Dennis Fisher

Regarding Fred Lanting's article about the 2007 German Sieger Show comment by Dennis Fisher

Hi Fred

My name is Dennis Fisher and I am a South African German Shepherd Dog breeder and Judge, who has been involved with Shepherds as long as you have â?? probably longer! â?? and Iâ??ve been meaning to write to you for some time,

Although I regularly attend the Sieger Shows in Germany almost every year, I wasnâ??t able to do so this year because of family illness.

I have just finished reading your report on the 2007 Show and I thought Iâ??d like to write and congratulate and tell how accurate and informative I found it. A number of friends, and fellow Judges from South African who did attend the Show have made comments very much the same as yours.

Because I am still actively involved in competitive Schutzhund as well as breed shows, I am very concerned that there were even more breed dogs that failed courage test this year than usual. The gap between show breeders and working dog breeders is widening every year and â?? as you are very well aware â?? in previous years it was never like this!

What concerns me even more is the fact that many of the dogs that failed courage were bred by some of Germanyâ??s oldest breeders. There seems to be very little concern for working ability in their breeding programmes.

I have read your articles about this problem and I know how strongly you also feel about the matter.

Over the years I have imported many dogs from Germany, from the best show bloodlines â?? sired by â??Lasso di val Soleâ??, Eiko, Zamb, Fanto v. Hirschel, and many other top dogs, and these dogs were able to compete very successfully in working trials and in the show ring. The situation has now changed dramatically.

I enjoy training myself - and like to start with a pup â?? so earlier this year I contacted a number of German breeders I know very well, in an attempt to get a show quality pup that I could also train to compete in working trials. As you can imagine there are very few â??showâ?? breeders who pay any attention at all to working ability. And even fewer â??working dogâ?? breeders who pay any attention to conformation!

I finally managed to get a pup from one of the few breeders who still makes use of his old working stock and still competes in the Show ring â?? Alfred Muhlbauer of the old MAARAUE kennels.

Although the young â??Focus von der Maaraueâ?? male Iâ??ve now got but may not sweep the boards in conformation shows, he is a good â??Vâ?? dog and is an absolute delight to train.

I mentioned that I have perhaps been in Shepherds even longer than you. Some years ago I spent time in the States doing post-graduate work at the University of California in Berkeley. During my stay there I took the opportunity of attending all the shows in the California area. I became very friendly indeed with the late Erich Renner; also Harold and Mary Roberts who did so well at the time with â??Ulkâ??. So that gives you some idea of my vintage!

Please keep on writing your interesting reports. I am sure as many people enjoy reading them as I do.
Incidentally, you may be interested in reading a long article I wrote about the conflict between working dog breeders and show breeders in Germany. I am even bold enough to suggest a solution for the problem!

If you find the time to read this long article, youâ??ll find it on my website http://www.freedogadvice.com


Whenever you have the opportunity I would look forward to hearing from you. As you can see my email is denline@lantic.net Perhaps we might meet at the 2008 Sieger Show.

Sincerely,
Dennis Fisher.

Posted: November 7th, 2007 | Report This Comment