I've posted a few photos from today at
http://www.germanshepherddog.com/Media/WUSV2008/index.html

The event seems to be going really well. Good-sized crowd -- the parking lot was almost full.

Ran in to John Miller and his wife there. They seemed to be enjoying the event. (John has one of the Natan/Sage pups as well an older dog, Diesel, from Leerburg lines).

With the unrelenting sunshine -- pretty unusual for ths time of year, I think everyone is taking a commemerative sunburn home. ;D

About the only WUSV thing left to buy is a raffle ticket for the Schutzhund Barbie.

Great photos Charlie! I have been watching the results and have my fingers crossed for the USA members in the running still :-)

very nice shots, charlie! i just wonder if the helper's a bit embarrassed to have a dog steal the sleeve from him at the WUSV?? looked like a new sleeve, maybe that's why? great photos--i SO wanted to be there....maybe in 2012 when it's back here in the USA again...

Lotus is a pretty good helper -- I've watched and photographed him working a fair number of dogs. Actually, he's one of the best in the country.

One possibility. First, looking back at that sequence, the dog appears to jerk strongly to the left after hitting the sleeve. You can kind of see the same thing on the do-over.

I have 8 frames in that sequence (8 fps on the camera).

Frame Number ...
#763, it looks like a fairly normal catch.

#764, you can see the dog's body starting to whip into Lotus,

#765, (the one on the slide show), the dog plants his left rear paw on the ground and starts pushing into Lotus's leg with his right rear. You can see Lotus throwing his right arm out to try and maintain his balance.

#766 Dog plants right rear paw in front of Lotus's left leg.

#767 Dog's body is in front of Lotus's left leg.

The next frame, #768, is 0.7 seconds later. I suspect in the interim, Lotus started to stumble and did the safe thing for the dog and let him have the sleeve. In that frame, (in the slide show), you can see that the dog is almost in front of the sleeve.

... and the crowd went wild ...

Here is the You Tube video,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM0geoM3QA4

Gotta love the smile on Lotus's face in the "do-over" photo with the dog on the sleeve.

It was awesome to be part of the cheering crowd in the stands when it happened.

This has to be one of the best protection pictures of the event...

Javir vom Talka Marda guarding in the blind

Katie

Charlie thanks for sharing your pictures! I hope someday to get some as good as yours. I still haven't had a chance to plow through many of mine yet. It was an exciting event to watch for us. Of course we were rooting for team USA but congratulations to all of the competitors. When the dog stole the sleeve I think the "comic relief" was welcome as the stadium seemed intense that afternoon!

Beth