On the weekend of the 19th and 20th of January, Herr Gunther Diegel of the WUSV responded to a request from the GSDL of Great Britain Working Dog Group and came over to Manchester to facilitate an historic seminar.

Present at the seminar were judges representing The GSDL of Great Britain Working Dog Group, The GSA of Ireland and The BAGSD.

The seminar was organised by the GSDL for all the judges and apprentice judges from these organisations to outline correct judging practices and the current WUSV rules and procedures for running Schutzhund/VPG surveys.

The seminar was held over two days and an official report will be sent by Herr Diegel to the WUSV recognising these judges as the only domestic judges in Great Britain and Ireland to be able to give WUSV qualifications at a Schutzhund/VPG survey in their home countries.

The outcome of the seminar will be that all Schutzhund/VPG qualifications issued at any future surveys by these judges would now be recognised by the WUSV. This is a historic landmark for Schutzhund/VPG Dog Sport in Great Britain, and one we have strived to achieve for nearly two decades.

The principle reason for Herr Diegel giving these seminars worldwide is education; they have been devised to give trainers and competitor’s confidence that the rules are being applied consistently by all those judges that have attended these seminars. Whether at the highest level or at club level it is important that these judges give understandable and precise critiques which should be both motivational and educational.

The judges and apprentice judges in attendance were:-
Gavin Smith GSDL
Jim Jackson GSDL
Henriette Bohnstedt GSDL
Richard James GSDL
Dougie Bannerman GSDL
John Buckley GSA
David Buckley GSA
Fintan Lalor GSA
Eric Roberts BAGSD

I would like to thank all the judges for their attendance and help in making this such a successful seminar. I would also like to thank Herr Gunther Diegel for giving his time out of a very busy schedule to attend this seminar.

By: Stephen Byfield
GSDL Working Dog Group Chairman