GERMAN INVASION,,, THE GERMAN DOG IN THE AMERICAN RING - Page 1

We entered our German dog in the American ring. What we found has surprised us a little.

There are those that appreciate the German dog, even judges that support them. However and this is a big HOWEVER. If no one takes their dog to these shows or judges,,,it doesn't matter what the judges think because there are no dogs there to prove it. It's difficult to make your point when there's nothing there to prove your point. Make sense?

So we tested the waters and our German contender has fulfilled his 2 major requirement. For those not familiar with the AKC system (believe me I'm one of them). A dog needs 15 points and two majors to be an American Champion. We have won two 4 point majors in our first two outings without a professional handler.

The reception has been warm and cold as expected. There are those that have open minds and a few a bit aghast at the idea. We've entered some pretty big events. One 'specialty' and one 'All Breed' event. Entry costs were 25.00 per class at one show and 30.00 per class at the other. We had those in our group handle the dogs and at times as you can imagine it wasn't pretty. But I didn't see anyone else there having a better time with their dogs.

We're going North to the NJ coast. Entries close Wednesday the 18th. We sure could use some support in either entries or handlers. If you're in the area and want to join in with your dog, love to have you there. If you want to be there, can handle, and need a dog,,,we'll bring one for you. Just PM me. You'll need to decide quickly as the entries close soon.

To be continued........

Great news, Dog1.

If I may make a suggestion, you may want to get into the habit of having future wins photographed at the show and make sure to send the judge a copy of the picture. I don't think that was done with Waiko's first major, the judge didn't get a copy of the photo (if there was one). No different than the SV shows, you want the handlers to become familar faces as well as the dogs.

Also interesting - the WB for a 4 pt major looks to be 1/2 GSL sired by a Wilhendorf dog, 1/2 ASL and the RWB was bred by Karin Wagner, Alkarah, who had some nice litters out of Jim v Fiemerck. Jim is most likely behind her.  Karin may be a good judge for your German dogs.

Why did the judge excuse those dogs?

Congrats!

I agree that it's not really fair to complain but then never try.  My issue is that I only have so much money for entries and so many resources available for traveling to events, so I tend to pick the ones that I enjoy the most and where my dogs are most likely to succeed.  I also prefer UKC because you can enter "day of" so if my dog gets hurt or is out of coat, I'm not out my entry fees.  Or, if I wake up and my dog looks amazing I can head over to the show.  I don't really have any major complaints about the AKC ring, it's just not my thing.  I'm spoiled living 1 hour from UKC headquarters so we have lots of UKC shows available nearby.

I've never shown at UKC shows, but I know a lot who do and they enjoy them.

Blitzen,

Thanks for the advice. We can use all we can get starting out. We did take pictures at both events. First one has been ordered and is on infodog.com. This weekends picture I think will be excellent. We will be sure to order a few copies.

The excused dog was my error. Those that know me know I'm not the most graceful mover myself and I stepped on the dog's right front paw about 1/3 of the way around the ring which caused him to limp in pain for the remainder. He was fine a few minutes later but not able to complete the class.

We are developing a list of AKC judges that are German friendly. I had a few AKC breeders breed to Ronaldo and came up with some nice crosses that did well.

So it was YOU who was excused, not the dog LOL? Happens to all of us, even the pros. I once saw a woman step out of her half slip running her dog around the ring, she didn't miss a beat.

There are many things that AKC people do to promote their dogs, advertising mostly in the publications that are send to the judge gratis, Canine Chronicles for one. It's expensive and I'm not convince it is necessary to finish a dog. What you might want to do is to consider placing an ad in the GSDCA Review. The cost is $125 per page black and white; $425 per color plus 10% for a non-member. If that's something you might be interested in, you can get all the info on GSDCA.ORG and see the ads from previous reviews to get an idea of what most ads say.

Good luck, I think you will soon have an AKC CH. I hope to see Waiko one day.



 

A few weeks ago, we entered 5 Euro GSD's (4 conformation, 1 working) in a UKC show and had a blast! 4 shows with 4 different judges in one weekend. Our dogs did very well and one recieved 95 of the 100 points to move up. Many of our dogs won their class winning points too.
 
The champion was a nice bicolor working line female.

The best part of UKC is that its fun, and being the first time in the showring, the judges forgave my horrible handling. They were happy to see healthy, fit dogs with good temperaments and a newbee doing her best....

We plan to do it again, and again......

Congratulations on the two majors!

I suspect that German GSDs will do better in AKC rings than in specialty rings, unless the specialty judge happens to like the German dogs. You get a good range of opinions, from positive and constructive to real bad-mouthing. I sure did. Some people are nice, some are nasty, just like it is in everything. But if you are able to show and have a dog with good conformation, go for it.

One of Waiko's major wins was at an independent specialty under a judge who likes, owns, trains and titles German dogs, Helen Gleason.

Hey vonissk...puppies?