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2002 Schutzhund USA Nationals

By Ed Frawley

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The 2002 Nationals are here and gone. They took place on the weekend of October 31st to Nov 3rd in Gadsden, Alabama. Gadsden is in the deep south, just north of Birmingham, Alabama. This is where restaurants routinely serve grits with breakfast. I learned a long time ago to stay a long way away from grits. I have no idea what they are made out of but they taste like mushy bland cement.

If you want a good laugh, watch someone (especially our German friends) eat grits for the first time. Of course, we tell them, before we translate and order their breakfast that this is a southern delicacy and people in the south consider it as an insult if you act like you don't like their taste. My friend, Bernhard Flinks, is a tough guy. He ate all his grits without throwing up.

I live near the border of Canada where we already had standing snow before the nationals. So I thought it would be nice to get away to Alabama's 75-degree weather. I was wrong. It rained the entire week before we got there and then it turned cold, really cold for the entire competition. Not only was it cold, but during the closing ceremonies, the skies opened up to heavy rain.

This was the largest Schutzhund USA Nationals in history. There were 141 entries. In my opinion, this was 75 dogs too many. It really created logistical problems for the trial organizers. The competition had to start on Thursday evening just to get all the dogs through. While I was not able to go out to the tracking grounds, I was told that because of the number of dogs, the tracks were not much longer than a Schutzhund I track. Several people commented that the tracks were so short that the dogs did not get out to a full leash length after an article before they came to the next turn.

USA needs to change the way dogs qualify for national events. Right now, a dog only needs a score of 270 points in a club trial to compete in the nationals. If you take a look at some of the USA judges, you will know that some dogs only need to walk and breathe and they can get a passing score. Hell, the head Schutzhund USA judge (Mark Przybylski) had a dog entered in the nationals that was so bad, it was excused from obedience and miserably failed protection. How Mr. Przybylski can be the head USA judge is beyond me. I will put his obedience routine on the video I am producing of the event to show people what their head judge considers a trained dog. I guess I will never be able to show a dog under Mark in any future trials. The fact is no one should have to show a dog under Mark Przybylsk. Someone commented that Przybylski was going to show dogs, so what did he expect? Nevertheless, I doubt he will be asked to do any training seminars after this video is released.

USA needs to change their qualification to something more like the German SV has—not that the Germans are perfect. I have been to the BSP and wondered about some of the dogs. But there were a lot of dogs in Alabama that had no business being there. Making owners feel good about being in the Nationals should not be part of this process.

Has anyone ever been to a national event where people did not complain about the judges? I have not. So in keeping with tradition, this seemed to have been the order of the day this year too. But the fact is I think the judges did a good job. With 141 dogs, they had a very difficult job. These men deserve a lot of credit for the time they spent on the field in very cold and very damp weather.

The tracking judge was USA judge Al Govednik. I did not go to tracking but the people I talked to said that Al was very consistent. The obedience judge was Peter Jacobs. In my personal opinion, Peter Jacobs did the best job of judging obedience of anyone I have seen in the past 25 years. He is a true gentleman. Kurt Falkenstern was the protection judge. Kurt also had a very difficult time with so many dogs. While some complained, I found myself thinking that he was doing a good job. Kurt always had a smile on his face and a friendly word for anyone who wanted to talk.

The helpers at this year's nationals were good. In fact, some members of the USA helper committee complained that they were too hard on the dogs. I guess I missed their point. Isn't the job of the helper to test the dog and expose weaknesses?

The first back half helper (Romeo Ingreso) had to be replaced after the first day because of the stomach flu. But the backup helper (Doug Wendling) stepped in and really tested the dogs. Doug has a very unique style of running. I heard some people refer to him as ROBO-COP. When he runs, his head doesn't move. The fact is he is intimidating and when the dog showed a weakness, Doug came after the dog and really tested it. My hat is off to him.

James Laney did the front half work. James is a very nice guy who is also a big guy that has been a helper in previous national events. James is a bodybuilder and at 6 ft 4 inches tall and 240 pounds (without any fat), his presence intimidates a lot of weaker dogs. James worked the dogs very safely and did a nice consistent job.

This year's champion was Gary Hanrahan with Bastin v. Kokeltal. Gary had a score of 99-97-97=293. This is a nice correct young dog that will be around the sport with his competition and breeding for years to come. As always, Gary is a professional and did an excellent job of showing this dog to the best of the dog's ability.

Below is a list of the top 15 places in the competition.

Gary Hanrahan - Bastin vom Kokeltal GSD M No 99 97 97 293 1
Debra Zappia - Escobar v. Adelrik GSD M No 97 96 98 291 2
Ivan Balabanov - Django Ot Vitosha Mal M Yes 98 95 97 290 3
Greg Bennett - Troy vom Hause Welz GSD M No 97 94 97 288 4
Thomas Vollrath - Nykos vom Grysycos GSD M No 96 96 96 288 5
Cathy Jobe - Cliff vom Wildenburger Land GSD M No 99 93 96 288 6
Martin Vollrath- Racker vom Enztal GSD M No 93 98 96 287 7
Dean Calderon - Rex von Karthago GSD M No 98 96 92 286 8
Lisa Jacquin - Condor v. Greifenring Mal M No 97 90 97 284 9
Philip Safriet - Sarec von Haus Antverpa GSD M No 99 90 94 283 10
Philip Safriet - Lery zur Eichenm'hle GSD M No 97 95 91 283 11
Mike Ansley - Fello v.d. Roderburg GSD M No 92 96 93 281 12
Elizabeth Bradley - Anya vom Haus Sova GSD F No 94 93 93 280 13
T. Floyd Diego - Nick v. Hildernisse GSD M No 98 90 92 280 14
Tim Cruser - Unionjack van't Leefdaalhof GSD M No 98 86 95 279 15

Some interesting comments about the top competitors is that Ivan Balabanov (last year's champion) was able to finish 3rd with a Malinois. Greg Bennett turned in an excellent performance with the 2000 National Champion with Troy v. Haus Welz. It is very obvious that Troy loves Greg and this is reflected in their work. This is a nice dog.

It was very nice to see both Martin Vollrath and Thomas Vollrath finish 5th and 7th after the tragic death of their father (Egon Vollrath) last year. The sport of Schutzhund lost a patriarch when Egon died in 2001. He would have been so proud of his boys.

I cannot remember if anyone has ever finished in the top 15 places in a national even with two dogs in the same year, but Philip Safriet did it this year. I would be interested to follow him around for a couple of weeks to see how he prepares two dogs at the same time for the Nationals.

T Floyd has been a national competitor for years. This year, his 17-year-old son almost beat his father. Terrel Floyd was in 18th place with a 279 while his father finished 14th. It is nice to see the young people come into the sport. There are not enough young people involved in Schutzhund, which concerns me. It should also concern the administration of Schutzhund USA. On the other hand, they should probably be more worried about their head judge.

The Schutzhund USA police dog championship also took place at this event. This is a WPO championship with only 10 dogs competing. The level of competition was very good this year. The champion was Mike Diehl with his dog Brawnson. With second place going to last year's champion, Bernhard Flinks of Germany with his dog Itor. The judge for the police dog championships was Ulrich Gerling. Uli did an excellent job judging this event. He was very firm but fair and consistent.

I must say that the police conducted themselves as gentlemen and first-class competitors. A lot can be said about how professional these men presented themselves and their dogs. Uli, Bernhard, Peter Jacobs, and Kurt Falkenstern were the perfect ambassadors for Germany and its dog sports.

Michael Diehl - Stormfronts Brawnson GSD M No 94 94 98 286 1
Bernhard Flinks - Itor op de Hyde GSD M No 90 92 97 279 2
Ken Ballinger- Dustin Mix M No 90 89 94 273 3

I have been a member of Schutzhund USA since 1976. Over the years, we always see the quality of the dogs in the national events vary from year to year. Some years are better than others. This year was not a good year. I saw very correct dogs but I did not see any real powerful dogs. The best dog in protection work was a Malinois that was trained by his owner from a pup. If the breed and the sport are to have a future, it has to have powerful dogs for breeding. I feel that there are some out there, but they need to be given some consideration by the judges and the competitors.

In America, where you only need 270 points to qualify, there is not much of an excuse not to bring a powerful dog to the championships. People with good strong dogs need to show up at these events to show those that want to breed that there is an option other than these very compliant dogs that go through the motions but don't have the power to produce a service dog.

That fact is our world is changing and people look to our breed for working dogs. It has been a long time since the service of our dogs was so important and in such demand. We will fail our breed and those that come asking for our services if we don't start to do a better job in breeding working dogs. Let the show people breed pets and dogs with jue allergies. Let those with a vision that goes beyond the end of their bed and their wallet breed working dogs.

Comments on Helper Comittee & Mark Przybyiski

I have to mention that after this article was written and posted, I had a call from Gary Parks in California. Gary is one of the Schutzhund USA Helper committee officials. I have known Gary for many years and I like him.

At first, Gary thought I had something against Schutzhund USA. I told him that nothing could be further from the truth. I had been a member of SchH USA since 1976 and was very much a supporter of the organization. I send people who call my office about Schutzhund every week to Schutzhund USA.

Gary and I then discussed this article. Gary pointed out a few things I feel compelled to mention here.

He said that the people may have heard him talking at the trial and misinterpreted what he was saying. He told me that he was not unhappy with the helpers' work. He did mention that no matter how good someone is, there is always room for improvement and people could have heard him talking about small things and misunderstood his intent. He told me he would have liked to see Doug bring the sleeve up a couple of steps earlier in the courage test but overall, he was happy with the helpers.

Gary then went on to discuss other issues, specifically "Judges". He mentioned the German judges that some clubs bring to America for a vacation. Gary talked about one club (who I will not mention here) that has brought judges from Germany who allow competitors to go through the off-leash obedience routine holding their dog by the collar. I know of a top American judge who allowed the SchH 3 handlers and the FH handlers to lay their own tracks. We both agreed that these kinds of things need to stop.

People need to start to video record these crooked trials and send them to Jim Elder (the new president of USA). Sending them to Mark Przybyiski is a waste of time. For years, Przybyiski has known that this goes on. He has allowed them to happen and in effect, has condoned them. Przybyiski needs to go just like Paul Meloy went. In my opinion, Mark lacks integrity. There will never be changes as long as he is head judge. Germany is cleaning house in the SV. We need to do the same thing with what happens with these crocked judges. I compare this situation to the Catholic church and little boys. People knew that priests were dirty for years and did nothing about it. Przybyiski is like Cardnal Bernhard Shaw in Boston. Mark knew this crap was going on and chose to turn a blind eye.

I plan on putting Mark's obedience routine in the USA National video this year. It is beyond my comprehension how the head judge of Schutzhund USA could enter a dog in the nationals that had to be put on leash and retested for gunfire. It is beyond me how the head judge for Schutzhund USA could have a dog leave him on the obedience field. Jim Elder should look at the scorebook of this dog and see who the judges were that gave it the titles it has. I cannot see how it even got an SchH 1 much less a SchH 3.

The dog would be an embarrassment if it were shown in a club trial much less a national event. This was not only an embarrassment to everyone that was there watching but also to Schutzhund USA as an organization. I wonder what the SV Judge (Peter Jacobs) thought as he watched? Knowing that Mark was the head judge. Peter Jacobs is well-known for being a top competitor and a judge in Germany. What can we say Mark is known for? A terrible trainer and a person of questionable character? If this is the kind of performance that comes from the head judge, then how can this man go out and judge a Schutzhund competition?

And for those that want to point out that there are people in every sport who are good coaches and judges that cannot compete at a high level, I agree. But these people also have integrity and that is something that Przybyiski lacks.

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Ed Frawley

Ed Frawley is the founder of Leerburg. He has been training dogs since the 1950s. For 30 years, Ed bred working bloodline German Shepherds and has produced over 350 litters. During this time, Ed began recording dog training videos and soon grew an interest in police service dogs. His narcotic dogs have been involved in over 1,000 narcotics searches resulting in hundreds of arrests in the state of Wisconsin. Ed now solely focuses on producing dog training courses with renowned dog trainers nationwide. If you want to learn more about Ed, read about his history here.