Showing German at an Ameraican Show - Page 2

Pat, I feel your pain.  Be there done that, too many times. 

I regularly show my German Show line girl at AKC shows.  She, always, gets compliments on size, structure and movement but we generally get reserve.  My main reason for showing is the experience.  I serve as President of my local all-breed akc dog club and most of the folks are conformation people.  I had no experience with conformation and wanted to learn.  My girl is nice and doesn't have any of the extremes of most of the GSD's we see in my area.

With the exception of one show, I've been the only owner handler in the ring..  That one exception was a guy that I knew and his dog was excellent - went BOB and deserved it.  On the next day, Jimmy Moses decided to handle the male that lost to my friend's dog personally and the new judge didn't even look twice at my friend's dog :(

Don't stop showing your girl.  It's important.  If the judges aren't given reasonable choices they'll never learn to make good decisions.  BTW I've been told repeatedly to not every waste my money on a GSD speciality show since they are looking for a very specific appearence in the dog - extreme angulation is expected and needed to win.

Also, one of the toughest things about showing our German Show line dogs in AKC is the size of the ring.  It's usually too small for our dogs to get enough speed to gait properly.   As for Dan Smith don't know.  Does anyone know how Dr. Morton Goldfarb is?  I've wondered since he does have German Showline dogs.

I've got go thru my folder at home but I showed under on guy a couple of years ago that was great.  He really was about putting up the best dog overall (to heck with what anyone else thougtht).  I had a chance to talk with him for a while after judging ended and before group.  He gave me an excellent critque on my girl and some really good tips for handling her better in the future.  He, also, thanked me for showing a German Showline dog at an AKC event.  Said it was really nice to see the types side by side (my girl took reserve even though she wasn't showing worth a dang that day - sick tummy - she barfed all over her carrier when we got back  to the van).  I'll find his name when I get home tonight and I'll post it.  He did not seem to be playing the politics game either.  I really do think he picked the best dog there that day (then picked the same dog in group over the #1 sheltie & 1# corgi in the country).  I've never seen him in my area again though.

I've thought about entering the AKC breed ring just for shits and giggles!  But, that would be in my spare time, which I don't exactly have a lot of right now.

Morton Goldfarb is a very good judge.......we've shown under him a few times.

He consistantly puts up overall correct "structure".......not "color", nor "handler"....

He doesn't look at the dogs' showing as....American blood lines...(vs)....German Bloodlines.....at least, this has not been MY  personal experience.

I will continue to show under him in the future.

JMO

Robin

Goldfarb owns a German-bred AKC Champion, forget the dog's name. 

Smith awarded a major win to Goldfarb's import and Goldfarb did the same for Smith's import, Jim.  Both are pretty nice dogs IMO. Either might put up an import depending on the competition. Karin Wagner would be another judge I'd think about showing under with an import. She likes them and bred at least one litter out of Smith's Jim.

Some AKC judges will never put up an import, Helen Miller Fisher for example, she thinks they are ugly and lacking in good breed type. Interestingly, Fisher was one of he first AKC GSD breeders to import dogs from Germany. Another good judge for an import would be Helen Gleason I think. Louise might be able to add to this, she knows most of the judges and if they would consider an import. If she doesn't see this, you might want to PM her and ask. Preston too.

bsceltic, you ask how Dr. Morton Goldfarb is.  Do you mean as a judge or do you mean his health?  If you mean as a judge he is very good.  He knows the dog.  If you mean his health, has something happened to him?  ecs

How good is Mort Goldfarb as a judge? Yes, he has to be very old . I think he is probably more like Lanting in that he may not always have the courage of his convictions. However, he is not blind to dogs or to politics. I believe that he imported Atrice vom Klämmle (http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/1596.html) --sister to Argus and Aßlan--(possibly the dam Zilly--I can't remember). I've heard that Atrice lacked sound temperament--which many believe is why she was sold.

I attended a seminar where Goldfarb was the speaker. He showed some slides (or videos?) of Atrice's pups. Goodness, but they were some butt-high, long-bodied, unangulated suckers--JMHO. However, in those days when AKC folks laughed at Goldfarb's dogs, folks knew little of German bloodlines or their developmental stages.

Then there are the two Helen's. I had a sable bitch who won AKC points under Helen M-F (sometimes referred to as "The Madame"). I do commend Gleason for schutzhund titling her dogs. Again, IMO, her recent attempts to cross German and American lines are not the exact breedings that I would have done. Different strokes for different folks??

Dan Smith? Well, who knows? Bill Leonard? Ditto...I guess.

Most AKC judges will judge far differently--depending if they are judging at all-breed or specialty shows.

However, under any of these AKC judges, you may fare better if you have Moses as a handler. Heaven knows that he has often handled their imports.

No offense, but Moses could get a BIS and BOB on a goat.

ECS,  On Dr. Goldfarb,  I was wondering how he was as a judge. 

My 13 yr old daughter handled our Male High-line in a Specialty Show the only dog that walked on his rear feet.
The Judge was not very nice to her, made a comment about he must be a German Dog,
and made her stay back for the last pass around the ring.
 

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