Schutzhund FCI 2007 World Championship

[alex]

In Torino, Italy takes place FCI IPO World Championship - 73 GSD, 56 Malinois, and 2 Airedales.

Both Airedales from Erikson lines and one of them EYK VON ERIKSON doing very well - 92 in tracking and 95 in protection!

Here is the link to the results for those who is interested - www.fci2007.it/classifica.php

Alex.

[ed]

Thanks for posting Alex. This is the highrest level of working sport competition!
The US representative Ivan Balbanov is currently the man to beat in the US.
At the 2007 AWDF he walked away with the trophies
stlouisschutzhund.com/awdf2007/competitors.htm
The Airedale EYK v. Erikson is neck and neck with America's best Mal.
Nuff said.
BTW Jim who has the the catlle working Airedale "Rowdy" is half brother to Eyk and is starting at 5 months to show it.

EYK VON ERIKSON Airedale Terrier PATRYCJA FROLENKO
92 90 95 277

QENNY OT VITOSHA Pastore Belga Malinois IVAN BALABANOV 93 95 188

[ed]

The final scores for the International Working Dog Trials are in!
First an American won........Ivan Balbanov with his Malanois
Second the Airedale Eyk v. Erikson came in seventh with very good scores. Take a look at the final tally.
www.fci2007.it/classifica.php How about this versatile dog with the specialists. And Don maybe you want to mention this to Terry the expert in" how airedales can't compete with mals"
Alex again thanks for posting.

[alex]

You are welcome, Ed!

And regarding this:

ed said:

And Don maybe you want to mention this to Terry the expert in" how airedales can't compete with mals"

unfortunately, they can not in protection sports. Nobody can. Not in a mass numbers

Alex.

[ed]

I believe Airedales can or I wouldnt compete.
There were over 100 dogs entered in this trial at Sch3 level and the Airedale placed 7.
Eyk is the litter brother of Eddy v. Erikson who has even a more impressive competitive record against all comers. Clearly that kennel is producing dogs that can compete.

I agree that as a breed even German Shepherds are no longer competitive with Mals and Airedales in Working sports are a very small minority. But good dogs are where you find 'em. And you can find them looking at Airedales.

[alex]

ed said:

But good dogs are where you find 'em. And you can find them looking at Airedales.

Absolutely agree!

[markbaldassarre]

Hey, we need to remember....100 HERDERS finished UNDER this dog {Airedale}.

[AlexZ]

alex said:

Not in a mass numbers

Good trainers and handlers are few and far between. I think it's also true for people that are really good at it. You think that if all trainers that focus solely on Mals (and successful at it) would switch to Airedales, in two or three years we would see a sizable surge in numbers, and then other breeds would say similar things about airedales...

[alex]

z said:

alex said:

Not in a mass numbers

Good trainers and handlers are few and far between. I think it's also true for people that are really good at it. You think that if all trainers that focus solely on Mals (and successful at it) would switch to Airedales, in two or three years we would see a sizable surge in numbers, and then other breeds would say similar things about airedales...

AlexZ,

I dont agree with you. Malinois today the way they are because of the way they were bred and are bred. Majority of the breeders around the world look only at working abilities of their stock - nobody cares about beauty, tail set, ears set, color, etc. The only criteria is DOG SHOULD BITE and WILLING TO WORK! And not only at the age of 2-5 but also at 8-10.

Yes, a lot of good trainers have malinois, but if they'll switch tomorrow to Airedales the number of them being able to compete will decrease dramatically! I love Airedales, but unfortunately those that are capable of doing protection work not that many...

About other breeds - how many GSD, Dobermans, Rottweilers do you see today being successful at protection sport? And they still have a lot of trainers and successful once. Its all in the breeding and selection process and not in training.

Just my opinion.

Alex.

[AlexZ]

I guess, my previous post sounded argumentative... Let me rephrase, to say "it also matters" and "good trainers are a rare commodity", not to argue with the opinion that good protection competition Airedales are "few and far...", and that the genetics are a "must".

Also - I am not as familiar with Mals as I probably need to, to talk about them. Having heard from Alex and others that know their stuff - I will go with it. Always happy to learn more.

Furthermore, I definitely support the selection based on working properties and not on the appearances. This is probably one of the reasons that GSDs, Rotties, and Dobermans are not as successful any longer. They all became "popular" and the show-based breeding took over. Did I get it right? This has definitely proven right for hunting.

Curt - I am a "wannabe breeder". I have a few good dogs that make good pups that do some good stuff. I don't have enough experience and haven't had enough litters to claim anything. However, I have done more than average in dog training... I read that thread (Tough/Sharp/Fight Driven) at the time it was posted, and agree with the observations made there. I do believe that as defined there, the "Fight Drive" is based on the genetics, but also think that there is no guarantee that a litter from a fight-driven sire will be as "tough", and you have to do a lot of work selecting and breeding. If it is purely genetic, I will get my own proof in a few years. Actually, looking forward to it. I will need more help as I get into a bit more serious breeding and selection.

Cheers

[alex]

here is the link to the video of Eyk von Ericson doing obedience at FCI Championship:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6PsN8xBl_E

this is the 1st part of its obedience.
while you are watching this in youtube, 2nd part of the obedience and long bite from protection will be in the right part of the window.

[ed]

Excellent video Alex,,,,,,Hope the Board viewers get to see obedience2 and the blind search and long bite(courage test).
Eyk looks like a pretty big boy.

[alex]

yes Ed, Eyk is a nice size.

Also, I'd like to comment that training on that dog is excellent.
She did have a few mistakes during obedience routine, but overall its a very nice dog/handler team