Well I got absolutely nothing done today. I always do my blog in the morning, but me along with over 200 other people were watching a streaming video offered by The German Shepherd Dog Club of America. We were all watching the specialty show before the National begins tomorrow. I was watching the show from 10 am this morning until roughly around 4 pm this afternoon. As I said, nothing got done around here and I admit, I didn’t get out of my p.j.’s until noon time when I had my lunch. Lazy, no good for nothing that I am! About the only thing that got done this morning were the dogs feeding and watering.
The streaming video is a first for The German Shepherd Dog Club of America. Thanks to some very unselfish people who donated their time to this effort, the rest of us got entertained for nothing! For a list of all who were involved with this project, you can check it out on the streaming video’s website under show catalog. From what I heard Lanalee Jorgensen – Law say on the video, Mr. Lew Bunch was instrumental in getting Purina to sponsor this streaming video. Bob Braue did the camera work to bring it all into our living rooms. Lanalee was the commentator for the length of the show. There was only sound when Lanalee came on to announce what dog it was that we were watching or to comment on the candid shots of people in the audience. I tried to think of whether I would have preferred having constant audio so I could hear the applause and chit chat or if I liked it better with silence as my friend until Lanalee interrupted with her occasional sense of humor. Sometimes I think I would like to hear the excitement in the arena especially for Saturday and the specials class, but then I wonder if all that noise would give me a headache and I should count my blessings.
I won’t name the names of the dogs who won. That’s already been written about through Evan Ginsberg’s blog and commentary. Also you can view the name of the dogs that were entered in the catalog on the streaming videos website. I will however, comment on the judging and as always this is just my opinion. The males were judged by Mr. Robert Drescher and the females were judged by Ms. Vicki Roye. I’ve seen Bob judge before, but I’ve never seen Ms. Roye judge. I would have preferred to have seen one judge, rather than both of them. I like to follow what one judge does and likes rather than switching over to a different judge half way through the show.
I thought the quality was for the most part very good. I saw nice breed type more so on the bitches than the males. But the males, I’m happy to saw had good secondary sex characteristics along with good bone. I thought that Mr. Drescher did a very good job. I could follow what he was doing and what he liked. He unfortunately had to deal with some bad temperament problems, but dealt with it very professionally. One young dog appeared to have snapped at him. It happened so quickly, but next thing I knew he excused the dog. Another dog that had gorgeous breed type and pigment also displayed poor temperament, but did not try to bite the judge. You could tell Bob really liked this dog, but he gave him a chance and went back to the dog. The dog shied away again and was put to the end of the line. Over all the rest of the male classes exhibited good temperaments. He found his better movers and rewarded them with the win or class placements.
The bitches, in my opinion, showed better overall temperaments. I don’t recall any temperament problems in the classes. Ms. Roye was a little harder for me to follow. Some times she had breed type in front and other times a better mover. Naturally being a chair side judge like I am, I didn’t have the view of the dog’s mouth, so this too would have helped being a deciding factor in some of the placements. However, I thought she was more inconsistent in her choices. Where I could follow what Bob was doing, I couldn’t say the same for the bitch classes. I thought some of the good ones got away. But that’s just me.
The Best of Breed classes got a very large entry and I was happy to see some champions that I’ve never seen before. I really liked the Best Opposite Sex champion winner. She had the side gait and the breed type that I favor. I did get away from the video a couple of times, but correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that Kent Boyles won Winners Dog, Winners Bitch and Best of Breed. I could be wrong and I’m sure if I am, someone will write to tell me so.
I along with many others am most appreciative for the hard word that the many volunteers and the parent club have done to bring us this wonderful entertainment. It isn’t perfect and they are still feeling their way around it, but boy, we’ve come a long way since last year and the years before. Improvements that are needed and I’m sure will change as the time goes by is the need for zooming in on the dogs for close up shots especially when they are gaiting. Right now it’s hard to truly evaluate their side gaits from a distance. In an ideal world, if we had the capabilities that we do when we watch a video on the television and have the option of slowing it down to watch each step the dog takes, then we would all be very happy. But for now, I think this was a great way to spend my day. It didn’t cost me anything and it was very enjoyable. I also would like it if the commentator would say who we are looking at while the camera man is zooming around taking pictures of some unsuspecting audience members. Sometimes Lanalee would mention a few, but it would be so great to know who we are looking at because most of us know what Jimmy Moses or Fran Ford looks like, but what fun to put a name to a face to someone we correspond with on the show dog lists. Just a suggestion. Thank you one and all for all that you do! I can’t wait for the National that starts tomorrow.
I will not be blogging a great deal this week because I will be watching the show with the rest of you. If I blog at all, it might just be a short one. More than likely, I’ll wait until it’s all over to start the blog again. Have fun everyone!
My rating: video: (4), volunteers: (4), Show List & Evan’s blog: (4)
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