Hans-Jürgen hails from the northern most state in Germany, Schleswig-Holstein, which lies on the base of the peninsula of Jutland between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, and borders onto Denmark. Until 1864, the region was part of Denmark. This is a very beautiful region of Germany. There is a very strong influence of the sea with the entire coast being part of the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park, which is the largest national park in Central Europe. Long ago the Vikings sailed in the harbour of Schleswig. Remnants of the Nydam Boat, a 4th-century vessel, were discovered in 1864 in the Nydam Marsh near Schleswig. Schleswig-Holstein is famous for its annual classical music festival and the Wacken Open Air Festival - the biggest open air heavy metal music gathering in the world. In 2008, the Continental Sheepdog Championships was staged in this area.
Hans-Jürgen is a vet by trade, specializing in cows. However, at home on his farm sheep are the stock of choice where he breeds Scottish Blackface/Heidschnucke crosses. These are used mainly for training purposes. Hans-Jürgen has had a long-time interest in dogs. He first started training hunting dogs – Labradors and Retrievers. In 1980s his last hunting dog died but it wasn’t until 1994 that he started looking for a new dog. It wasn’t until after seeing a border collie demonstration close to the village where he lives that he started to think it would be a good idea to have a dog to help him with his sheep. Up until this time, sheep were moved and penned on foot by Hans-Jürgen, his wife and their two children, Christina and Patrick.
The first dog Hans-Jürgen purchased was for farm work only. He had no intention of trialling. Then a friend asked Hans-Jürgen if he would help put on a trial. “Yes,” came the reply. Then his friend asked if he wanted to run in the trial, to which Hans-Jürgen once again answered affirmatively. The trialling bug took hold and Hans-Jürgen has not looked back.
After giving his first dog to his daughter, Christina, a successful young handler in her own right having won the Young Handler competition at the Continental in 2005 and who will also compete for Germany at the 2011 World Trial,, Hans-Jürgen’s next dog, Meggie, qualified for the German team twice for the Continental and although they were eligible to attend the 2005 World Trial, family commitments kept them at home.
Hans-Jürgen purchased Jill, the bitch he ran at the 2008 World Trial and who has made the team again for 2011, as a two and a half year old after she ran in the Irish National in 2005. Jill, now almost 9 years old, is an Irish bred bitch by T. Gill’s Nap and out of M. Gilmartin’s Kim. Hans-Jürgen has a soft spot for Jill. He says she is the “best dog I have ever had. She is easy to handle, willing to please and always tries to do her best. She is hard working and has never injured a sheep.”
Hans-Jürgen not only trials dogs, but he is deeply involved in the organization of trials, such as the Continental, and in hosting training clinics by trainers such as Bobby Dalziel, Con McGarry, Simon Mosse, Aled Owen, Glyn Jones (Bodfari), and Thomas Longton. All have had an influence on the way Hans-Jürgen trains and thinks about sheepdogs. Con McGarry and Simon Mosse, in particular, have given Hans-Jürgen a system for training and made him think about how he trains dogs. Most importantly, all have encouraged him to stay calm and make training fun for his dogs so his dogs (and he) remain happy. In teaching others, Hans-Jürgen counsels them to be calm when training, keep your dog under control, start slowly, and take things one step at a time.
In talking to Hans-Jürgen, one is struck by just how much dance and musical metaphors pepper his language when he talks about working dogs. On first brush, one wonders how ‘calm’ and ‘disco’ go together. But then disco does have its musical roots in the late 1960s soul music. So while Hans-Jürgen may be dancing up a storm at the Continental to the sound of The Bee Gees or Donna Summer, at the World Trial he might resort to something a little more soulful to calm himself for the task ahead.
