2009 German Shepherd Dog Sieger Show in Ulm: An impressive event but far too many dogs with poor temperaments

The 2009 German Shepherd Dog  Sieger Show in Ulm: An impressive event but too many dogs with poor temperaments.

By Dennis Fisher.

The annual German Shepherd Dog “Sieger” Show held in Germany every year is a spectacular event. The finest German Shepherds from Germany and also from many other countries are exhibited.  The title “Sieger” is awarded to the top, adult male and the title ”Siegerin” to the best female.

This event, that takes place annually in various cities Germany, is held in a huge sports stadium, often a soccer stadium. It attracts thousands of dedicated enthusiasts from all over the world - China, Australia, India, South Africa, Russia, and in fact every country of the world where the German Shepherd Dog is bred.

This year it was held in Ulm at the Donau Sport Stadium and it was it was extremely well organized affair.

I have been attending these “Sieger” Shows since the 1970”s and this was one of the most enjoyable Sieger shows I have attended. One of the reasons was because the weatherin Ulm  on this occasions was absolutely ideal.  Another reason was because the  hotel at which my wife and I stayed, the Maritim, is conveniently located within walking distance of the Show, making it very easy to attend every day.

Over the years I have seen a remarkable improvement in the quality of the dogs being exhibited. There is no doubt that top German Shepherd Dog show winners today are more strikingly handsome, athletic animals than they have ever been. They are so uniform in appearance that judges, for the most part, are only able to separate them by paying attention to minor faults in construction.

The “Sieger” this year, “Vegas du Haut Mansard”, a dog that also won the title last year, was a worthy winner. He is an absolute superb specimen.  His spectacular, ground-covering gait and effortless movement impressed the huge, enthusiastic crowd.

An impressive feature of “Vegas” was his strong temperament that he demonstrated in the “test of courage” that all adult dogs are obliged to pass before being considered for high honors.

In this "test of courage" all the dogs exhibited at the Show, in the adult class are threatened, individually, with a stick by an "assailant", suitably protected with a padded arm and protective clothing.  If the dogs show any hesitation or nervousness they fail and are placed in a very low position.

An unfortunate feature of this Sieger Show was that there was an unusually high number of dogs that failed this test.

The German Shepherd Dog, not so long ago, had a reputation of being a breed of dog, not only beautiful in appearance, but also an excellent guard dog with a very strong protective instinct.

Unfortunately however, in recent years many breeders appear to have concentrated too much on breeding a beautiful animal with a spectacular ground-covering gait and neglected temperament.

Many German Shepherd Dogs today appear to have lost the natural, in-born, protective instinct that was once a highly regarded feature of the breed. There are far too many German Shepherd Dogs that are of no value as guard dogs.

A German Shepherd Dog with a strong, protective nature must not be confused with and over-aggressive animal. This type of temperament is frequently the result of timidity and nervousness, rather than bold, self-confidence.

WHAT IS THE IDEAL TEMPERAMENT FOR A GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG.

Ideally, a German Shepherd Dog should be an extremely self-assured animal, a loyal companion, devoted to family members, excellent with children, approachable and tolerant of strangers, but with a natural ability to discriminate between friend and foe and an instinctive ability to immediately recognize danger when it appears.

With appropriate training a dog with this temperament can be easily trained to respond to dangers than threaten members of the family.

It is also an unfortunate fact that in recent years, quite a large number of dogs entered in the annual "Sieger" Shows in Germany, failed to pass the "test of courage" which is an important feature of the Sieger Show.

At the 2007 "Sieger" Show, there were no less than 47 whose performances in this "test of courage" was not of a very high standard.

Last year, in 2008, the figure was somewhat better as there were only 36 who failed. This does show some improvement. It is disappointing to note however, that many of these animals, who failed, came from the very best show winning bloodlines in Germany.

This year, in 2009, the situation was considerably worse. Of the 350 males entered in the Open class there were no less than 63 that failed the “test of courage”.

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO REMEDY THIS SITUATION?

It is clear that if there is to be an improvement in the natural, inborn protective instinct of the German Shepherd Dog, breeders must pay more attention to breeding from animals with strong temperaments. They should concentrate on animals that have performed particularly well in the test of courage at Sieger shows and make use of these bloodlines.

Because of the limited scope of this article it’s not possible to go into detail about the bloodlines of the winning dogs and the dogs that failed the “test of courage”.  If you would like to know more about these animals you are invited to visit my website http://www.freedogadvice.com