IMPRESSIONS
 2001 Sieger Show - Düsseldorf

David Payne – Videx

Held in Düsseldorf Germany, a venue favoured by the SV, many exhibitors and visitors because of its convenient location, spacious facilities and a stadium that provides greater prospects of being able to see the many beautiful dogs competing from around the world. A problem at most other venues, unless you get a good seat or you have decent binoculars.

As soon as the venue for the Sieger Show is known, usually whilst attending the current Sieger Show, many start their planning their trip for the following year. Karlsrühe 2002 is now in the diaries of many thousands of GSD lovers around the world.

As usual many trips are organized to the Sieger Show, by coach, airplane and road/ferry/Chunnel. Some in groups are 50 plus, others as few as 4 or more. Many of the larger organised trips by coach usually allocate some of their hotel rooms for those who prefer to make their own travel arrangements. This has the dual benefit of facilitating those that do not like coach travel, but want to enjoy the economical benefits of large numbers booking into a hotel, and of course also enjoy the marvellous atmosphere that can be generated by a large group of GSD lovers getting together at a single hotel.

I went on this Sieger trip with three others, flying from Stansted Airport with Buzz Airline for £50 return. We stayed at the Bismarck Hotel, three stars with a swimming pool, gym and sauna. Of course any suggestion that you could NOT keep me out of the gym is totally true. I must say the Bismarck Hotel was excellent, even the occasional company of John Thomas did not spoil it (mind you Sue kept an eye on him)

Rose and Harry Emmett had their usual coach trip, as did Bill Carrier. Bob Davies from Heads of the Valley GSD Club ran his, which flies out from Heathrow. These are the larger organised trips.

The Sieger Show starts on the Friday, show opens at 7.00am with the judges doing their individual examinations of the dogs, and the tests of courage and control for those entered in the Working Dog Class (for Dogs older than 2 years and must have one Working title – at least SchH1)

I was worried about the weather, because the four-day CNN forecast for Düsseldorf
was for low pressure, which would bring rain and cloud. We all know the difference good weather makes to the enjoyment of attending a dog show, so you will understand my concerns. As it happened we were very lucky, some persistent rain and drizzle on the Friday, but only light showers, and sunny spells for Saturday and Sunday, overall quite good really.

THE GERMAN SHEPHERD DOGS (at last)
Well I must say this year I was really impressed with the Males, much more that the Females. For me a vintage Male year.

This years Sieger Yasko Farbenspiel, a product of Sieger Ursus von Batu x Siegerin Connie Farbenspiel, was most impressive in the big ring, I had my doubts about him on the Saturday, when he looked some 3 kgs underweight, and somewhat lacking sparkle. Many others observed that he had not developed on, one particular comment, which I found rather harsh, “he looked like a big bitch”. Many were disappointed with him on the Saturday, but I on the big occasion, when it really mattered, his owners spruced him up, and he looked the full part, gaining the coveted crown of Sieger.

It must be said his construction, pedigree and progeny, contributed to him gaining the title. The Sieger Show is not just a beauty contest, like here in the UK. I do wish this would be remembered.

In my opinion Yasko was very fortunate to have had a female like Alke van Noort be mated by him so early in his stud career. She is without doubt a top producer, especially of males. Alke’s ‘E’ litter van Noort, provided Yasko with several of his top placed progeny, Erasmus SG 2 and Elliot SG 10, in the yearling class. Last Year Alke produced Xanadu & Xenius van Noort to Vice Sieger Timo Berrekasten, in my opinion his best progeny.

Yasko also sired the beautiful young Sieger Larus von Batu, a dog with many fans around the world, but also having many who are aware of his small imperfections. The GSD past time of ‘discovering’ the faults in a beautiful Male Shepherd is alive and well. I use the word ‘discovering’ because when you hear these negative comments, they are said with a very knowledgeable tone, as if THEY have JUST discovered them, and they are teaching you something. I just wish they would temper their perceived wisdom with constructive praise of the dogs many equally obvious merits.

Timo Berrekasten was a little out of coat, which made his much vaunted ‘bone strength’ look more realistically normal. His progeny was quite normal – as the Main Results list demonstrates. V 23 males, V 25 females, SG 23 Y. males, SG 25 J. females. Why he makes Vice Sieger astounds me.
VA 3 Mack Aducht looked and performed very well. He is improving with maturity, as should be the case. His progeny was very good, and many had his wonderful strength of head and expression. VA 4 Esko Danischen Hof was not for me in the best condition, indeed when he walked in the main ring on Sunday afternoon, I heard the comment; “it looks like he has just got out of bed”. His progeny was for me the highlight of this years Sieger Show. As one renowned British visitor said on Saturday morning watching his Progeny Group, which was the biggest and therefore the last to parade, “I have been wondering all morning ‘why am I here? Then along comes Esko’s progeny group and I have goose bumps all over. If Messler does not make Esko Sieger he wants sacking” We both knew that there was little chance of Esko making Sieger. It is worth looking at the Main Results to see how Esko’s progeny faired – V12 open male, V6 & V7 open female, SG6 Y. male, SG10 & SG25 Y. female, SG4 -SG8 -SG15 –SG21 J.male, SG7 –SG14 J. female, it is worth doing a comparison with the VA1, 2 & 3. VA 5 Untox Ducati a very well constructed dog, with superb movement, NO progeny last year when first making the VA group, and I was not impressed with his first progeny this year, looking at the Main Results, I think the Judges agreed.

VA 6 Dux della Valcuvia, a dog whose construction is not ideal, excellent movement and attitude, but those ears tipped back, both of them, and his forward placed shoulder and front assembly, is not for me, having said that he had some top winning progeny SG3 & SG4 Y. males, SG1 Youth Siegerin Ronda. I did not like the SG3 Quantum Arminius, he looked totally out of place, I would have put him SG 30+.

VA7 Bax is a superb male, with excellent breeding, he has his sires weak pasterns, but his attributes are many and of the highest quality. A dog that is attracting the top females and many of the top kennels.

VA7 Neptun Bad-Boll a strong dog of excellent colour, strong head, and outstanding character, just like his sire Yassko von der Roten Matter, produces some really good ones but not many of them. He is the sire of the SG6 yearling female. Last years Youth Sieger Rapi Supra was, in my opinion, not worthy of his SG1 place, and this year only managed V 31, which I felt was generous.

Of the V graded males I was disappointed to see Hoss go down to V10 from V1 last year, his progeny were more impressive that many of the VA dogs, as they were last year. Just look at the MAIN RESULTS. Some thought Ghandi Arlett was too small and bitch-like in his size and general overall build when he gained SG2 last year, however he gained V13 this year and I must say I saw a super 7 month female bred & owned by a Spanish Kennel, watch out for her next year, Nicky Brunskilltal, breeder William Hartley, a Yorkshireman living and breeding GSD in Spain. It must be the sun!

The V2 dog Domino could have been mine when he was 8 weeks old, I went to the Kennel where he was born, with Joe Horsefield and Bill Owen (I took them on German trip with me) I could have had any male from the litter out of Thea, but I could not place it in quarantine. I was delighted to see him V2.

Some tips for future VA’s – Orbit Tronje, better than his sire, and very well connected. Henry Dunieschenke, a super son of Esko, with a super bitch line, and only just over 2 years old. Benno Hohen-Haus, better than his sire, indeed a truly outstanding prospect.

Working class females, over 2 years old – This class was very disappointing in overall quality, for me this became more obvious as the Stadium did not fill up, indeed many very good seats were available throughout Sunday afternoon. This is something I have never experienced before at a Sieger Show, speculation as to the fundamental reasons for this was both interesting and amusing. One thing is for certain; Peter Messler and Leonhard Schweikert will ignore this development at their peril.

The group I was sitting with were surprised that two Shanto Xano daughters made V1 and V2, they were both somewhat over-developed. The real star was Betty Huhnegrab. There were some real super females back in the V gradings; hopefully they will make their mark next year.

The Yearling male class – 18 to 24 months, was of particular interest to me, mainly because I had used a young Dutch dog, who was competing, and who had already made Youth Sieger at the Dutch Sieger Show some weeks earlier. Odin Hornerei, a super son of the outstanding Jango Furstenberg. He eventually finished SG8, a pleasing result, but I felt he deserved SG3.

One very noticeable observation in this class was the number of VERY big dogs at and near the front; indeed I know Odin is exactly 65 cms. So it was VERY easy for me to COMPARE the other dogs around him for the duration of the class. I do not criticize the Judge for this, because in the main (except the SG3) they were magnificent males, I hasten to add not just in size, but also in overall construction and movement. I get very angry when big but otherwise superb males get penalized heavily for their size. We just do not have enough superb correct sized males to allow this to happen.

Erasmus van Noort must surely be a force to be used and reckoned with in the future. A magnificent, big male, from an outstanding litter. Champ von Dakota, owned by Cedric Blackbourne (a big one for Cedric, famed for using his measuring stick when he Judges). This is another superbly constructed male, a sable with much better construction than Timo, and I can only hope he is promoted with as much vigour.

I was unable to watch the yearling females, but I have it on good authority that they were overall very large and robust females in the high places. I had been told that the Judge had been placing some importance on big strong females throughout the year.

Junior males – 12 to 18 months- The favourite won, I had been hearing about Larus for several months, many thought him wonderful, even as good as Odin Tannenmeise, others thought he was very good, but not that good. After seeing him, I agree with the latter. There were some superb Esko sons in this class, a true mark of a great producer; they can produce many magnificent sons. Another male also gave indications of producing well in this class, Zycco Arminius; he rammed this home with the winner of the Junior female class Repitition Amanda, who had some very beautiful females behind her. Once again Esko and Hoss had very highly place progeny.

Henning Setzer judged the Junior female class, and as many of you know he is a very good friend of my wife and I. On the rare occasion we managed to get together he explained that he was doing individual critiques for 14 hours on Friday, and continued on Saturday, judging the rear groups, spending some 14 hours. On Sunday he completed some 8 hours, with a small break while the Judging of Open Males & Females took place. Considering he had also judged most weekends, from late March to early August, it is easy to see the dedication required by an SV Judge, and the fantastic Judging experience the Sieger Show Judges gain. Here in the UK, we just play at the GSD show sport.

It would be remiss of me if I did not mention the English competitors at this 2001 Sieger Show. Gayvilles Italia SG74 Junior female class and Willowdale Emme SG88 in the yearling female class. Both of these females are very successful competitors in the English Show scene, but it just shows you how far behind we are when they only gain these placings. I applaud both of the owners, and feel sure they have gained very valuable experience. I just hope they will recognize the need for the great changes required in the UK to improve the chances of us competing more successfully in the future.

Watching these two English competitors brought back the proud memories I have of my very good friend Malcolm Griffith competing VERY successfully at the Sieger Show. What a tremendous loss to the UK GSD scene, No one has come close to having or gaining his many talents with our breed, deep-rooted natural talent. He could spot a good shepherd in the blink of an eye, he could see a producing male before any puppies where born by him, and he had an uncanny ability of assessing shepherds which was awesome. Many top German breeders and SV Judges genuinely admired his talent. I spent a lot of time with Malcolm over the years, much of that time in Germany. I miss him a lot, and yes! He is still my friend.

His Sieger Show results were as follows: BEDWINS XORRO SG16 - 1993, V33 – 1994, VA3 Swiss Sieger 1994. BEDWINS NUSCHKA SG11 – 1992. BEDWINS NICKOR SG25 – 1993, VA in Japan 1994. BEDWINS CIRA SG21 – 1993, V39 – 1994.

God willing, I will see you next year at Karlsruhe. 

David Payne - Videx GSD