Youth presentation and bonitation of Czechoslovakian wolfdogs, on which I was invited as referee, was held on September 1, 2001 in town Lühringsen, Germany. For youth presentation there came 5 young animals and the bonitation joined 11 animals - 7 bitches and 4 dogs.

I will start from the end - with results of the bonitation. From 11 presented adult animals only three successfully finished the bonitation - one male and two females. One bitch didn't came to character test and so she didn't finish the bonitation, and the rest of the animals were found as nonbreeding on the results of the test of character. Very sad results on the first sight. But there is necessary to see the whole situation.

There is no Club of breeders of Czechoslovakian wolfdogs in Germany yet. A group of owners and breeders of CSW with a goal to set such a club in near future, arranged the first bonitation of CSWs in 1998. This year´s bonitation was so only the second such event in Germany. It was arranged according to rules of bonitation of CSWs in Slovakia, which are similar like rules valid in Czech Republic. It's goal was mainly to inform the owners of CSWs in Germany with the purpose of bonitation of animals, to show the way how the bonitations are held in the countries of origin (Slovakia, Czech Republic), appraise the animals this way and to seek reserves in work with Csws and their training to bonitation. This goal was also mentioned in the foreword before the bonitation in Lühringsen started.

Most of the animals were very nervous or shy already while measured. Obvious was also the lack of experiences of dog owners, how to show the dog and how to keep it during the measuring, also during checking the teeth. Calmness of dog during the measuring is necessary for getting as much exact results as possible. Nervous or shy dog is or even tries to defend itself and dates got this way very often are not matching the reality. During assessment of character, many dogs were very nervous even from the fact, that they were leashed alone, without their owner. Reaction on shooting was, except few exceptions, very strong. Even with great allowance it was not possible to rate a character of most of showed animals another way than Oa, or Ob, which in Slovakia means result "non-breeding".

After total rating, natural disappointment, sometimes even disagreement was seen among owners of bonitated dogs. They criticised mainly the way of bonitation and argued, that such bonitation requires a special training for a successful results. From this reason, we decided to show an example and brought for bonitation few animals from Slovakia and one from Poland. No matter that most of them were young animals, which were not in age for bonitation yet, all of them absolved the test successfully. With respect to the goal of bonitation, we explained the owners that this way of bonitation doesn't have in any case to cast their animals, or discourage them as owners from other work with this breed. No way. In respect to the fact, that the results of bonitation could have been caused mostly by lack of training we advised the owners, who's dogs haven't passed the bonitation due to their character, to focus more on the training of their dogs and to repeat the bonitation of character. I believe, that all present friends of Czechoslovakian wolfdogs understood, that even with partly negative results of the bonitation, its performance is a success. We have been talking also about the fact, that in future can a newly set club in Germany make its own rules of bonitation. However, since we still are talking about working breed, characteristical properties of the breed must not get lost. Also to help to make a co-operating breeding base it would be needed to bonitate the animals with a similar way in all countries.

I have been addicted to Czechoslovakian wolfdogs since 1982 and I remember very well, which problems we had with people and dogs in the beginning of activity of the Club of breeders of Czechoslovakian wolfdogs (at that time it was one club for Czechoslovakian Republic). The fact, that we barely meet a shy or aggressive animals on bonitations, that Czechoslovakian wolfdogs successfully pass tests and that our breed gets its fans all over the world despite its speciality, this facts hides behind itself lots of work of many people, the period of mistakes, learning and discovering. Since we were working with a new breed, we learned on our own mistakes and so this period was long. We value highly the aspiration of our colleagues in foreign countries to make conditions for developing CSWs in their countries and we are willing to discuss our experiences, discoveries and also mistakes with working with CSWs. We want to help them to get through the hard beginnings as soon as possible. I know, that there is a lot of aversion against training dogs in defence in Germany, but I am sure, that even without this training it is possible thanks to basic training to pass not even the bonitation, but also a global training of CSW successfully. There is lots of possibilities for co-operation. I am sure, that both Clubs in countries of origin, Slovakian and Czech, will support expanding of CSWs to the world and to help not only with breeding works, but also with organising, club works, sporting and training activities. As a deputy of the Club of breeders of CSW in Slovakia, I can invite everyone interested in work with CSWs to all our club events - shows, bonitations, sport activities and summer camps.

In the end, I would like to thank the organisers of the bonitation in Lühringsen for inviting us. Even with all mentioned problems, the meeting was very useful and for me very interesting and educating and it was a friendly event. I believe, that it felt the same for all who were there.

RNDr. Sona Bognarova