IMPRESSIONS
 Sieger Show 2002 in Karlsrühe

David Payne – Videx

Held in Karlsrühe Germany, a rather compact venue, regularly used by the SV and considered by many exhibitors and visitors to be somewhat less than ideal for this great annual show. The spectators viewing around the four rings outside the main stadium is the main reason for their dissatisfaction. I must say the compact area for the stalls, including the traditional fruit stall, complete with running water and sinks for washing the fruit, and the food and drinking facilities, does tend to get rather over-crowded. The benefit being the social gathering that takes place, especially with many foreign friends, is most enjoyable. Some Brits seem to take advantage of every opportunity for social drinking, I regularly bumped into Dennis Vessey, having said that, I do find his company most enjoyable, and the more I drink the more I enjoy it.

The FOUR day CNN weather forecast suggested the show would have cloud, showers, rain and storms, over the 3 days. Apart from rain and a little thunder and lightning on Saturday evening, the weather for the three days was superb, clear blue skies and sunny all day, with very comfortable temperatures (except at 7am on Sunday morning) when we went early to get a good seat to watch the 12 to 18 month males class. It was really cold, and Brian (no jacket) Wadlow suffered in silence.

I go to most Sieger Shows with, Brian Wadlow. We spend considerable time with our many foreign friends. Friends from Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, India, Spain, Peru etc. This year many were very successful and we celebrated regularly, culminating in a wonderful celebration on Sunday evening with the owners of the very beautiful SG4 female JHKLH, Anta vom Ben Harten, in a superb Italian restaurant, filled with many nationalities, such was the popularity of the female and her owner/breeders.

2002 was definitely a vintage year, with several superb males and females from every class. Whatever one thinks of the SV President Peter Messler, he has without doubt took our breed forward. A testimony to this were the superb VA males of this year, all bar one sired by a VA male, and several with VA mothers. Peter may not Judge to everyone’s liking, but there can be no doubting his integrity, sincerity, and his vision for our breed. This very rare combination has resulted in our breed making real and obvious progress.

There are rumours galore that Peter Messler intends to resign, and rumours that several ambitious hopefuls, including one notable judge, who spent a lot of time in every ring this year, are planning to stand for the election of SV President in December.  I hope these rumours are unfounded and Peter Messler continues as President for many years to come. I also hope he now accumulates the loyalty and support across the whole SV that he clearly deserves. Our wonderful breed will undoubtedly be the winner.

Once again I have compiled the ‘main results’ of the show, and I hope you find these useful. It also means that you can easily see the major awards, and the sire and dam of each one, at a glance.

I must tell you at this point, I had bought a powerful and excellent pair of binoculars for this years Sieger, and believe me they were worth every penny I paid. In the stadium the dogs were so close and detailed through these binoculars it brought a new dimension to my enjoyment of the show. In the outside rings the dogs appeared to be never more that 5 or 6 metres away.

The Shepherds that I found most impressive were as follows:
Yasko Farbenspiel, Sieger for the second successive year, out of 10 VA’s, and sire of the outstanding VA Larus von Batu and last years Young Sieger, and this years Young Sieger the absolutely superb Quentin Karenberg, a real SUPER STAR. Quentin is owned and was bred by Cedric Blackbourne, a quiet, modest man, who many of you will know. I was delighted to meet up with him at Birmingham Airport, and enjoy the same flight to Frankfurt for the Sieger Show. Cedric is a stalwart of our breed in the UK, and has now taken strides into the breed in the homeland of Germany, including a Kennel based in Viernheim. We could not ask for a better person to represent the UK, in these important stages of the UK breeders participation in the Germany Sieger Show. Cedric exudes honesty and integrity, he has an eye for a good shepherd, and for breeding partners, He once judged Videx Havoc, placing her a little down the line, then asked to see the owner, me, he proceeded to tell me she was a little over size, thus the placing, but in his opinion would prove to be an excellent producer, how right he was. Cedric also owns the V2 Champ von Dakota, I hope he makes VA next year, and SG23 yearling class Opal Karenberg who I felt should have been somewhat higher placed.

VA Kevin vom Murrtal, a son of twice Sieger Rikkor Bad-Boll. Kevin is a correct size, my ideal type, and an obvious male, almost exemplary construction, very strong head with very attractive dark mask, beautiful rich red/gold colouring, with deep black. He has matured very well during the last twelve months, and moved with power and conviction, both on and off the lead. Kevin’s progeny was of excellent quality, in both construction and colour/pigmentation. I was fortunate to use Kevin two weeks after the Sieger Show, I now hope and dream about the anticipated litter.

VA7 Ghandi Arlett, although he looked a little out of place in the superb VA line up, being a comparative smaller male than the others, his excellent progeny (predicted last year) made it essential that he was included in the VA group. In my opinion Ghandi follows his motherline, ie. A Nico von Arlett daughter, rather than his sire, Ursus von Batu. As a result some of his progeny failed for me in head and muzzle strength, although type, construction, colour and masks were generally excellent. VA Hill Farbenspiel and

VA Larus von Batu looked and performed superbly, I await their progeny next year with interest.

VA Orbit von Tronje is without a doubt magnificent, he fully deserved his VA placing, and indeed I would have placed him VA 6, above Bax. Orbit is of outstanding construction, and his progeny was most impressive.  I sincerely believe Orbit could be one of this decades TOP producers and a future Sieger.
V1 Erasmus van Noort, I felt he deserved VA status, along with the sable V2 Champ von Dakota, a dog I admired last year; these two were in my opinion a class above the remaining V dogs placed immediately behind them.

In the adult female class there were 9 VA’s, although I must say the Siegerin Karma vom Ochsentor was absolutely stunning, and the clear winner of this class. All of the VA grades were fully deserved, with for me, one exception, VA 7 Nasa vom Hochmoor appeared to be out of place. She was lacking in several aspects of construction, and I was not alone in thinking there probably 20 females behind her, of superior construction and movement. I am still perplexed at her placing. I am now even more puzzled because when I arrived home, I looked this female up in the Photo Urma book for 2001, there she is SG 3 in the JHKLH, looking absolutely beautiful. I can only say that this year I saw her walking and gaiting, or standing on a loose lead. Maybe she is one of those shepherds that can be stacked superbly, but once they move it all but disappears. I also felt the overall standard of the open bitch class was much higher than last year.

In the Young classes there were several outstanding shepherds: Youth Sieger Nero vom Nobachtal, an Enzo Buchhorn son, in my opinion his best ever, and an improvement on his father. Peter Messler said of Enzo at the Sieger Show 2000 “It is to be hoped that male offspring will appear which will be in a position to perpetuate the line of his sire Lasso.”  You can be certain that Nero meets all the criteria to achieve just that.

Youth Siegerin Farina von der Noriswand, an Orbit von Tronje daughter of genuine magnificence. Big, strong, beautiful type, and proportions, and excellent overline, exemplary angulations, culminating in the expected fabulous movement. A future Siegerin and top producer, if I have ever seen one. Farina is owned by Uday Jani, a shepherd enthusiast who lives in the UK. Uday has acquired several top class shepherds over the last few years, including the VA Enzo von Buchhorn. I am sure this success with Farina is surely only the beginning of an exciting future for his kennel. Uday’s kennel name is GODALIS. He also has a kennel near Frankfurt, Germany, shared with Reiner Gunst of the von Satyr kennel. It is to be hoped the UK shepherd scene will continue to benefit from Uday’s enthusiasm for shepherds, especially through the use of the many top quality males he owns, maybe he can arrange for more to be available to UK breeders, even if it is only for part of the year.

The SG4 in this class Anta vom ben Harten, who for me definitely would have been SG2, bred in Peru, by a top breeder in Peru, Luz-Maria & Rogue (Rocky) Benevides. Anta had many wins in South America, including the Sieger Show of Argentina, She then came to Europe some three months prior to the Sieger Show, under the expert eye of my friend Henning Setzer (Fidelius) and trained by Ron & Barbara van Drooge, handled by Dennie Timman, Anta is a granddaughter of Indra von Fidelius. I am delighted to learn that Anta will be completing her training early next year in Holland and Germany, with the intention of her competing at next years Sieger Show. Everyone I spoke to were most impressed by her and her performance, a credit to Ron & Barbara, not forgetting Henning or the owner/breeders.

It is with pleasure that I write about the Young Sieger Quentin Karenberg, the clear winner of his class. A son of the Sieger Yasko, out of Mary von Tronje (V1 at Bremen 2000) many thought her worthy of VA. Quentin is a dog right out of the top drawer, black and red/gold, a beautiful colour. He is of absolute correct size and a type that makes me tingle. His construction, type, and movement is the nearest to my ideal I have seen. I hope he fulfils all his opportunities and expectations, for here is a dog that could raise the quality of our breed by a margin.

Young Siegerine Chandra von Arline and the SG2 Larissa vom Fichtenschlag, these two were clearly above the remainder. Chandra, a daughter of Wallace aus Agrigento, incidentally Wallace had some excellent progeny, just look at the main results, SG1 - SG25, in this class, SG2 - SG15 in the junior male class, SG8 in the yearling female class, SG21 – SG22 in the yearling dog class. VA3 in the open female class. Larissa is one of the best offspring I have seen from Pascha von der Jahnhohe, an Ulk x Zamb combination.

The progeny groups are always a highlight at the Sieger, on a Saturday morning. Karlsruhe has probably the worst facilities for enjoying this wonderful spectacle. They are spread down a narrow wooded lane, with bends, dips, and hollows, along with the many trees, providing unwelcome and rather dense shade. They exit the woods, into a small packed passage then into the stadium. My comments on the progeny groups are as follows:

Yasko Farbenspiel, an excellent group with some very highly placed individuals, lack of mask on some was apparent, as were some incorrect fronts, a tendency to twist outwards. Untox von Ducati, an excellent group, females tended to be better than males, having said that Ryan Rambridge – Tramella GSD has a super young male with a powerful head, excellent construction and super movement, out of Untox in the UK. Esko von Dänischen Hof, An excellent group, with outstanding females, and some excellent males, including one of my favourites Henry von der Dunieschenke who moved up to V10, from V12 last year. Next year should see Henry’s first progeny group. The Esko group convinces me of the value his blood is for correct construction, of minor concern is paling colour, generally easy to correct.

Mack von Aducht, A group I could not really take to, there was a tendency for oversize, and forehand assembly could have been much better, colour also tended to be quite plain and bland. Kevin vom Murrtal, already mentioned, and good enough to convince me to use him. Bax von der Luisenstrasse, a group from studs of only some 11 or 12 weeks, bearing in mind his date of birth and that studs cannot commence until 2 years of age. The result is very promising, SG4 – SG6 junior males, SG6 junior females, I look forward to seeing many more next year. Ghandi von Arlett already commented on. Hill vom Farbenspiel, and Larus von Batu, no progeny yet, but awaited with considerable interest. Orbit von Tronje, already commented on, a TOP producer surely.

Others with some excellent progeny, Baru von Haus Yu, and Dux della Valcuvia, VA last year, but failed the working test this year. I do not like this male, as I said last year, mainly because of his forward placed front assembly. It amazes me the amount of people who just cannot see it. Many of his progeny have acquired it, and have been highly placed. I dread the thought of this fault becoming ‘the norm’. Having said that, Dux has produced some excellent progeny without this fault. Saber vom Steffen Haus, a very disappointing group, mainly because of lack of masculinity in the males.

Of the remaining progeny Groups I liked the following: Hoss vom Larchenhain, Rikkor von Bad-Boll, Neptun von Bad-Boll, and Ursus von Batu.

One highlight of this Sieger Show was a daughter of Saber vom Stefan Haus, V40 Vlori vom Rhein-Moselring. She is heading to become a Champion in the UK, owned and loved by those lovely girls Carol Eastwood and Alyson Reilly. It was a very proud moment for the many Brits, lined up around the working test ground, watching Carol take Vlori in herself for the working test, both performed with a calm assurance achieving a positive result, the Brits erupting in applause. Stephen Cox completed this British effort by handling Vlori to a very creditable V40 position. Congratulations to all concerned, it was a wonderful experience, let’s have many more.

I look forward to next years Sieger Show to be held in Ulm, near Stuttgart, a small town, so book your hotel early. Rose & Harry Emmett have booked their trip for next year, and I understand they have reserved a lot of spare rooms; I also look forward to going to several shows in Europe during 2003. If you have never been to a Sieger Show, then go in 2003, you will not be disappointed, it is an unforgettable experience.

God willing, I will see you next year at Ulm.  2003 show date - 5^th to 7^th September.

David Payne - Videx GSD

Copyright © David Payne - Videx GSD