A VIEW OF THE SIEGER DORTMUND 1993
(Or its ok we are from Manchester)
By Steve Foran
By Steve ForanDeciding to drive across Holland and into Germany for the Seiger Show after a 2 year break was the easy bit: however, when your route finder has a problem with his left and right turns, boy are you in trouble! Our hotel was set in a beautiful village at the head of a valley overlooking the river Lenne. The hair on the top lip of our receptionist Sabine, was also kind of attractive, as it glinted in the light from the bar. We negotiated the short trip to the show with ease on the first day. Not an awful lot to see, but a great day for shopping. Barter..you should have seen me, I managed to get my leads up from 12D/M to 14 D/M in a very short space of time. We watched Rudiger Mai judging the herding classes, a nice young bitch by Fanto ex Anni v Huhnegrab caught my eye. We missed most of the Schutzund tests, however the rumours were rife amongst the Brits, did you see Visum fail his man work? The Batu dog ran away, etc, etc. The effect of the Dangerous Dogs Act seems to have reached Germany, where the control, or lack of it, was to be heavily penalised. ( Rightly so in my view!)
The end of a tiring day, aching feet, empty wallet and more of those amusing left and right turns. We had arranged to meet some (ex) friends for a meal during the evening, unfortunately we were 6 and a half minutes late and we missed them: however if we had asked at their hotel we would have found the note that they had left for us. Still, undaunted by this set back we found a restaurant with one small drawback in the shape of a substitute judge whom I dared to criticize earlier in the year in print. The waiter very kindly sat us behind his party which enhanced my meal no end. It would have enhanced Andy's meal but the waiter only heard an order for three starters, therefore, after pointing out the error of his ways, Andy received his soup which turned out to be a little on the warm side: it actually fused his lips together. Our neighbours left without saying goodbye, but I was told at the show that the poor judging was down to waiting for handlers; so thee you go handlers it was all our fault! The drive home gave rise to the "It's OK we are from Manchester" statement, having got lost numerous times and blinding our continental friends with our headlights we decided that this may actually help us to explain our demeanour.
Saturday, Progeny day, and something to look forward to. As normal it was a sight to behold, plenty of colour, discipline and hundreds of beautiful dogs. Sadly Uran was not to put on a group, but Odin did which he lead himself. He surely is some dog, possibly the best construction one is likely to see. 31 groups were displayed: Mark v Haus Beck had his own group, he was also the sire of 6 other sires presenting groups. Of the groups I noted I liked the following:
AJAX v HALLER OSNING, a very good, dry, firm group.
CELLO v d ROMERAU, a quality group of large looking animals.
FOLEMARKENS JASSO, all seemed to have a good outlook.
YAGO v WILDSTEIGERLAND, impressive group, balanced.
Oh to have such stock at home!!
One point of note was the condition of the dogs. All of the dogs are so superbly turned out, hard, dry, firm, well muscled and fit. It really does highlight some of the so called Champions here in England. Phrases like "he could have gone all day" should be outlawed.
Following lunch we decided to watch some of the individuals in the Junior Dog and Bitch ring. I didn't get a chance to spot any of the stars of the show in the younger classes, however the earlier feast of quality was enough for one day. At this stage I feel that I must mention two Brits who decided to take a 15 minute tram ride from the show back to their hotel. One minor problem being their lack of German, this led to them travelling for about 2 hours in the wrong direction. On the other hand we spent over an hour looking for a non-existent Indian restaurant in Dortmund, which turned out to be an Art Décor shop! Thanks for the directions friends.
Sunday; the day.
The junior bitch class was judged by Herr Fauser, he judged females at the League show this year. I personally was not over impressed by the final line up. Visum v Arminius sired 1st, 3rd & 5th. The second bitch was by Kimon v Dan Alhedy's Hoeve, and the fourth was by Gorbi v Bad Boll.
Junior dog was judged by Johann Meyer, the winner was by Kimon, as was the 5th. The winner KARLY v ARMINIUS is a very good dog with an excellent outlook, I have reservations about his colour as his black saddle is very faded. Malcolm Griffiths had five animals entered this year, in this class he gained SG16. with his Jeck son, a very creditable achievement for which he is to be applauded.
Walter Martin judged Special Yearling Bitch and here I found one or two which I had spotted in the progeny groups. I'm particular I liked the first bitch KARLA v WIESENBORN, who is by Hoss Hasenborn, and the sixth placed bitch PRISCA v OXSALIS who is by Cim v Ecknatal. The leading 6 bitches were by Hoss, Jello v d Wienerau, Gorbi, Watz Schornfelsen, Zamb vd Wienerau and Cim. As is normal for me I would have taken any of the first 50 dogs home given half a chance.
The Special Yearling Dog class was judged by Peter Messler, who is tipped to take over from Herman Martin in the big ring (someday!) The class was superb, filled with quality dogs. I thought this was one of the highlights of the trip. The class was won by EROS v d LUISENSTRASSE, a Cello v d Romerau son, whom I had admired the previous day. Surely a star in the making; and judging by the other Cello sons, he should produce. The leading dogs really filled your eye, particularly in the big ring in the sunshine where they were paraded for us. The first 6 dogs were by 6 different sires: Cello, Atlas Bad Boll, Folemarkens Jasso, Landro v Monchberg(Henning son), Jeck and Darius v Wattenscheid (Rony v Arminius son).
Adult Bitches were judged by Reinhard Meyer this year as, I believe Dr Beck was ill. In front of him he had an unbelievable class of quality bitches. I thought his judging was very good; he certainly gave every one a fair chance. Of particular note was a bitch called MONA v HAUS SCHRIEBER, whilst moving the class in groups of five or six it was obvious that this young lady could fly, and boy did she move! On the lead her owner/handler, although fit, could hardly keep pace with her (he was in his seventies). Allowed to gait off the lead she was a picture, absolutely fantastic. Tremendous forward reach and superb drive she left her owner and the other bitches for dead, to the great enjoyment of the crowd. This bitch oozed everything you could wish to see in a correctly constructed shepherd gaiting without any apparent effort. At this point she was moved up from about place 35 and up to the first group of twenty or so bitches. Then she came out again, with Herr Meyer judging from the back to the front in groups of 5 or 6, the crowd behind me in the seats were now clapping in unison waiting for Mona, and off she went; truly the sight of the show for me finishing V8. Two things here, here sire line goes back to Dingo v Haus Gero and the judge owned Iso Berganshoff, a former sieger who was also a striking mover. The Siegerin was PALIE v TRIENZBACHTAL, who did not put a foot wrong, a superb bitch and a worthy title winner. This was the fifth such award to the Triezbachtal Kennel. Second was NATHALIE v d WIENERAU, a repeat of Vanta, who to me looked a little heavy on the day. The 7 V.A. bitches were by Yago, Zamb, Enzo vd Romerau, (who is the same breeding as Yago), Fanto, Nikor, Eros v Baiselsberg and Cello.
So on to the dogs. Nine V.A. dogs this year, as has been the way for the last seven years. Heavily tipped because of his progeny, this years Sieger JECK v NORICUM, followed by ATLAS v BAD BOLL, HOSS v HASENBORN, KIMON v ALHEDY's HOEVE, WATZ v SCHORNFELSEN, ULK v ARLETT, AJAX v HALLER OSNING, NERO v HIRSHCEL and CASH v WILDSTEIGERLAND. I personally feel that this year too, much emphasis was placed on the offspring of the Sieger, he had an obvious problem with his ears, looked washed out and appears to be no more than an adequate mover. One of the biggest disappointments was Kimon, a truly marvellous dog to look at, but displays no enthusiasm for gaiting at all. I have heard it said that the dog does not have a good character but I cannot say if this is true.
The V.A. group shows the following sires: Odin, Cello (2 & 3), Mark, Fanto, Yago, Fando, Zamb and Jack Trienzbachtal. Of the dogs I felt that ULK v ARLETT, AJAX, CASH and the V.1. dog CIM v ECKNACHTAL deserved their placing's as all showed well, with enthusiasm until the very end of judging.
As I said earlier, the quality, condition, fitness and construction was truly mouth-watering; despite my comments on the top dogs, any of the top 50 males would probably achieve their title in the U.K. One or two points spring to mind. Gorbi v Bad Boll sired some very good young stock, yet he was in the very lowest of positions in the V group. I know he is big , but he appears to be a well constructed dog; It may be that I've missed something! The method of showing allows very little over running, the dogs walk for hours and the fitness and condition of the animal is there to be seen, yet here the U.K. type cannot run and are shown overweight and soft. On the other side of the coin we tear around like maniacs thinking it is some sort of race. They are not perfect in Germany, but I think we could learn far more than we currently seem to know. Also in this country, many animals are written off and not given a chance to mature; if you've not made it by 2 ½ - 3 years of age then that's it because a good junior/ special yearling starts to take the top honours. Look at Rosetown Jack and Jupaala Ringo at the 2-Day Show, both very good dogs, but both are now fully mature and they look better for it. Perhaps we could still introduce some kind of option for judges to preclude animals under two years of age from being awarded Challenge Certificates & Reserve CertificatesLets allow them to 'grow up' first.
Finally, the condition of the animals is something else. I watched Kimon from about five yards away whilst he was walking in the class, he was gleaming, his back was solid and I could see the muscles as he moved. I just hope that I can put some of what I have seen into my own dogs in terms of condition.
So that's it. My view of the Sieger 93'. However I cannot finish without mentioning the superb command of the German language I saw and heard being used. One incident involving a confused waitress and an apple strudel springs to mind. Could you understand " 2 of those with that, 2 of those with this, not that with that and that with this because now I've only got one and there's two in the picture" even if it was said in English!!! The waitress only spoke German.
Anyhow, anyone for BREMEN 1994??
