The North American Teckel Club spring zuchtschau (breed show) was held today at the Winnebago Scout Reservation in Rockaway, New Jersey. We had a nice entry of 30 dachshunds. The originally scheduled judge, Jens Witter from Nürnberg, Germany, became ill. We hope he is doing better today. Herr Witter was replaced by Frau Heike Behring of Berlin, both are DTK conformation judges, hunters, and breeders of DTK dachshunds. Frau Heike, we hope you enjoyed your time in the States and meeting us and our teckels. We enjoyed having you here.
Each dog was judged one at a time according to the Deutscher Teckelklub /FCI #148 Standard for the Teckel. Of the 30 entries, 29 dogs were shown. Of the 29 dogs shown, 16 received ratings of Vorzuglich (Excellent), 7 were rated Sehr Gut (Very Good), 2 were rated Gut (Good), 3 were Disqualified (all due to issues with bites), and 1 puppy was rated Very Promising.
I strongly debated myself about whether to enter Owl. He has been shown at two NATC shows in the past and been rated Excellent both times. I really did not know whether I wanted to take the chance of him getting a lesser rating; all of the results are 'on record', so to speak, with the DTK. I'd had one judge at a zuchtschau tell me that Germans prefer clear reds and Owl has a heavy black overlay. I guess you might have to be in that situation to understand my internal dialogue but there was a lot of arguing going on!
I'd taken Owl's daughter, the Stock's black/tan bitch Pie, with me to show but she had blown most of her butt and tail feathers and really didn't look her best. So then I took stock of the rest of the crew. I really felt Seiko was too physically immature to show. I hadn't groomed the undercoat from Nexus and I thought Kasi was too gray and he wouldn't have enjoyed it; both of them have V ratings anyway. And Marta is spayed so she was ineligible. That left Owl and I wanted to show this judge from Germany at least one dog...
Oh me of little faith. Heike Behring liked Owl just fine, no problem. In fact, of the eight or so longhairs given Vorzuglich ratings, the final two under consideration for Best Longhair were Owl and one of Alexandra Weber's zwerg bitches. The pretty little bitch got the nod but the judge caught up to me as we left the ring and emphatically stated that Owl is a "super dog." Great! Thank you! I'll take that! : )
Jolanta Jeanneney sent me this photo she took of Heike and Owl and I. Jolanta, thank you!
Each dog was judged one at a time according to the Deutscher Teckelklub /FCI #148 Standard for the Teckel. Of the 30 entries, 29 dogs were shown. Of the 29 dogs shown, 16 received ratings of Vorzuglich (Excellent), 7 were rated Sehr Gut (Very Good), 2 were rated Gut (Good), 3 were Disqualified (all due to issues with bites), and 1 puppy was rated Very Promising.
I strongly debated myself about whether to enter Owl. He has been shown at two NATC shows in the past and been rated Excellent both times. I really did not know whether I wanted to take the chance of him getting a lesser rating; all of the results are 'on record', so to speak, with the DTK. I'd had one judge at a zuchtschau tell me that Germans prefer clear reds and Owl has a heavy black overlay. I guess you might have to be in that situation to understand my internal dialogue but there was a lot of arguing going on!
I'd taken Owl's daughter, the Stock's black/tan bitch Pie, with me to show but she had blown most of her butt and tail feathers and really didn't look her best. So then I took stock of the rest of the crew. I really felt Seiko was too physically immature to show. I hadn't groomed the undercoat from Nexus and I thought Kasi was too gray and he wouldn't have enjoyed it; both of them have V ratings anyway. And Marta is spayed so she was ineligible. That left Owl and I wanted to show this judge from Germany at least one dog...
Oh me of little faith. Heike Behring liked Owl just fine, no problem. In fact, of the eight or so longhairs given Vorzuglich ratings, the final two under consideration for Best Longhair were Owl and one of Alexandra Weber's zwerg bitches. The pretty little bitch got the nod but the judge caught up to me as we left the ring and emphatically stated that Owl is a "super dog." Great! Thank you! I'll take that! : )
Jolanta Jeanneney sent me this photo she took of Heike and Owl and I. Jolanta, thank you!
Owl's father came from Sweden and his mother is American breeding.
Alexandra's bitch is from German bloodines on both sides.
Best smooth was a black/tan standard bitch bred, owned, and shown by Anke Masters. This bitch has a German pedigree.
Best wire was a wild boar standard bitch bred, owned, and shown by Joyce Wilson. Her father is a Norwegian dog and her mother is American.
So just from this small sample of all the dogs present, you can already see that it was truly an international affair!
Best dog of the zuchtschau was the wire bitch and a very well deserved win it was.
I know that Jolanta got some nice photos of the three Variety winners as well as other photos that she will post soon.
Congratulations to all who participated! It was so good to see many people again and to meet others for the first time.
And what a surprise to see John Robinson again! In years past, John, owner of standard wires, was a very active Deer Search member, field trialer and field trial judge from the east coast. It was not difficult to figure out how long it had been since I'd last seen John. His 25 year old daughter Beth was with him, as was Beth's husband, and about the last time I remember seeing John, four year old Beth was riding on his shoulders at a field trial. Now Beth and her husband Gentian are field trialing and showing wirehairs!
The generations of life are good.
Alexandra's bitch is from German bloodines on both sides.
Best smooth was a black/tan standard bitch bred, owned, and shown by Anke Masters. This bitch has a German pedigree.
Best wire was a wild boar standard bitch bred, owned, and shown by Joyce Wilson. Her father is a Norwegian dog and her mother is American.
So just from this small sample of all the dogs present, you can already see that it was truly an international affair!
Best dog of the zuchtschau was the wire bitch and a very well deserved win it was.
I know that Jolanta got some nice photos of the three Variety winners as well as other photos that she will post soon.
Congratulations to all who participated! It was so good to see many people again and to meet others for the first time.
And what a surprise to see John Robinson again! In years past, John, owner of standard wires, was a very active Deer Search member, field trialer and field trial judge from the east coast. It was not difficult to figure out how long it had been since I'd last seen John. His 25 year old daughter Beth was with him, as was Beth's husband, and about the last time I remember seeing John, four year old Beth was riding on his shoulders at a field trial. Now Beth and her husband Gentian are field trialing and showing wirehairs!
The generations of life are good.