Convincing: the German Shepherds! Winner: the “feeling of togetherness”

“Dear Michi! Thank you for this event”. This sentence was in the mind of almost all of the 95 participants of the 1st Agility Championship for German shepherds on November 17 and 18, 2012. And I personally do hope that many of them have really expressed that thought verbally afterwards. Because we all would like to come back to Thalfang/Himmelberg in 2013, in order to experience the same again: this unique and cheerful atmosphere as well as the acquaintance of many new friends. But this is not the only reason why we would like to say „thank you“ yet another time for a dignified World Championship. No, because that one was already top of the tops!

Normally, these kinds of report start with explanations about the winner. But at the 1st “small” World Championship for German Shepherds, things were a bit different: winners were all of the teams who participated with their German Shepherds. But let’s start from the beginning, because this World Championship almost failed to take place at all.

Only due to the intense efforts of Michaela Ludwig, chairwoman of the OG Hermeskeil, as well as that of Martha Karlach, commissary of the region Nordrheinland with her numerous international contacts to agility-sportsmen, it was possible that this pilot project of a „small“ World Championship with participants from seven (!) nations was realized.

The idea was born. In view of the permanently increasing number of participants at the Bundessiegerprüfung (Agility), the idea to organize a World Championship for German shepherds was raised back in 2009 within the WUSV The SV-board, headed by Wolfgang Henke, supported this idea and in coordination with the WUSV, the 1. WUSV World Championship Agility was intended to be organized in 2012 by the OG Hermeskeil at the holiday resort Thalfang. But as things go, not only the mills of authorities do grind slowly, also those of associations. Unlike in Germany, athletes in other countries who are practicing agility with their German shepherds are not necessarily organized in their race-related associations and clubs, while some other WUSV-member associations not even offer agility at all, so that not all possible candidates could be reached via the common WUSV- channels. To make things short: in the middle of the year, the WUSV conveyed the bad news of „not enough people to join the world championship – cancellation of the competition because of insufficient

Pilot-Project „1. (Small) Agility-World Championshi p“ for German Shepherds in Thalfang

Michaela Ludwig and Aicha

number of participants from abroad”. Well, the question was: what to do? About one year of preparation work by the OG Hermeskeil had already been made. And that was the reason why Michaela Ludwig, chairwoman of this club, didn’t want to give up that easy.

From a big disappointment, a great event emerged (according to Martha Karlach)

And what the WUSV wasn’t able to do – Michaela Ludwig succeeded in her „mission impossible“: 95 participants presented their German shepherds at the “1st small World Championship”. Each one team came from Russia, Poland, Belgium and Luxemburg, two came all the way from Canada, and the Netherlands even showed up with a complete team of six dog-handlers. And all that without any sponsoring: all teams paid their trip, hotel and participation fee by themselves! (see box “participants”) And naturally, quite a number of German teams took the trouble of a long travel of several hundred kilometres too, since they all

did want just one thing: to present their sport and to compete each other jointly with their German shepherds. The question of associations, cost or victory were not that very important for them, and that’s what everybody could witness there.

Great atmosphere

The atmosphere among competitors and spectators was unique for a World Championship: hurricanes of applause, humorous cheers and – that really happened – guiding calls by the audience and competitors when a runner had a “black out” and lost his orientation on the course, no matter whether it was a German or foreign team.

Dianne Herold and Blaze from Canada

Martha Karlach and Eule

Good atmosphere or a special kind of warm up at the sidelines

After all, it was not the lack of interest, as the WUSV expressed, but simply the lack of information flow at the right time and place why this event almost failed before it really began. Telephone, Facebook, email, word-of-mouth advertisement as well as the commitment of all participants made the impossible possible at the very end.

After the initial leg on Friday, the big event finally started on Saturday morning: with a ceremonial speech, Michaela Ludwig welcomed all participants and wished them unforgettable days. This speech was almost simultaneously translated into English by Walter Kreutner so that the teams from abroad could follow with ease.

Many so called „minor matters“ like introducing the starters, announcing the result of their run in English language, the preparation of a catalogue with all data of the dog handlers and their dogs, the arrangements of flags of all participating nations around the course, the complimentary welcome reception on Saturday evening with the “march-in of the nations” and their national anthems as well as many other arrangements showed the incredible amount of enthusiasm and expertise brought into this event by the whole team of helpers of the OG Hermeskeil.

And that not for commercial considerations and registration fees, but to present international sport under first class

conditions.

The fine-tuned courses for the categories A1, A2, A3 and jumping, created by Judge Dennis Breunig, also contributed their part for a good overall atmosphere of this event.

Tatjana Mikhailova and “Weld” from Russia

Kerstin Fechti and „Luder“

Peter Cambeis and „Socke“ Sid

It was remarkable, that seven out of the 17 German Agility Judges were present in Thalfang, out of which four even participated themselves: Petra Stöppler with „Banjoko von der schwarzen Brandung“, Inge Haas with „Gwendy vom Rosenschlag“, Irmgard Zinn with „Quibble von der Chattenburg“ and Björn Bröker with „Atlanta vom Kasseler Himmelsstürmer“.

Active on the course were also four regional commissaries (Landesgruppenbeauftragte), as it is supposed to be: active and close to the basis.

The final runs – dreams of victory

Among the German teams, of course all top handlers of the last Bundessiegerprüfung took the chance for a challenge at an international level: Vice-Champion Gerlinde Dobler (Obedience Judge as well) with “Gipsy von Burg Neideck”, as well as the winners of the recent years, who presented their up-and-coming talents, like Josef Kötting and his “Lynn von der Königin”. One of the top agility competitors of the last years is Nicole Münker with her “Esprit” (Reni von Strothetal), a SchH1-dog.

While Nicole and her quick, agile and truly exceptional dog failed during the last years at the National competition (BSP), in Thalfang the dream team always seems to win it’s championship, like the VDH-German championship 2010, where they snatched the German title in a dominating style against all other breeds. And this time, at the “small World Championship”, it worked again. In the final run, Nicole Münker and Esprit won and can call themselves now the first German Shepherd World Champions.

Congratulation!

Position two and hence vice-champions became Gisela Lehnert and “Zegge” (Baja von Schmiedefeuer), an IPO-3-dog. The bronze medal went to the Dutchwoman Janet van Steenis and “Amiga van de Wiersdijk“(IPO3).

Full risk: Nicole Münker with “Esprit”

Agility-Judge Petra Stöppler with Banjoko

The team competition

In order to give fair chances to all nations in the team competition, the six members of the German team were chosen by lottery, namely Anja Burger and „Baddy von der Ellerbachbrücke”, Monika Högg and „Anton von Öchsle“, Brigitte Kaiser and „Hanna von der Kreuzwiese“, Walter Kreutner and „Gerlie vom Kirschental“, Syliva Lendering and „Geronimo von der Ottensteiner Festung“ as well as Michaela Ludwig and „Aicha aus der Feuergasse“.

Faults and time of all four competition runs were added and used for the calculating the final team ranking.

The victory of the team competition was gained by The Netherlands, with Wim de Hoogt, Katalin Leferink, Wim Nijland, Karin Swinkels, Janet van Steenis and Linda Wets, followed by the team called “6nations1team”, consisting of Marek Baranowski (Poland), Kathrin Bock (Luxemburg), Dianne Herold and Mark Tammi (Canada), Tatiana Mikhailova (Russia) and Guy Vermeerbergen (Belgium).

Into third place came the team of the host Germany. The great event finished with a dignified victory ceremony. The victors and runner-ups received large cups, while each single participant received a badge of honour.

The flashes of cameras and mobile phones seemed to be everywhere, since all wanted to cast these last moments

into pictures.

Farewell, handshakes and many heartfelt hugs were

followed by the firm promise to come back again next year.

As SV-president Wolfgang Henke had formulated the future vision of the Agility World Championship in his opening speech on Saturday morning:

Janet van Steenis with “Amiga” from The Netherlands

Kathrin Bock with “Yuna” from Luxemburg

Guy Vermeerbergen with “Iggor” from Belgium

The opening speech by Wolfgang Henke (SV-president). From left: Bernd Pape (SV-Agility), Judge Dennis Breunig, Michaela Ludwig (chief organizer), Wolfang Henke and Walter Kreutner (translator)

“Even though the idea could not be perfectly realized at the very first attempt, this event here

means yet another step forward on our way to a future WUSV Agility World Championship”. Nothing to be added to that, since all teams who participated picked up the “spirit of Agility World Championship” and will carry it forward. By all means, we are much looking forward to another World Championship 2013 in Hermeskeil. Things were already put on the right track! Whether this should be with our without the WUSV, that’s a question one has still to work on

World Championship resutls

Individual

1. Nicole Münker with „Esprit“ Reni v. Strothetal 2. Gisela Lehnert with „Zegge“ Baja v. Schmiedefeuer 3. Janet van Steenis with Amiga v. d. Wiersdijk

Teams

1. The Netherlands 2. 6nationen1team 3. Germany

Nations interviewed:

Tatjana Mikhailova (Russia): „We heard about the World Championship during a tournament in Switzerland“, tell Tatiana Mikhailova and Anton Ivaniuk from St. Petersburg. And they decided quickly that they would like to participate.To do so, the journey to Germany had to be well planned, since a total of four days were required for the long trip to Germany by car. “It was impossible to drive continuously, the dogs as well as ourselves needed a break once in a while. Thus we combined this tournament with a short vacation”, comments Mikhailova. A bit of sightseeing in Berlin, Cochem and Trier, as well as a visit to the Wartburg on the return trip was included. The Russian Lady is touring for agility since 15 years, and is competing already with her second German shepherd. “Whether I will join next year depends on the overall condition and fitness of my dog. Weld is almost eight years old now and already run in many competitions”. In Russia, Agility is not so popular yet. In whole St. Petersburg, there are only 4 – 5 places where Agility can be practiced. Two to three times per week (on two working days plus Sunday mornings), Tatiana Mikhailova is going to train. Though the training ground is only a street away, she has „to drive 18 kilometres, which means about 1,5 hours in the evening by car“. If the weather allows, training is done outside. Only from temperatures below -15° C onwards, the trai ning has to be skipped! The rules in Russia are very similar to those of the FCI. The office of the agility-association is located in Moscow. Approximately seven German shepherds are presently competing in Agility in Russia.

Text: Irmgard Zinn Photos: Björn Bröker

Dianne Herold and Mark Tammi (Canada)

Both are surely some of those with the highest degree of idealism about German shepherds: Dianne Herold with “Blaze” and Mark Tammi with Sasha. Their airfare: approximately 1000 € per person, plus 600€ for the dog cost for a return ticket from Canada to Germany. Plus cost for one week stay in Germany, of course. But for them, the participation in the “1. Small World Championship” was all worth it. Dianne Herold is from Barrie, an hour’s drive from Toronto, while Mark Tammi is coming from Sudbory (a further four hours away). Thanks to the Dutchwoman Ada Middelkoop, they learnt via Facebook about the Agility-World-Championship for German Shepherds and agreed to join after only a very short time of consideration. After all formalities for the travel were done, they were ready to go. “We thought two days were sufficient for the dogs to adjust to the time difference, but they needed a bit more for that”, says Herold. While her male “Blaze” is already ten years old, Mark Tammi came with his 2-years- female Shepherd “Sasha”. „Not really dog-ages for winning competitions“, both comment. But to be present meant everything! Agility does have a very high reputation in Canada. Approximately 600 dogs of all breeds are competing every year. In charge for the tournaments in Canada are two organizations: the IFCS and the CKC. The application for organizing a tournament has to be filed already six months in advance.

Marek Baranowski (Poland)

Between the first Agility training and participating in the World Championship, only everal months remained for Marek Baranowski and his three year old female „Inka Iriss Germanus Ortus“. The first training was done in September 2011, in May 2012, they participated in their first beginner-tournament and only in September 2012 they joined in their first A1 competition. “The small German Shepherd World Championship in Thalfang is our seventh tournament”, Baranowski comments proudly. Two furious runs secured them a berth in the final, which they finished in position 8. After all, Agility was only considered as a kind of compensation for his female “Inka”, who does have a high hunting instinct. His club informed him about the World Championship tournament. “I was a bit sceptical due to our lack of experience”. To overcome, they trained during the last months before the tournament five to six times a week, including two or three times individual training and a lot of play and fun for his dog. He had to drive 17 hours from Sopot (near Gdansk) to Thalfang by car. “I do feel fine here. The organization is perfect and we do feel well received“, Marek Baranowski summarizes his experience. In Poland, Agility is not as popular as in Germany, but it is growing. Here too, it is divided into categories A1, A2 and A3, with the addition of a beginner class. The training ground of the „Baltic Agility Team“ in Sopot, is only 20 minutes away from where Marek Baranowski lives. Training hours are normally three times a week.

Guy Vermeerbergen (B elgium)

„We had gathered together a good national team, but then the official WUSV-Agility World Championship was unfortunately cancelled”, says Guy Vermeerbergen. And without any sponsoring, out of his original Belgium Team only he himself and his dog remained, willing to pay the travel cost by himself. Three hours drive from Herentals (near Antwerp) to Thalfang were no problem for Vermeerbergen. „It was worth all the efforts. The atmosphere is great and it is a fantastic experience to see so many good German Shepherds competing in Agility“. Agility is less popular in Belgium, where the German Shepherds are mainly working in Schutzhund-sports. Only 5 out of 40 clubs do offer Agility in addition to Schutzhund. Consequently, German Shepherds are seldom seen in Agility competitions: “There are only five German Shepherds who compete regularly in Agility”. Competitions are staged under the FCI rules in the categories A1, A2 and A3. “It is hard to be promoted when running against other breeds, especially into A3” His dog “Iggor vom Haus Santo“ is very instinctive and needs to work every day. Doing Schutzhund alone was not sufficient, thus agility was added as a kind of compensation. “The dog is given some variety of work and is hence utilized to his full capacity”. A big dream was already realized for Guy Vermeerbergen in September. He presented “Iggor” in Ulm during the Siegerhauptzuchtschau and gained a „Vorzüglich“ and position 95

Kathrin Bock (Luxemburg)

Kathrin Bock from Hautcharge/Luxemburg was the only competitor representing the national colours of Luxemburg, together with her German Shepherd “Yuna vom Kapbusch”. With only 100 kilometres from her hometown she was one of the starters with the shortest travel distance. In Luxemburg, all agility competitors are members of the “Club Luxembourgeois pour Agility” (C.L.A.), the head organisation of this dog sport, which in turn is a member of the Central du Chien de Chasse (C.C.C.) and hence directly linked to the FCI. This is the reason why it is difficult for the WUSV to get in touch with those agility competitors especially running with German shepherds. On one side, the SV-clubs do not offer agililty, on the other, the agility clubs do not like it very much if dogs are trained in Schutzhund. “But the reason for this is partly due to the rather tough training methods for Schutzhund-sports”, comments Bock. Agility is done in the categories A1, A2 and A3. Due to the rather strong competition, most competitors do prefer more light-weighted breeds such as Border Collies or Belgium Shepherds. “You don’t see German Shepherds in agility at all, they are just competing in Schutzhund”, tells Bock. Since she always preferred to have German shepherds, the question to run with another breed never came into her mind when she started agility. Tournaments in Luxemburg are organized in accordance to the FCI rules, while the participant lists and the details of the tournament are circulated well in advance via mail to all individual competitors. Normally, 160 teams are participating in one tournament. From 170 participants onwards, a second judge as well as a second running field is required. In Luxemburg, around 32 tournaments are organized every year.

The national team of The Netherland From The Netherlands, a complete team of six competitors and their German shepherds came all the way! “We came without too much expectation. That we could finally win the team competition and Janet van Steenis gained with “Amiga van de Wiersdijk” position 3 in the individual competition is a very fantastic result. But from the beginning, our main target was to promote the German shepherd and to make new acquaintances with other foreign teams”, comments team-coach Ada Middelkoop. Fun with their German shepherds and the spirit of this small World Championship were the most important factors for her and her team to bear the travel cost by themselves and to come to Thalfang. Agility is offered by the Dutch clubs since 15 – 16 years already, but different from other countries, the German

shepherds in The Netherlands remain solely among each others. “We are not looking for comparisons with other breeds and just compete on our tournaments among ourselves”, comments Middelkoop. Every year, 6 – 7 tournaments are organized. Of course, that makes it difficult to promote into the next higher level. For example, it is required to have 1 “vorzüglich” without fault in an A-run and 2 “vorzüglich” in a Jumping to be promoted to A2. For reaching A3, the requirement is even stricter: here, only results obtained in open tournaments against all breeds are counted. To organize a tournament, the application (Terminschutzantrag) has to be filed one year in advance!

Judge Dennis Breunig

“It was a fantastic event. Before the “small World Championship”, I would have never imagined that such a big number of participants and their German shepherds will show up. It was simply great!

For me, especially the rather high level of our foreign teams was impressive.

It surely wasn’t easy to design an appropriate course without knowing the level of the foreign guests. So I worried a lot about creating a course good enough to let the good teams dominate, but to allow all other competitors to finish. I hope I have reached that target. Moreover, I really hope that this kind of event will be continued, since it presents a real new challenge to our agility competitors with their German shepherds”

Standing, from left to right: Katalin Leferink, Wim de Hoogt, Janet van Steenis. Front: Linda Weets, Karin Swinkels, Ada Middelkoop.