained. Larus pretty much earned his place.

At one point I was able to get inside the inner sanctum and collar the SV president and talk with him about the changes he and the board had in mind. Herr Wolfgang Henke told me that he would be trying to rotate the job of judging the adult males in the future. Historically, one man (usually the president) would do the honors year after year, and another would do the adult (over 2 years) females every time; Leonhard Schweikert has been judging that class for the past few years since Helmut Buss got fired. It will be interesting to see how the rotation is handled, but I doubt if there will be much further change in the methods, top dogs, or anything else. After all, SV judges are thoroughly trained and watched to make sure they all judge the same way, and see pretty much the same things in the dogs. By the time they have judged a few 12-18 and/or 18-24-mo. classes, they are quite predictable. This is not an AKC-type game where one will pitch underhand, the next will pitch overhand, and a third will roll the ball across the plate --- all of us SV judges are rigorously trained the same way.

Dogs get to the top VA (excellent-select) category by doing well in the previous year’s younger classes at the Sieger Show, and by doing a lot of winning during the spring and summer leading up to the big show. They have to prove themselves many times, not just fly in and make a single flash-in-the-pan appearance. Another usual prerequisite is showing a good progeny class. If the young adult has no progeny on the ground or has not produced anything notable yet, it is highly unlikely he will get a top berth in the V categories at the Sieger Show.

One of the very important parts of the show for the breeder and buyer is held on the first day, Friday. Last year at Ulm (where it will be again in 2005), we had the good fortune to be able to see both the females and the males do their courage test qualifications for entry into the conformation ring. The fields are separated by a canvas fence so the dogs cannot see the “helper” (agitator) work going on in the other field; at Karlsruhe, there is only a low earthen stepped bank to sit on, so observers cannot see both at once, either. It is by close observation of the dogs’ performance that many breeding decisions are formed or reversed. For example, a friend in Georgia who was going to breed his bitch to the flashy Zamp Thermodos a couple days after the show changed his mind when the dog failed to get Ausgeprägt by refusing to convincingly engage (attack and bite confidently when pressed by the helper). Zamp is too “good” a dog in many minds, not to have a year of preparation ahead of him for the next chance; Ghandi Arlett failed last year, and it was very obvious a lot of work went into getting his biting routine flawless for this year’s show --- as a result, he was VA-8 this year. Watch for Zamp to do similarly.

Of course, there’s always the chance such a dog may go to a country with big wallets and no courage test requirements, the way VA-10 Huppy Arlett did. Huppy was sold to China after his failure. I judged him in 2003 as an older dog, in Beijing, and he still had tremendous powerful drive and reach. The handsome Esko son, V-4 Chuck van der Lust, had also failed to qualify in 2003 but is back in the statistics this year. This year the judging of the courage test for males was a big disappointment to me. There were so many dogs that I would have given a “Vorhanden” (“present”) but that the judge gave “Ausgeprägt” (pronounced)!

Since the bitework means so much to me, and even though I acknowledge that performance by a show-lines dog may be a result of less training than that of a working-lines dog, I want to mention some specific dogs. Friday is a very long day, but I saw nearly every male do his work. The beautiful Orbit Tronje son Gonzalez could have had a slightly better second bite (the long-distance attack), but that was no reason to pull him from competition. I am guessing that the reason he is listed in the results as “EZ” (excused) was because his owner did not like his initial and temporary placing after the “individual exams”. The dogs after leaving the bite test go to the main arena for the stand-for-exam and gaiting, and the breed judge there gives them their rough position in the line-up. It is here that many owners, dissatisfied with the starting position given, find some excuse not to bring the dog back for the group judging later. The tabulation does not list the details, but it’s an open secret that all these “entschuldigt zurückgezogen” (pulled & excused) dogs certainly cannot have taken sick, even though on paper the only way to do so is to get the official vet to give a paper that is then handed to the judge or his steward. It’s a big, shameful joke. The dog gets a slap on the wrist (very temporary breeding ban but by then he has probably used up most of his allowed number of stud services anyway) and can start anew not long afterwards. Owners feel it’s a good trade for not having the dog’s name so openly listed lower in the rankings than his competition --- after all, not that many people look at the end for the names of those excused.

Notable courage test performances:
The Triumph’s Gucci sons such as V114 Enzo Blauen Kristall and V113 Apoll Basileia
Henry Dunieschenke son V7
Mark Schwalmbergtal
VA-1 Larus
VA2 Hill
VA3 Erasmus
VA4 Orbit Huhnegrab
VA5 Quirin
VA7 Ando
Romeo Pallas-Athene’s UK son V9 Elan Herderskring bred by Peter Oirschot
Huppy son V128 Hobby Farbenspiel
Cento Monopteros son V60 Kerry Torberg
Baru Haus Yu’s sons V65 Ricco Domaine du Parc and V26 Merlin Aurelius
Untox son V20 Canto Frankengold
Quartz Templari’s great-working 6-year-old V147 Hero Spitalfeld
the Hoss son Karo Herdersfarm (EZ)
the Yasko sons U-5 Kuschy Blue-Iris (U is Insufficient in conformation) and Athos Friesenblick
and V28 Ghildo (an Italian son of Til Lechtal)

Even better were performances:
Ando son, V39 Boy Tönsbrock, who flew through the air for a great grip

V138 Alf Hammer Burg
V66 Focus Maarue
V87 Rambo Hellufer
some of whom were from working-lines kennels.

Best of all in the courage test, though was V144 Ursus Fürstentum Lippe bred by R. Kämpfer of Bielefeld, an area with many good trainers. Not very good in temperament/bitework were too many of the sons of Yello St. Michaels-Berg (Enzo Buchhorn); you will read in last year’s report that I said of Yello himself: “he took too many re-bites in the Schutzdienst for my liking.” Genetics will out!

Otherwise promising dogs pulled after the standing exam included Yak Frankengold, Oliver Laacher-Haus, and Karo Herdersfarm. Failing the test were nice-looking dogs such as Boss Elzmündungsraum and Natz Herdersfarm, the latter offered to a friend of mine recently for about $30,000! I have already reported several placings, but want to also mention that Karat’s Ulk, a Danish dog, was in approximately 5th place toward the end, but was moved out of the VA category in the last moments because of ineligibility. His mother’s papers were not acceptable to the SV because both her parents had not a German Körung (breed survey). So according to the rules, he could not get a VA and ended up as V-1. The V2 Karat’s Yoker, is from the same kennel in Denmark.

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Fred Lanting will be leading more non-profit, expertly guided tours of the Sieger Show and surrounding Europe in 2005 and 2006. The 2005 tour will feature Bavaria and Austria; the 2006 tour will include the northern Rhine and Holland. Fred may consider a trip to the Bundessiegerprufung, the SV Schutzhund and Agility Championship if there is enough interest. For more information, contact Fred at mrgsd@hiwaay.net