2009 gsd nationals iowa - Page 1

OMG....the judging made me speechless.  I haven't been involved in schutzhund that long and the judging here put a bad taste in my mouth.  The obedience judge talked way too much...seemed like he had to prove a point being in charge of judges for USA.  He was very inconsistent,,,when two handlers did the same thing he only pointed one of them..how can you do that.  Shouldn't judges have to compete  in national events with their own dogs....seems fair.  Heard he said he's been on both sides of the fence..judging and competing....club events hardly compares to national events!   Then the protection judge...I can't believe what he thinks of the USA's top dogs....especially our world team dogs!  The scoring was way low for everyone!  The tracking judge was the only one who seemed to have a clue.

i competed at this event.the judging was correct in the end all the dogs ended up in the right order.iknow of multiple dogs from usa handlers that have recieved V s at other championships.we will hopefully be able to have him at a club trial

Since your new to the sport gds21 maybe you should learn more about schutzhund before you talk crap about judges.  You sound like a fool to me!

I agree! I was at the nationals AND I have seen Nathaniel judge in club and regioonal events. HE was the judge at this national for a reason: he is one of the sharpest and hardest judges around. He sees EVERYTHING, and yes, he has a sharp pencil--I think it is laser-sharpened. His judging was correct and consistent. Perhaps you simply did not catch the mistakes or handler help, when comparing two "identical" competitors. If you had listened to the critique (that was all that talking by the judge--WE like it, it is educational) you would have heard exactly why what you "thought" were identical performances rated different points. Nathaniel sees everything, including every bit of handler help most people miss, until it is pointed out to them. Just a friendly tip: LISTEN to the critiques ( the "talking too much)- you will learn a lot that may help you, when you start trialing. OBVIOUSLY, you are VERY new, otherwise you would know that Nathaniel Roque DOES compete at the national level himself. I suggest you go to the USA website and check the national event archives, so you can see for yourself that Roque has competed in the USA Nationals as a competitor several times in recent years. By the way, that means that he has also competed in regionals--a requirement for national entries. He is Director of Judges because he was groomed for the position by the late DOJ and was unanimously supported as DOJ by the USA Judges College ( i.e., all the other USA judges). He reads dogs better than a lot nof folks in schutzhund read books. Aside from that, Dr. Roque is also one of the most intelligent, organized and ethical people in the sport. The protection judge was Gunther Diegel! You are new, but do you realize who he is??? He has judged USA national events as protection judge previously? Why? Because he is as close to being the epitome as a protection judge as you can get. Those who truly want to demonstrate their training and handling aspire to trial under Roque, Diegel, Deacon, Mensing, etc., because you earn every point. There are Santa Claus judges that you can V under and no one respects it--in fact they will laugh. Get a V, or even SG under Roque, Deacon, Mensing, or Diegel and it is highly respected. You earned every point and proved your training and handling. Get a little more experience, and maybe trial a few times, before making such poorly informed statements.

And, schutzhund is alive because of gds21 and all of the smaller guys in schutzhund, who train their dogs, enter small events and give money to the sport, not the handful of us who get to compete at the top level.  So, easy with your insults.  He is calling it as he saw it, like I saw Dan Cox and thought his protection performance was better than a 90...better to inform the new guys instead of calling names.