So whats going on at the AWDF? I thought the website might do updates as the weekend progresses but nothing so far. Any tidbits to share?

Click on this link below for results http://www.awdf.net/2006championship/2006chresults.html#pgtop

How funny, I checked the site right before I made my post and no update. Oh well <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hopefully, some of the board members who are attending will comment. I heard from one spectators the judging is brutal the way it should be.

I am in the process of loading all 500+ pictures I took this weekend.

There were a lot of nice dogs. Congratulations to all that competed!!
1-Ivan Balabanov with Qenny ot Vitosha
98-98-97=293 (AWMA)
2-Dave Kroyer with Rasta vom Germelhaus
99-90-95=284 (USA)
3-Butch Henderson with Agir Miss Jakoso
100-91-93=284 (UDC)

IMO
The male GSD's that caught my eye were ....
Zidane vom Haus Sevens
93-75-92=260
Eik vom Nordenstamm
93-82-90=265
Casch vom Salztablick
97-73-92=262
Atze von Shattig Geholz
98-70-91=259
Branco vom Banhole
37-94-92=223
Antar vom Kieferntal
84-87-91=262

The female GSD's that caught my eye were ....
Cala Z Tehelne
85-81-81=247
Anja vom Haus Sova
99-90-87=276

The boxer Champ v. Burg Wassenberg owned by Frank A. Ceci was AWESOME!!!
82-80-92=254

The APBT HDK's Infinite Justice owned by Aja Harris was another AWESOME dog!!! He was so small-but built little a freight train!!! He had a heart of gold. He gave super attention to his handler in the obedience and size didn't matter when it came to his protection!!!

Props to Molly & Eagle for doing a fantastic job on their FH 99 and their SchH3 track 100 all in the same day!!!!

It was a true same that 14 dogs were pulled from the Championship.

I went to the trial and yes the judge's pencil was very sharpened.

Interestingly I have a few top scoring dogs that had very obvious mistakes yet they got high scores but perhaps the judge took the overall performance despite a few 10 or more steps during a long stay for example. LOL

At any rate, there were a handful of dogs that were the type of dogs I like to see

1) ZIDANE VOM HAUS SEVENS - Nice escape bite. Tried his best to pull the decoy with him and showed a lot of intensity. Courage test was OK. Nice and full but not the typical intensity I would have expected from him. He didn't seem up to par that day and after speaking with his owner she noted a injury earlier and he was not at his best. Obedience was flat and not high spirited. He didn't seem to be feeling it that day. Many of the helpers and contenders noted he awed them in protection just a day or so before. So perhaps it just wasn't Zidane's day that day. Dogs are not robots so this can be expected from time to time.

2) EIK VOM NORDENSTRAMM- Very strong barking. Lots of intensity. Courage test like always. KNOCKED THE DECOY COMPLETELY OFF HIS FEET. TALK ABOUT SPEED!!!!! PHEW!!! NICE!!! Asko Lutter son go figure....


3) MOLINARI ENZO - Super nice dog. Interesting bark and hold. (He's a high jumper!). Courage test was very nice too. He even came hard on the back transport. Obedience was very flashy and voraus was nice too.

4) DEGN'S MONRAD - I have seen this dog at a few trials as well as this one. Very nice dog. Nice intensity and courage test was super fast. Asko Lutter son go figure...

Few other nice dogs in "C" phase

*Artemis vom Kiefern Tal
*Charlie vom Kleinen Ziguener (Basko Lutter son) -< Nice strong dog. Became hoarse and looks like almost asthmatic at times but still nice dog>
*Zeke Daniels - Nice courage test
*Cala z Tehlne - I think this was the sable bitch that was a little demon. I'm hoping this was the right bitch. I knew someone mentioned her name and fact she was half Czech and half West German. My memory is slipping.
*Odin Argatos - Nice intensity. Very nice speed on courage test

One has to also note Brix von der bosen Bruderschaft refusal to give up the sleeve even walking off the field with it. LOL

Jodie,
Will you share a link to the photos if you upload them? I'm sure a lot of us who couldn't make it would love to see the pics! TIA

I will have videos of several of the dogs on my site this evening.

I'll update you guys once I get them uploaded.

Lorenzo, Did you get a chance to see Gismo von der Mohnwiese? If, you did what ya think.

I am back from the trial, and indeed the judges had very sharp pencils - but I liked their judging very much. They were even across the board - no favorites or brownie points as far as I could tell. The obedience judge wanted fast, quick, straight, and instant reaction to commands - retrieves had to be fast, straight, clean, no mouthing at all. He would take away all or nearly all points of an exercise if it wasn't done the way he wanted. BIG points lost for not performing an exercise 100% correctly. Fine by me -
Protection judge I have to say, was a refreshing change from what I have seen lately at National level events. He was also fair across the board. I didn't see a breed or gender bias - he wanted to see a strong, powerful dog with full, calm grips and intense guarding, that was also obedient and under control. If the dog was other than this description, the points were taken. Weak dogs or dogs with lackluster guarding, shallow or "nervous" grips, even if their obedience and control was 100% - the points were taken away, some dogs got vorhanden/sufficient even if their overall routine seemed ok. Strong dogs with good grips who were not under control (like my dog) also lost the points, but were praise for their power/grip in the critique. Very refreshing difference between this judge and the protection judge at Nationals who seemed to reward weak dogs with weak grips and guarding, as long as they were under control.

I was able to observe many dogs that I had not had a chance to see before, or wanted to see again before making my own decision about them - I'm happy to express my opinion but probably needs to be private - feel free to contact me if anyone is interested. Of course I won't have any opinion about any dog I have not seen work in person.

molly