Judges

I have been in the dog sport since 1991. I started with a 3 year old Doberman, but soon after achieving a Schutzhund 1, bought a German Shepherd puppy. Since then I've trained 5 dogs to IGP 3, and others to BH, FH, and AD titles along the way. I currently have a young dog that I am starting. I’ve been a competitor at Club, Regional, National, and WUSV levels.  I have served as Team Canada Captain twice, as well as co-captain once. From the start of my days in this sport, I have been a member of the Winnipeg Working Dog CIub, serving in all positions on the executive. In 2018 I relocated to British Columbia, but recently moved again to beautiful Alberta.  I began the Canadian Judge's program in 2006, and since then have judged in Canada, United States, and twice in Barbados.  I have been the Canadian National Helper Director for the GSSCC twice, and also a member of the Judge’s Committee. Last October I was given the opportunity to become GSSCC Head Judge.   I wish all of the competitors good luck, and thank the organizing committee for all of their hard work.  The old saying that “It takes a village” is an understatement for an event such as this.

Jochen Prall became a member of the SV in 1987. In his life he has trained many German Shepherds to Schutzhund titles and competed often at all levels of trials.
Jochen Prall was also an official helper for protection work for the SV from 1999 to 2013. During this time, he was a helper at 3 German Sieger shows, 1 BSP, 1 DJJM and a lot of other competitions and events.
He has been a registered conformation judge with the SV since 2015. He breeds under his kennel name “von der Liebeswarte”, which has been registered with the SV since 1945. Jochen has achieved numerous notable successes at trials and conformation shows and several VA
titles with his dogs in different countries.
In his professional life, Jochen Prall is a police inspector in a huge K-9 department in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He has handled and educated a lot of K-9 dogs with different skills and specialisations like searching for drugs, explosives, and blood.

I am honored to judge tracking again at this year’s Canadian German Shepherd Championships and Sieger Show!
I have been involved in the sport for over 28 years. I started as a handler, training my own puppy which I went to the Worlds with. Over the past 24 years, I have been to almost every Canadian Championship and Sieger Show as a handler, helper, helper director, coach, President, Breed Warden and Judge.
I have retired my competition dog Lex Luther Vom Mack-Zwinger - IGP3, KKL1 and he is now a drug detection dog. I have trained six (6) dogs from puppy to IGP 3, competing at the Canadian Championships and making a World Team with four of them. I have also trained several other dogs to a variety of titles.
I began working as a training and trial helper very early on which allowed me to be a helper at many club and regional trials and a helper twice for the Canadian Championships. I was helper director for many years implementing the helper program which we currently use. I have been training director and President at the Fundy Schutzhund Club, East Regional Chairperson, GSSCC Director, GSSCC President, I am currently the Breed Warden for the GSSCC and sitting on a WUSV committee for worldwide harmonization of our Breed. 
My wife Mia and I breed German Shepherd Dogs since 2007 under the name Kleinenberg Kennels and we have gone to the Canadian Championships and qualified for Team Canada with our own handler bred and trained dogs.
I started my Apprenticeship for a GSSCC Performance Judge in 2017 and finished all the requirements within a year and became GSSCC Performance Judge # 12. I started my Apprenticeship for a GSSCC Breed Judge in 2022 and finished all the requirements within a year becoming GSSCC Breed Judge # 1.
I wish every handler success and hope they reach their goals with their K-9 partner!
Darin

Our obedience and protection judge this year is Horst-Dieter Träger (SV). Herr Traeger is a well-known all-round working German Shepherd Dog afficionado.
He is a German Customs dog trainer and handler by profession. For over 40 years (since 1980) he trained and handled general purpose dogs (protection) and detection dogs for the German Customs Service. In that time Herr Traeger not only trained many dogs, but also instructed many handler-dog teams to graduate at the Customs Dog School in Bleckede.
He also competed at the International Working Service Dog Championships (police/ customs/ military). Since 1985 Horst-Dieter Traeger has been a judge for Police/customs dogs in Germany.     
In 2001 he became a working judge in the SV. Herr Traeger has competed in many Regional and National Championships with his own dogs. This includes four times at the SV Bundessiegerprüfung (BSP), with dogs he not only trained, but also bred himself. He also participated one time in the National German Rottweiler Championship (ADRK).
As a judge Herr Traeger has judged the pinnacle of the GSD Championships.He judged protection at the 2021 WUSV World Championship. He has judged at the SV BSP twice, also in protection, as well as the German VDH (all-breed) Championship, again in protection. Herr Traeger is especially known for his keen appreciation and evaluation of protection work.
Horst-Dieter Traeger has also judged the SV Tracking Dog Championship (Bundesfährtenhundprüfung), as well as approximately 25 Regional Championships in Germany. In addition he has judged National Championships in other countries around the world.
He has been breeding German Shepherds since 1984, with the well-known kennel name of von den Wannaer Höhen (https://www.wannaerhoehen.de/).
In his personal life, Horst-Dieter Traeger is married with one son.