The 2004 tour group at the Freilicht Black Forest Museum
In 2005 the nonprofit Lanting Sieger Show experience returns to Ulm and the castles of Bavaria, with a sidetrip into Austria. You don't want to miss that! The 2006 Sieger Show will be in Dusseldorf and the tour will feature Holland and the Northern Rhine.
For those interested in joining us next year, here are some answers to commonly-asked questions. Each person makes his own plane reservations, and we meet at an airport of my choice, although in 2004 for various reasons it was better that we “rail” into Karlsruhe and not start paying for rental vans until Monday. Each is responsible for his own food, hotel bills, and show admission. I rent the vehicles, enlist a driver or two, reserve hotels at the best prices and locations, and arrange introductions and sights of interest and historical significance. Each year the show is held in a different place from the previous year, but many are returned to, so I try to vary the tours so that repeat group members do not have exactly the same experience. For example, in 2005 we will all fly to Munich and we will see some different castles and additional breeders. If you want your well-behaved teen to have a better education and a better chance to grow up by interacting with adults than is possible in school for a couple of weeks, there are always plenty of mature members of the group to help keep an eye on him/her, so feel safe in sending your youngster if you can’t get off work yourself. E-mail Fred Lanting at mrgsd@hiwaay.net and start planning!
Why the Lanting Tour is a Great Way to See the Sieger Show
Rebecca Wong
2004 Tour participant
Fred Lanting, a SV, AKC and UKC judge has been leading tours to the Bundessiegerzuchtschau or Siegar Show since he reitred from the chemical business in 1997. Throughout the Sieger show and tour, Fred is there to explain what is going on. Fred happily answered the same basic questions repeatedly, gave detailed answers to the more advanced questions and took a stab at most of the off-the-wall ones we could come up with. This is splendid opportunity to learn more about the GSD from a very accessible SV judge. At the show, Fred explained the process, gave us commentary on the judging and an opportunity to understand what each judge was trying to accomplish. Fred even happily answered GSD and travel questions via email before and after the tour!
See the top German Shepherds in the world: canine athletes who epitomize both beauty and brains. The sight of the open class finalists gaiting across the stadium was breathtaking. But even more stunning was the realization that the dogs are gunsure, have at least one Schutzhund or herding title in addition to their preliminary titles of AD (Endurance test) and BH (a title requiring work similar to an AKC Obedience CD and Canine Good Citizen.) What other breed asks this much of its conformation champions?
A great opportunity to meet German breeders and visit their kennels and often their homes. It is a true learning experience to see how European families approach GSD breeding and training (GSD breeding and showing is typically an endeavor for the whole family). All of the breeders we visited had different approaches to GSD breeding and it was fascinating to see how their methods varied.
Fred wrote the book on thrift. I was seriously impressed with how he kept the trip costs down. The 2004 tour was a larger than most so my share of the expenses came out to $225. In previous years with smaller groups, the share ranged as high as $450.
Sight seeing in addition to all the great dog activities! The 2004 Siegar show setting was in the fabulous Karlsruhe Scholss, a multipurpose public park on the vast grounds of a baroque palace. We saw the sights in Strasbourg and Colmar in France and Freiborg in the Black Forest of Germany. We got a little feel for German history at the Frielichts Black Forrest Living Museum in Gutach and enjoyed the charming village of Bollenbach for two days. Fred tries to keep a balance between the total pursuit of things GSD while giving us a chance to learn something about Europe.
You can pick on some great tips on traveling from Fred who has judged in every continent that holds organized GSD shows. He is absolutely fearless and quite effective in asking for help from the local residents when we needed assistance. It was simply enlightening to watch Fred charm the locals when we needed something.
Drivers wanted! If you live to drive a manual (standard) transmission like a bat out of h*ll and can do it safely, Fred needs you to drive the backup car. We traveled about 90 mph+ routinely on the autobahn when the traffic was good and good hand eye coordination is a definite plus here. Town driving is a little tough since the traffic signs traffic signs are different enough to give you pause and care has to be taken with so many bicycles sharing the road.