2005 AWMA National Championship
By Tami Stephenson
This year’s Malinois Championship, hosted by the Atlanta Working Dog Club, proved to be an event full of high competition, exciting performances, and it’s shares of trials and tribulations. The lovely stadium field presented an excellent back drop on which our judges Nathaniel Roque/USA (tracking), Frank Mensing/ Canada (obedience), and Louis Quadroni/Switzerland (protection) could officiate. The judging was strict, and every point earned was well deserved.
Helpers Clark Niemitalo/front half (USA) and Kim Hechler/back half (Germany) were selected to work the trial, and proved to be safe and effective. As usual, there was strong controversy given the style of reattack by the back half helper, Kim Hechler, however most of the dogs were unaffected by this different style of work. The president has selected and appointed a new helper committee consisting of Les Flores, Nathaniel Roque, Ivan Balabanov and Mike Baker. It is with the utmost confidence that this newly appointed chairman of the helper committee, Les Flores, will step into the roll previously held by Joey Leigh, and establish a working helpers program for the AWMA.
On behalf of AWMA, I would like to extend my congratulations to this year’s AWMA National Champion, Mike Morgan and his handler owned and trained dog, Bacchus v Drachenherz (Boy vom Hölzleswald x Baghira vom Falkenstock) with a score of 95-92-87. Bacchus turned in a lovely heeling performance, earning High Obedience at the end.
It should be noted that the championship title was nearly earned by long time supporter and founding member Ivan Balabanov and his homebred malinois Qenny ot Vitosha. Qenny and Ivan turned in a stellar performance scoring 96-96-95 until it was discovered that he made a costly error in having a toy on his self during the tracking phase, resulting in a disqualification from the trial. Let this be a reminder to all of us as handlers to please remember and respect the established rules set forth by the FCI. This error ultimately led to knocking Ivan’s first place performance out of the position of National Champion. The disqualification was decided by the presiding tracking judge, and fully accepted by Ivan Balabanov as he realized his lapse in judgement.
Our Vice Champion this year, Cele Danner and Zozzo v Tessinij’s (Clip vom Roten Falken x Tiny van de Berlex-Hoeve), turned in a respectable performance of 90-91-92, earning themselves the second position on this year’s world team to Hungary. Cele and Zozzo had only months to prepare for this championship together, and proved that they are a valuable asset to our team. Cele, training director for Southern Illinois Police and SchH Club and AWDF Treasurer, has been involved in the sport for several years, and we are excited to welcome her to the malinois world!
Ronnie Weiss and Zohra v Tessinij’s tied with Cele and Zozzo earning a score of 97-85-91, ultimately finishing in third place determined by the protection score, and high scoring female dog. Zohra is owned by Krystin Hildebrandt and presented by Ronnie Weiss. It is interesting to note that our second and third place performances were earned by littermates! Good job Ronnie.
Joe Moldovon and Argo pulled in a strong fourth place finish with a 271 and high tracking score of 98. It is unfortunate that this team is unable to represent us in Hungary due to registration recognition, but we would like to acknowledge their welcome participation in our championships. Other notable performances include Greg Doud and Flare (High Protection with 93 pts.).
The IPO II National Championship went to AWMA President Glenn Stephenson and Q’Ichiro Ot Vitosha. Ichi turned in a powerful protection performance, and is a littermate to Qenny Ot Vitosha (Turcodos vd Duvetorre x Sandy Van de Haantjeshoek). Bob Miller and Yukon du Belle Pratique also turned in nice B & C performances, but unfortunately had a "mali moment"
Founding board member and membership chairperson Anne Camper and Beqka D’Ile du Chien (Aros D’Ile Du Chien x Dite Ot Vitosha) traveled all the way from MT to compete, earning the IPO I Championship title. Congratulations to Anne and Beqka!
We wish to thank the hosting club for their time and effort in pulling off the event, and hope to minimize many of the areas of concern encountered at this year’s championship. As a young and growing organization it is normal to encounter problems, and we wish to thank those who take on the challenge of hosting a trial. In an effort to make next year’s championship even better, we have implemented a National Championship and World Team committee at this year’s General Board meeting consisting of Tami Stephenson, Dana Miller, Sabine Ernsting and Melissa Mason. This committee, chaired by Sabine Ernsting, will be responsible for recommending guidelines and procedures for hosting the nationals, in addition to more clearly defining the existing criteria. It is our hope that this will help future events run more smoothly.
Check the AWMA website for the final team selection to the World Championship (FMBB) trial to be held in Hungary in May ‘06. This national trial was one portion of the team selection process. While the first four team positions are selected from the national championship standings, there are still two (plus one alternate) positions to be earned via the point system. The team will be announced early ‘06 when the deadline for world championship declarations is announced.
In conclusion, the AWMA is looking forward to next year’s championship trial to be held in West Virginia, hosted by the Podium Belgian Shepherd Working Dog Club. The website for the trial will be up and running well in advance of next year’s championship trial.