Chairman’s Forward

Welcome everyone to the third British Sieger.

The WUSV Working Party (The German Shepherd Dog League of Great Britain & The British Association for German Shepherd Dogs) and The German Shepherd Dog Breed Council, have again been working throughout the year to bring this event to you the exhibitor.

Our Judges today are the renowned Herr Helmut Buss of the Larchenhain Kennels who will preside over the males and Herr Rudiger Mai of the Bierstadher Hof Kennels, who will preside over the females.  We would like to welcome them once again to our Country, we hope they enjoy their visit and enjoy judging some of the best dogs we have in the UK, along with any other visiting dogs from other countries.  As this goes to print the entries have not closed but the signs are that the entry will be well up on last year.

The parameters for this year are the same as 2006.  We have though introduced an additional award for Best British Bred Male & Female. To qualify for this award the dogs must have been bred and registered from birth in the UK.

I would like to acknowledge all the hardwork put in by the British Sieger Working Party. Throughout the year, we meet up, some travelling as far as a 10 hour round journey to do so. Along with all the personal time and cost implications, it should be recognised how dedicated these people are to moving our Breed forward.

Thank you to our main sponsors Arden Grange and Moncaster Wire. Graham and Wendy Stephens of Arden Grange must also be acknowledged for the continuing financial support they give, not only to this event but to other German Shepherd Shows/Trials.

A big thank you to all our volunteers on the day. This year we have more volunteers on hand to help make the event run smoothly. In order to run this event it is imperative to have a ‘bank of people’ to call on to carry out all the work involved. This will be even more important next year (more on this later).

Each year it becomes harder to secure a venue for dog related activities. This year, once again we were faced with a traumatic last minute search for a venue, as the Gaelic Athletic Football Club Committee withdrew their agreement to host our event.  Even as I write this,  we have only just secured the new venue, I ask the exhibitors and spectators alike to be understanding on this late development and to be assured that the Working Party do everything in their power to provide the best facilities in order for this event to go ahead.2008 will hopefully see a few additions to the British Sieger (after consultation with the Kennel Club).  First of all we would like the event to be run over two days, with the introduction of a Working Dog Male class and a Working Dog Female class, with protection work so that from these classes the title of VA may be achieved.

There will still be the Open classes where the title of ‘Open Sieger/Siegerin’ can be achieved, as with the Youth Sieger/Siegerin and the Young Sieger/ Siegerin. The puppy classes will be as usual.

We will also be introducing Progeny Groups.

A big commitment and challenge for us as a Working Party, as you can imagine all the extra work and responsibility that will go hand in hand with running this more complex event.

In order to do this, naturally the ‘bank of volunteers’ I mentioned earlier will be essential.  To this end I propose to ask the Breed Council Clubs to support this event by nominating a volunteer from each Club to be available to help over the weekend in 2008.

This year John Ward has taken on the ‘Event Manager’ role.  John’s strong organisational skills will be invaluable on the day, may I wish him all the best and if I could ask you the exhibitors to help out by making sure you are all in the ‘right place at the right time’ to facilitate the smooth running of the show.

Thank you finally to all of you here today, may you enjoy your day and I wish you every success with your dogs.

Brigid Fahy Newlands

British Sieger Working Party Chairman