LOOKING BACK
by Malcolm Griffiths
When Steve Foran asked me to write an article for this special catalogue I promised I
would try and find time to do so. Apart from the fact that it is now clear that the
Crewe and North Staffs Club is fast becoming one of the most forward thinking in the
Country, its committee positively incites one to help in any way possible.
I am therefore pleased to support this club in any of its endeavours and if my ramblings can be of interest then that is fine by me.
The suggested title given was "Experiences whilst showing and handling in, Germany". I have no problem recollecting many incidents which you may find interesting for it is in Germany you will find your level in the world league title albeit being English one could deduct a few penalty points before you start.
I first handled and presented a dog in Continental Europe as far back as 1980 or 81.
We had at the time considerable contact with Gert Bolkesteijn (Senior and Junior) in
Holland. I was always keen to show in Germany and Holland provided a stepping
stone towards that goal.
I well remember arriving for the Sieger Show in Holland with "Bedwins Onyx" owned at the time in partnership with Judy Lloyds. Sired by Can Ch. Iro V Pilgersberg out of my first imported German bitch, Anja v Komtureihof (2CCs). She was just eleven months and the classes then were for young bitches 10 months to 15 months if my memory serves me right.
It was a thoroughly nerve wrecking experience and in fact my nerves have never been 100% whilst showing at any subsequent European show. Onyx was presented I think by Gert jnr and made a credible SHII from approximately 40 bitches. I think Tony Trant would have the video of the show as I seem to remember he was there together with Terry and Lilly Hannan, Nelly Wright and several other UK friends. After the show it was decided to leave Onyx in Holland for her to train for Schutzhund. She was shown several times after that making decent places. Eventually she was mated to the Res Sieger Quanto Wienerau son Reza v Haus Beck and returned to the UK in whelp. Bedwins Rez was the result who was later sold to Sweden.
So that was the introduction. I bought several other German dogs, few of which came to the UK. I once bought a very nice son of the VA Dog Kanto v Konigstrasse called Olaf v Scifferdorf. I showed and handled him at the Dutch Sieger show in or about 1983 and later at the German Sieger Show when Eiko Kirschental made young sieger. Olaf made about SG39 and was sold to Malaysia where he became a top winner.Other dogs included Quero V Kopenkamp whose brother Quanto came to the UK.
He was a great mover and made again around SG40 and was sold to South Africa.
Yanka v d Rahnstrasse I owned when shown in Dortmund in or about 1985. She
made SG39 and was exported to Trinidad.
I suppose my biggest thrill though was when I arrived at the 1988 Sieger Show in Bremen. About the first person I saw was Walter Martin who asked me to handle his bitch Vaneska von der Wienerau in the open class under Dr Beck. I don't think I had ever seen Vaneska prior to that. Walter made young Sieger at the same show with Zamb. After completion of the young dogs I walked over to the open class stadium with Walter who said she had a good chance of a top V position. "Don't worry, you will make the off lead gaiting too Malcolm". Once I'd finished choking on my Frankfurter I said, "No way, Walter, am I doing the off lead with a bitch I've never even handled or met before. "Yes, yes it's no problem for you". After a heated discussion Walter finally agreed to come in and do it. A shame really as with the benefit of hindsight I couldn't have made a worse job than Walter who literally "Spun out" at the first bend and proceeded to have a heated exchange with another handler with words to the effect "Would you do that to your mother you xxxxx!!".
The tannoy crackled into action, Vaneska was called out 8th overall - the borderlire between VA and V1. I entered the ring and spent the next two hours handling and going through the mental torture of VA or V1, lose a position Griffiths and you could cost the world's greatest breed a VA grade.
The heat, the agony, the mental torture and my nerves, what nerves? They were shredded a long time ago. It was now pure adrenilin, which incidentally is brown and leaves skid marks on your underpants!
Well apart from Walter cocking up the off lead bit, Vaneska did indeed make the last VA position, but I would have to say there were only three bitches ahead of her who were in my view worthy. Walter was pleased I was relieved it was all over.
I then handled the SG4 Jello von der Wienerau in Frankfurt 1990. Walter had told me all year "You must present Jello at the Sieger Show". I never handled Jello all year. I arrived at the Sieger show and asked Walter what was happening. He replied that hi didn't know yet but I could be handling. Walter did the individual the first day. On the third day in the morning I arrived promptly and asked again was I handling Jello "It's not clear yet". Again the loudspeaker -Jello was called out SG1! At that moment, Walter turned to me and said "Okay, you handle Jello' literally not one minute before the dog was to lead the junghund class at the world's biggest show. I had never had a hand on the dog before and certainly had no idea how he went, his strong points and failings. It was for me a disaster. Called out second was Germany top handler Dieter Wust, a man whose physical skill is only matched by his foxcunning. He was handling the young Atlas v Bad Boll.
Once we lined up he turned to me and said "Don't worry Ma!colm, you are the winner today". Yes, I thought, over your dead body! The class commenced walking.Jello was not a walker, he was a trotter. He looked ungainly at a slow walk and was not in the best condition after an operation to remove his tonsils two weeks before the show, and having managed to escape from the vets, spend the next two hours ducking between cars in Wurzburg high street.
We walked a few laps, Walter screaming instructions from outside the ring. "A little quicker" so I eased Jello into a very slow trot - his best pace. The Judge, Reinhardt Meyer was having none of it and insisted we walk slow. After two or three laps he put Atlas first. It was all predicted long before the show. The class halted after about half an hour of slow walking. The steward called the first four dogs forward for a round at trot and extended gaiting. Wust started to complain that Frau Martin was attracting Jello from inside the ring, his first tactical maneouver, then he walked slowly approaching the corner from which we were all to gait the dogs, speaking fluent English for my benefit, "Slowly, slowly, nice and steady". Now I have seen some things move pretty quickly in my time, like me pursued by two villains in a street in Ormskirk, or one of Marion ElIisons greyhounds drawn in trap 5 at Shawfield Stadium on a cold winters night, but never had I seen anyone take off with a dog in the ring like Dieter Wust and Atlas v Bad Boll. Don't forget, the guy had half hypnotised me by this point. I was ready for counting sheep, he was ready for slaughtering them. Jello never moved a leg and was demoted to SG4 and in my view was lucky on his performance to stay there.
So ended the Frankfurt Sieger show, with me extremely disappointed, feeling I had let the side down. My only consolation was that Jello never did beat Atlas or the SG3 Cim v Ecknachtal at any time in his career, so I assume it was a a big game from start to finish and Jello couldn't have won anyway. The SG2 Adrian v Noort was exported after the show.
Another memory which gives me a great amount of satisfaction was the occasion of the Lorsch Show, the hometown of former president of the SV, Herr Christopher Rummell. The year 1990. A phone call from Walter Martin. "Please Malcolm, you have to fly to Frankfurt this weekend to handle my new puppy bitch". As usual, little notice. The judge on the day, Herr Hans Peter Rieker. The puppy was always outstanding. I remember seeing her at 5 months with someone who was keeping her for Walter, and thought her outstanding. At the time Walter preferred her sister.
The class for 9-12 females entered the ring. I knew she had to win and so she did in great style. She's never been beaten since. Her name - Vanta von der Wienerau, the one animal as close to the living standard as I have ever seen.
I have, over the years, handled for many foreign clients. I regularly used to attend shows in Spain to handle for Dr Luis Soldevilla. It was at one such show, the Sieger show in Madrid. The judge, Dr Rummell. A record entry for the event. It was not uncommon for French animals to be shown at the show together with some Germans who made the long road journey. There was great speculation as an extremely wealthy gentleman had bought that year's Siegerin, Anousch v Trienzbachtal. Of course she would have to win, or would she? The year was 1981, the open bitch was strong indeed.
A locally bred female owned and bred by Manolo Martin, the President of the German Shepherd Dog Club of Spain was presented in great form. To the crowds' amazement, Dr Rummell proceeded to place the Spanish bitch first and Anousch second. The crowd went wild, much booing and heckling, but Dr Rummell took this as a compliment and gestured thanks to the crowd. It was a truly remarkable event and one I shall never forget. Dr Rummell was lucky to reach Madrid Airport in one piece.
At another such show with Dr Rummell again judging, I was asked to handle the previous years Sieger, a son of the VA dog Lasso Val Di Sole. The dog was very good and in great physical condition. He had won the title the year before under Herr Grottendiek. His owner lived in Majorca and was a real expert at the "double handling" stakes. The dog was called out first, fell back to second to a German dog handled by a lad from Germany. In the fast gait my dog won the day and was crowned Sieger for the second year. I bought him after the show and he did well both in the UK as a sire and in Australia where he ended his days. The dog was Ogus De Colombo and his blood runs in the veins of several of the dogs presented at today's show.
That day, the Siegerin was a french bitch called Maggi De Flamme. She was one of the greatest moving bitches I have ever seen. She simply flew with a fantastic light footed action. Fantasia was the nearest thing I ever saw to her in type. At the completion of judging Rummell asked for the bitch to do a lap of honour and explained how rare it was to see such outstanding movement.
The easiest animal I ever showed was Vanta. What a feeling to have something like her on the end of the lead. The hardest was Jello, simply because he was a dog you had to get to know beforehand. Something I never had the opportunity to do.
As I said at the beginning, you find your level in German. I have handled all over world for the past 20 years, but for the first few times in Germany you know you are up against some hard professionals who know every trick in the book. They should, they invented most of them.
If I was to record my biggest thrill in Germany it would have to be 1991 in Karlsruhe where Bedwins Nuschka was called out SG9 in Ihejugend class finishing SG11. Can you imagine the sense of pride at having bred a female, her mother, her grandmothher great grandmother, importing her great great grandmother, breeding her grandsire, importing his dam, and then being told by a world specialist, "Yes, you're good enough to be in the top 10 at the world's biggest show. She was the result of 20 years studying watching, dreaming and yes, please, a little skill?
