Worthy Siegers of the 1990's Part 2
By Martin Kelly
Konigshof German Shepherds
Siegers of the1990's
what a topic. The dogs during the 1990's
that attained the Sieger title it must be said had to build on a number of
aspects of the breed during this period in its evaluation. What do I mean? As President of the SV
Hermann Martin had laid out his stall in terms of his vision of where he wanted
the breed to go. It is here we see the development of the modern day Huchzucht
lines. The Siegers Uran and Quandowere
made a central pin in Herr Martins vision. Close blood related families. To take
the breed from diversity of type and bloodline which we had seen under Dr.
Rummel; to a standardisation of type and bloodline. What I refer to as
Q-Arminius inbreeding, which is really what we see happening today. This is my
view. All the Siegers during the
90s are all representatives of Uran or Quando, with the exception of Fanto v.
Hirschel. He was the only one who’s bloodline presented an alternative at that
time, but in Bob Duff’s article Worthy Siegers Part 1 a less than favourable
profile was presented for Fanto. These
Siegers from the 90s, this modern Huchzucht line, what did we get ? We got
positives and negatives. The standardisation of type is a marked improvement. To
view any VA line up from the last number of years at the Sieger show is very
impressive. Much improvement in
pigment is evident to see. What
negatives have we seen? Again this
is my personal view; oversize, heavy set dogs, ear problems and character
problems. The Siegers of the 1990's
brought us these traits. Is the medium size German Shepherd a thing of the
past? I know of steps being taken
in Germany to try to address this problem, so the next few years shall tell the
tale.
Introduction
After much persuasion from Bob Duff I agreed to put together this
article. We are talking about
thousands of dogs descending from these 8 Sieger males from that time. In the article Worthy Siegers Part 1, 4
dogs where profiled; Fanto vom Hirschel, Zamb von der Wienerau, Jeck vom Noricum
and Kimon v. Dan Alhedy's Hoeve. In my submission the other 4 shall be profiled,
Ulk v. Arlett, his son Rikkor v. Bad Boll, Lasso v. Neuen Berg, and Visum v.
Arminius. As has been quoted by Bob the
greatest achievement that can be attained by a German Shepherd is that of World
Sieger, and any dog who has the total balance of structure, temperament,
presence and awe inspiring attenuation from the German Shepherd fraternity
across the globe is indeed worthy. I would agree to disagree with the first
submission on this topic which
denotes some Siegers as worthy, and others as not so worthy Siegers.
Calling into question the production ability of these great dogs must be carried
out with balance, as a Sieger will produce hundreds of offspring, and with that
many decedents you can be guaranteed that good ones will pop up. But for me
personally what makes a truly great Sieger is his ability in conjunction with
the quality of bitches he receives, as we must not forget about the mothers, is
to produce the really good ones, and the ability of that line to be an influence
over second and third generations, but we should not detract from the unique
standing of these influential dogs. So we must keep sight of how we measure the
worthiness of these dogs when we are analysing them and make sure that the
argument is balanced. If a sire or
Sieger fails to leave behind influential sons and thus showing a weak male
legacy does that make him an unworthy Sieger? . But if he proves to be a
better producer of females, as has been proven time and time again, it is the
female, the mother who truly produces the stars. The two sires I referred to
above Uran and Quando as the modern pillars of the breed have a strong common
denominator; their mother, the grear producing bitch Palme v. Wildsteiger-Land.
I rest my case. I will now get off
my hobby horse in expressing the importance of the bitch line and concentrate on
the main thread of this piece. Siegers of the 90s.
Outline
As with all submissions and
articles of this type. they are the opinion of the author. In the 1980s I had written a similar
piece for the German Shepherd Quarterly magazine which was titled Top German
Shepherd of the 80’s and what I have decided to do here is keep the same format
that I used then. As I stated
earlier the amount of production done by these four dogs was huge and to go into
such detail would require me to write a book, and not an article.
So the way you shall find the
direction here is as follows. The
sire, his parents, and inbreeding, then some detail about the Sieger
himself. Then I shall discuss dogs
I have chosen to which I fell represent the line well to establish the worth of
the influence through the generations, with as much photo examples as I can
find, and then finally a summary.
With those parameters established lets proceed.
The dogs as stated above I shall
covered are the following Siegers:
These 4 males make up the entire
Sieger line up from 1995 to
1999. To start I will not necessary
profile the dogs in their Sieger
order, as Rikkor v. Bad Boll is a direct Ulk v. Arlett son, they shall
intertwine so they shall be first, followed by Visium v. Arminius, and then
Lasso v. Neuen Berg.
|
1995 Sieger & VA1 Ulk von Arlett SchH3 (Yago vom Wildsteiger Land-Dolly von Arlett)
Inbreeding: 4-5 Wilma von der Kisselschlucht 5,5-5 Sara vom Sonnenberg 5,5-5 Quanto von der Wienerau 4,4-5,4 Lasso di Val Sol |
Ulk was a large, medium strong
dog, masculine male of good type, good pigment, high withers, good body
proportions, very good angulations of the fore and hindquarters and good length
of croup and on the move he displayed a good covering fleeting gait. Ulk was a much improved dog on his sire
Yago v. Wildsteigher-Land, who was a very stuffy dog in the forequarters and for
me was a disappointing representative of the Eiko.v Kirschental line. Ulk's mother, Dolly v. Arlett, was a
Fedor v. Arminius daughter and some traits from this line can be seen in Ulk in
terms of type and angulations.
Ulk was no instant success and
had a long Sieger show career working his way up the ladder. He made his Sieger show debut in 1992 in
Dusseldorf when he was V7 under the then SV President Hermann Martin. In
Dortmund in 1993 he made it into the Select group making VA6 again under Herman
Martin. In 1994 in Bremen he was
VA2 under the new SV president Peter Messler and then finally in 1995 he made
VA1 and World Sieger in Hamburg.
For some the manner in which Ulk
worked towards the Sieger title is perhaps the correct way, and at these 4
Sieger shows he proved his ability as a good sire as well as an outstanding male
in his own right.
Perhaps the most influential son
of Ulk is Rikkor v. Bad Boll, but as I will be detailing a section of this
article to Rikkor, I shall not comment any further.
The first dog I have chosen discuss here is the VA
Male Vando v. Moorbeck.
The next Ulk son we will discuss is Nicco v. Arlett. Nicco made his Sieger show debut in 1994 attaining the SG 26 placing in the JHKLR class. The following year in the GHKLR he was v34.
Nicco was a big dog, high
withers, good length of croup and good angulations fore and aft. For me his body
proportions where not as ideal as his sire Ulk. On the move the dog was both extensive
and powerful. His mother was the
grey female Soffie v. Arlett, an Enzo v.d. Burg Aliso daughter and also the
mother of the top grey female Ussi v. Arlett.
As a sire he
has left little behind him in the form of top male sons, but he was a good
producer f females, and this is where this part of the Ulk line has left its
mark. In the mating of Nicco to Kira v. Baronenwald we see the result of the top
placed young female Thea v. Baroenwald SG6 in the JHKLH in 1997 and her litter
brother Tony v. Baronenwald SG12 in the JHKLR in 1997 also. Thea from her mating
to Hobby v. Glestchertopf gave the highly V rated male Domino v.
Baronenwald.
From the
mating of Nicco and Dunja zu den Sieben B,urgen a Clicko v.d. Kahler Heide
daughter, came the excellent female Vivi zu den Sieben Burgen.
The most
highly rated progeny of Ncco, are of course his 2 VA daughters from his mating
with Gugia
von der Kahler Heide, a Nufo v.d. Wienerau daughter. These females are VA Wendrina v.d.
Kahler Heide and
VA Woldarona v.d. Kahler Heide.
These 2 Nicco daughters where outstanding females and from the same litter. These were beautiful females of medium size, excellent proportions, superb angles, and excellent on the move. Both have proven to be excellent producers Wendrina in her litter to VA Erasmus v. Noort produced the excellent female Teba de la Ferme Malgre Leau and in her litter to Ursus v. Batu produced the VA male Ghandi v. Arlett and his litter sister Garlanda Arlett.
Woldarona
v.d. Kahler Heide in her litter to Warro v. Larchenhain produced Fosby
v.d. Kahler Heide and in her litter to Leif v. d. Noriswand produced Quasi, Quo,
Quoll v.d. Kahler Heide.
Idol v.d.
Jahnhohe was the
result from the mating of Ulk to the outstanding Uran v. Wildsteiger Land
daughter Marit v. Wildsteiger-Land. She was a top class producing female and
also the mother of the VA male Karly v. Arminius. However in her litter to Ulk she
produced Idol, and his litter siblings Ina V3 GHKLH 1997 Sieger show under Helmut Buss, and
Isis v. d Jahnhole, another outstanding litter, these 3 animals where of great
quality.
Idol was a large, strong dog, good head
and expression, a nice clean overline, good angulations fore and aft. Like his father Ulk he had nice croup
length and good body proportions.
At the Sieger show in 1996 he was V18 in the GHKLR under Peter Messler
and again in 1997 he improved on that placing by attaining the V6.
As a sire Idol was a little disappointing in terms of quality in depth, however he did produce some outstanding stars and these animals have breed on exceptionally well projecting this line from Ulk to modern times. In terms of sons Idol had some good representatives to name. One must consider, Vax v. Arlett SG 46 in the JKLR class in 1999, Indo v. Laabermoos SG 15 JKLR in 1998. But to be balanced Idol only had one truly outstanding influential son and he came from the pairing of Idol to the highly V rated female Ultri v. d. Wienerau, a Zamb v.d Wienerau daughter. The male in question is Pascha v.d. Jahnhohe and also his litter brother Pan v.d. Jahnhohe,
Idol von Jahnhohe |
Pascha von der Jahnhohe |
Off these 2 litter brothers Pan was a
disappointing sire, a lovely dog, but no progeny worthy of denotation. Pascha has provided to be influential;
he was SG 2 in the JHKLR of 1998, V16 GHKLR in 1999, and V6 in the GHKLR of
2000. When you compare the photos
of Idol and Pascha above one can say he was sire typical. Again big, but a very
expressive male, and for me a better dog than his father. As a sire he has been very positive.
From his mating to Angie v.d. Amperauen, an Ursus v. Batu daughter, and also the
mother of the VA Nero v. Nobachtal, came the highly rated you male Merlin v.
Nobachtal SG 14 from the JHKLR in 2001, and his litter sister Mini v. Nobachtal
who is proving to be an excellent producing female for the v. Team Fiemereck
kennel.
The young male Eskan v. d.
Noriswand SG was a result of Pascha when paired to the VA female Aminda av
Norden Stamm. Eskan was SG 34 in
the JHKLR in 2002. When mated to Querena v. Wildsteiger-Land we see the V rated
male Jonny v. Schienbachtal. The VA Jango v. Furstenberg daughter Pamina v.d
Piste Trophe mated to Pascha, gave the beautiful highly rated young male Wotan
v. Poxdorfer Tannenhof SG12 in the
JKLR class in 2002. Raven v.d.
Noriswand was the result from the pairing from Pacha, and Kluni v.d.
Noriswand. Raven was SG6 in the
JHKL in 2000, and V21 in the GHKL in 2001 making him Pascha's most highly rated son.
Pascha, was also a sire of some
outstanding daughters. To cover just a few lets look at the mating of Pascha to
Keika v.d. Noriswand, a daughter of Eros v. d. Luisenstrasse, came the VA female
Raissa degli Arvali, VA 9 in 2002.
From the pairing of Prixi v. Wildsteiger Land to Pascha, came the lovely
Olga v. Poxdorfer Tannenhof, VA in 2001, and 2003, and she is also
the mother of Perle v.d Jahnhohe SG 4 in 2003, from here mating to Wallace aus
Agrigento. The daughter Celly de ca San Marco was a VA female in Italy in 2003,
she was a daughter of Pascha to the Zito v.d. Noriswand daughter Evy de ca San
Marco.
The Austrian VA, and German V
female Xipsi v.d. Liebeswarte is another daughter of Idols to the Kimon van Dan
Alhedys Hoeve daughter Xeni v.d. Liebeswarte.
At this point in my profile of Ulk v. Arlett I would like to discuss just a couple of his highly rated daughters. The first female that comes to my mind is the lovely VA female Tatja v. Monchberg. Her mother was Nassi v. Monchberg, a daughter of VA Mark v. Haus Beck. Tatja was SG 6 in the JHKLH class of 1995, and then VA 11 under Helmut Buss in 1996. She was a medium size,strong, dry and firm female, high withers and a lovely topline, coupled with very good angles.
The next Ulk daughter is in my
personal opinion his best and most influential. That female is Brigtt v. Huhnegrab. A
daughter of Ulk and Angie v. Huhnegrab, a daughter of Zamb v.d. Wienerau. Brigtt was SG 10 in the JKLH class of
1996 under B Norda, and then V4 GHKLH in 1997 under Helmut Buss. She has proven to be an outstanding
producing female. In her litter to Kimbo v. Monchberg she produced the VA female
Betty v. Huhnegrab, and her sister Blanka v. Huhnegrab. From the litter sired by Esko v.
Danischen Hof came the VA female Biggi v. Langenbungert and her sister Babsi v.
Langenbungert.
The finial Ulk son I have chosen to discuss is Rickor v. Arlett. Rickor was a big dog, medium strength, good withers, nice overline, with good length and position of the croup. He had good angles fore and aft and good movement.
His Sieger show appearances in
the GHKLR followed the following trail, V9 in 1999, V2 in 2000, and V3 in
2001. Also he attained VA2 at the
USA Sieger show. As a sire when one
thinks of Rickor v. Arlett, his best son springs to mind Champ v. Dakota. Champ
was the result of the pairing of Vienchen v. Arlett and Rickor. Champ is a outstanding grey dog
attaining the SG 5 in the JHKLR class in 2001, then V2 GHKLR in 2002 and V3 in
2003. Due to the colour ostracizing that exists against grey dogs currently, I
feel that this male has not been allowed to reach his full potential at
stud. He is currently standing in
Ireland and lets hope Irish breeders take advantage of this opportunity.
From the mating of Rickor to
Taminia v. Larchenhain came the lovely Atrice von Regina Pacis.
We are now fast approaching the
end of my profile of Ulk v. Arlett, but before I go to my summation there are
still a few dogs I will squeeze in that I feel are important.
Firstly the Ulk daughter Rubini
Jacki when mated to Esko Danischen Hof produced the SA VA male Rucano v.
Danischen Hof.
Again we see when the Ulk
daughter Xtra v. Arlett is mated to Eros v.d. LuisenStrasse, we get the VA male
from 1999 GHKLR Huppy v. Arlett. We
then see when Huppy is paired with Dasti v. Farbenspiel, we get the VA male Hill
v. Farbenspiel.
The Ulk daughter Karat’s Ronda
when mated to Yoker v. Lechtal, produces the VA female of 2000 Karat’s Olly and
this female when paired with Sieger Ursus v. Batu produces the outstanding young
male Karat’s Yoker.
Conclusion: From the data I have outlined above what can we draw from it: Has the Ulk line been a line of positive influence? Yes. Where do we see this influence? Do we see it from a line up of top sons who also proved to be top producing sons. In my opinion no. Ulk did not produce a son as good as himself, his best son Idol, produced one outstanding son Pascha, but when you analyse the data I have laid out above one can see the real production power and influence here is in the females, the daughters and granddaughters of Ulk . With a number of highly placed young males and females, and a highly placed VA male showing Ulk lineage today, his place in history is established. We see from Ulk; size. A lot of his sons were big dogs, his sons where masculine, overall the type from him was good, and we see an improvement in croup length. One could also say that Ulk was one of the best representatives of the Eiko v. Kirschental line, as he was a much better dog that his sire Yago. That is a matter of personal opinion, but it is my opinion. Like all Siegers he would have received the very top breeding females and we see the influence of the very best of these in some of the breeding results in the profile above, in particular the Arlett and Kahler Heide kennels have had great success. As I stated in my preview our assessment must be balanced and measured and take into account the females and not only the males. On that note I will not pose the question in the same format as has been put before. The question I ask myself has this dog and his line been of value and influence? The answer has to be yes.