2010 USA Sieger Show, Lake Geneva WI. - Page 14

Good luck everybody!

Opal

They are doing a good job posting results. Nearly half the working females will not be going into the ring after yesterday's protection test. Seems notice has been served, ala Peter Messler.

thats' good.  (IMO) hope it was all videotaped.

I think that the bitework list on the USA web site is flawed so I would wait for the official list before making any judgments on particular dogs.  I was there and the designation "not rated" doesn't necessarily mean that the dog failed.  Some dogs that were not shown are "not rated" and some that passed are "not rated".  Some dogs that failed were rated pronounced on the list.  This is the female list only.  I did note one error on the male list. 
Judy

I have all of the "Performance Tests" on video and I'll tell you,,,,,,it's official.

Sieger Show 2010: Performance Test --- Post 1 of 3

I was there on Friday to see the performance test. Obviously Phil Behun’s videos will prove an interesting documentary to this post. I went there expecting average performance. I had seen a lot worse in the past.

What I saw at least in the males category was that the standard of work has inched upwards. So there is improvement even though it is still far from a cjhampionship working trial.

I felt that the new USA DOJ as well as the NBW are certainly raising the bar, even though it is in small increments relative to a full-blown working trial. A new feature seemed to be handlers heeling their dogs off-leash. Overall more handlers heeled their dogs off leash for the entire routine this year than any previous year. I counted about 4 or 5 handlers who did the whole routine off-leash. This trend was started in the 2008 Sieger show in San Jose and now seems to be growing. The quality of heeling was more of a “Walking with the handler” type of heeling. But no more is expected at this level by those that have set the criteria for this event.


Continued in Post#2 of 3
--- Rob Shane

USA Sieger show 2010: Performance Test--- Post # 2

Overall the performance of the males was superior to the females in terms of stability under the stick and during the drive. The heeling performance of most of the females was also much poorer suggesting that they were probably more busy whelping than working.

Among the males : 34 were entered. But only 31 were listed on the performance test roster. 3 dogs out of this 31 never showed up. The owner of Catalog #2 apparently thought that the test was on Saturday June 5th instead of on Friday afternoon. He was seen talking to the judge on Saturday morning but it was obviously too late. The timing of the test had been well announced for everyone else, but it was still sad to see this man’s disappointment. After all the tests were complete only 22 males qualified to move on to the show-ring.

Among males only one dog got chased (Karat’s Oliver) but the fact that the other dogs stood up to the helper’s pressure was not because the bar was lowered for their convenience.

The females fared much more poorly. There was also significantly higher proportion of failures due to failure to engage and even in the majority of those that passed it was obvious that they were significantly stressed by the attack of the 2 helpers. This is reflected by 15 dogs failing out of 28 with only 13 dogs making it into the show ring.

The stick hits on the short attack were real and the cracks could be heard across the field. The amount of pressure exerted by the front half helper was at about the club trial level About 10-12 dogs among the males, had full grips (about 30% of the field) and maintained those grips throughout the attack and drive till the out. The remainder had predominantly frontal grips and did not show any willingness to re-adjust.... but remained on the sleeve through the drive and stick hits. About 3-4 dogs performed this task by hanging on with 1 canine.

The helper put less pressure on the long bite with most of the dogs merely grabbing the sleeve that happened to come into the line of its mouth. However about 6-8 dogs did launch and go for the helper in a meaningful manner on the long bite.


---- Continued in Post # 3
Rob Shane

USA Sieger Show 2010: Performance Test--- Post# 3

The judge (Nathaniel Roque) was very particular that all dogs heel with the handler until the attack commenced and made some handlers redo the routine until they either failed or got it right. He was more tolerant of partial grips and it looked like he wanted to see the dogs display control and tolerance (if not stability) under the stick.

Almost all dogs were dirty after the out but this was not a criterion that was held against them.

While none of the dogs displayed bitework that would rank above the G level of a schutzhund trial score, there were some dogs that were notable for their performance.

As usual Ork von der Werther Mule did not disappoint in the long bite with an impressive (for a showdog) air-time.

Equally impressive was Juneau vom Haus Tyson displaying extremely correct heeling totally off-leash and fast attacks and solid full grips for his handler, a small wisp of a boy. Guarding after the out should have been better but it was obvious that this dog was very conscious of its handler’s approach which interfered with the guarding of the helper. The crowd cheered long for this team which actually outperformed almost every other team, so much so that Judge Roque called the handler back to him at the end to shake his hand.

Obiwan Theishof handled by Heidi Theis did well too.

Of the 2 working line dogs Gento v. Banholz showed true working class performance while Buddy Renauldloup did poorer than the best working performance displayed by some of the showlines.

Notable poor performers that still passed included several dogs from Wustenbergerland that showed very poor heeling with the handler chasing the dogs hocks to keep up and the grips were very tentative.

Orus Ulmental remained on the sleeve but showed major avoidance of the stick on the short attack drive and fell off the sleeve just as the helper locked up and was allowed to pass.

This is what I saw. Was this a great display of working ability?  Absolutely not!  Was this significantly better than 2008? Absolutely and in many ways. Is there a long road ahead? You bet there is.

Phil Behun’s videos should prove very interesting when he posts them. I am off to work my real GSD. So long folks.

--- Rob Shane