JOZEF ADAMUŠČIN
IFR WCH 2024 MAIN JUDGE AND judge for PROTECTION IGP3 

I was born in Bardejov and I got involved in dog sport there when I was 14. I have been living near Trenčín since 2014. I have won the FCI World Championship three times, I am the WUSV World Vice-Champion, the Universalsieger WUSV World Vice-

Champion and several times the Slovak National Champion. I am a member of the presidium of the Slovak Association of Sport Cynology (ZŠK), a member of the ZŠK training committee and the head trainer of the Slovak Union of the German Shepherd Dog Breeders. I have been the owner of BARNERO kennel for more than 30 years and I breed a working line of German Shepherd Dogs. I will celebrate my 56th birthday this year.

Jozka, you have judged the RTW National Championships in the Czech Republic several times, have you done so in Slovakia?

No, I haven´t, I think I have judged the RTW Nationals in Slovakia just once.

This is the first time you will be judging the IFR World Championship, are you looking forward to this event? Which phase do you like the most as a judge and as a competitor?

It will be new experience and I am very glad to have the opportunity to judge any top dog sport events. I prefer protection phase both as a judge and a competitor.

You have won the FCI IPO World Champion title several times. Do you utilize your experience from the competition field in your work as a judge? Do you prepare for judging and if so, how?

In my opinion, only an active competitor can become a top judge. That is the only way one can properly understand individual parts and essence of each exercise, evaluate perfectly trained details as well as above average dog´s performance and professional presentation of the phase by the dog handler. I am taking part in competitions, I am training my dog, so I really know how difficult it is to prepare a dog that has heart for its work and get him ready for the slightest details in each discipline. That is why I prefer dogs with excellent drive who are at the same time under control to dogs with technically “clean” exercises while lacking some drive, not to mention dogs working under some sort of pressure. In fact: in my eyes, if a

dominant dog with excellent drive and wonderful performance throughout the phase makes one big mistake, it still should have a chance to get a higher total score than a dog that somehow does all the exercises without any mistakes, but also without enthusiasm and proper details.

When I stand as a judge on the competition field, I try not to evaluate the performances by name or by previous achievements. What the team shows off in the moment is important (of course, in accordance with the IGP Regulations). I am glad to have many friends across the dog sport world, but when judging, all teams at the stadium are “just” participants in the

competition. I especially appreciate every competitor who enters the event and presents his/her dog in a nice way. Even with some mistakes, but without pressure and in the spirit of fair play.

When judging, first of all I mention all the mistakes so that the competitor knows exactly why he/she lost some points. I do not praise performances and then give points that do not match my comment.

Regarding top events and my judging, of course, I am preparing for them. But it is the same also with club trials, you have to browse the Regulations and revise. When I was preparing for the FCI World Championship, I went through almost 200 videos and evaluated them to get ready.

What do you think of the performances and achievements of the Rottweilers in recent years, especially in protection phase?

To be honest I do not have that much insight into the Rottweilers. But I really liked, for example, last year´s Czech RTW Champion. Such performance would definitely be impressive even at the FCI World Championship.

What kind of performance would you like to see in protection? Have you ever awarded 100 points?

Personally, I think that if the judge is strict, 100 points is unrealistic. I was awarded 99 points at one World Championship, but it´s still not 100. :-) I even got 100 points at the Slovak Nationals a long time ago, but I do not mention it at all. :-) I have never evaluated any performance with 100 points even in the club trials. It would be nice if this would happen at the IFR World Championship this year.  :-)
What I like in protection? Dominant dogs with maximum drive, full bite, attentive guarding and at the same time good obedience throughout the phase.

What do you think is the greatest art in protection training? How much does success depend on the dog and how much on the dog handler, what is your opinion?

The most important in training is a good dog. Almost any dog can be trained to a certain level, but you can expect top performances only if you have an exceptional, above average dog. Of course, you also need a good helper for training sessions. That is the first step. Then you also need a lot of luck and good timing for the competitions. This is very important considering dominant dogs. So the dog handler is in fact the most important.

Possible modifications of the IGP Regulations are recently the hot topic around the sports cynology – what do you think about it?

That is a never ending story. Unfortunately, the IGP regulations have been modified quite often lately. On the other hand, I understand that some of this could be brought by crazy times, weird activists and various pseudo-animal protectors.

If it was up to me, I would definitely simplify more and make the difficulty between IGP 1 and 2 and 3 more transparent. But I would change IGP 3 only minimally in principle. And it would be great to have especially for beginner judges more detailed description of individual exercises, mistakes and point deduction. But it is pointless to talk about it if we do not have a chance to influence it. And we certainly don´t have that…

What dogs do you have ready for competitions and what awaits you as a handler in 2024?

I don´t have a dog ready for the trials at the moment. So this year, I will appear at the competition field only as a judge.

Thank you for the interview, Draha Mašková

Translation: Eva Fiedlerová