The 2015 South Florida Rottweiler Klub RKNA Breed Show

My wife Karen and I have just returned from a nearly week long trip from our home in Dayton Ohio to Miami Florida to compete in the 2015 South Florida Rottweiler Klub RKNA Breed Show.  As I’ve done with past shows we’ve attended, I thought I’d put together an article about the show.

From our home to the hotel we selected (actually located in Dania Beach FL, which is a bit North of Miami) the drive was 16 hours – the furthest we’ve ever driven for a dog show.  Last year we rented mini-vans when we traveled to dog shows, but I recently purchased a 2003 Yukon XL Denali which turned out to be more  than perfect for the trip.  Typically we’re gone for just a long weekend for the shows, and we leave our two Labradors at home and have someone watch them.  But since we had the room and it was going to be a long trip, we brought the whole family:

We left a little later than we wanted to on the first day of the trip, but still made it to Lake City Florida (about 50 miles over the GA-FL border) after a determined day of driving.  The next day we drove down to Port St. Lucie, Fl (about 2 hours North of the show) and spent some time with my sister, then went on that evening to Dania Beach, FL:

We’ve had a tough 2014/2015 Winter here in Ohio (as has much of the US) and prior to the show, we hadn’t seen any temperatures above about 25 degrees for several weeks.  In fact, I’d been training and conditioning with Zeus for both IPO and upcoming Sieger shows in temperatures as cold as 10 degrees Fahrenheit.  For several days leading up to the show, the temperature had dropped below zero, so we had to go to places like Home Depot and walk up and down the aisles just to get in a little exercise for muscle tone.    So I was quite concerned going into the show that Zeus would be in as good of condition as we needed him to be to perform well.

The Miami Sieger and Breed Survey is hosted by the South Florida Rottweiler Klub, which is a chapter of the Rottweiler Klub of North America.  Last year, Zeus did quite well and we showed in two other RKNA shows – the Nashville Breed Show, where Zeus took first place (V1) in the 12-18 month male class as well as Best Youth Male, and the RKNA Klub Sieger, where Zeus took 2nd place (V2) also in the 12-18 month male class.  The Miami show would be our first time competing in the 18-24 month male class, which of course was both exciting and concerning.  Zeus’s success last year in the previous age classes were no guarantee that he would place with in the class of older, more mature dogs.

I’ve had the opportunity to show in several Sieger shows both within RKNA and with other organizations, and the Miami show certainly ranks at the top among the best, most well run shows I’ve attended.  This should be no surprise as the show is run by Boban Franeta, VIP Director of MYNT Lounge, one of Miami’s hottest and most exclusive night clubs for seven years running.  Boban’s proven skills in both event promotion and management make the Miami show one of RKNA’s longest running and most successful Sieger shows.  There were reportedly 231 entries for the weekend – a completely full show.

Boban Franeta (left)

Boban is also the owner of Vom Haus Franeta and is a long-time Rottweiler breeder himself.  It takes a special passion to be a Rottweiler breeder, and that passion showed in this event.

The location of the Miami show could not be more ideal to hold a Sieger show – Topeekeegee Yugnee Park.  This 138 acre facility is a nice as it is massive – in fact, had I known about all this dog friendly park had to offer before our trip, I would have come down a day earlier.  The show is held in a secluded corner of the park with plenty of large shady trees to park under and set up dog cages and chairs:

Even though the temperature climbed above 80 degrees on Sunday, my wife and I were very comfortable sitting in the shade and enjoying the Miami breeze.  We also didn’t have to worry about the dogs getting over heated, and there was plenty of space to walk dogs as well.  While I’m on the topic of the show location, I’d like to STRONGLY encourage any planning to attend this (and really any) show in the future to PLEASE clean up after yourselves and your dogs.  Boban and his club have worked very hard to secure one of finest locations for a Sieger club, but unfortunately was warned by park officials during the show that our group wasn’t doing a good job of cleaning up.  In the interests of the continuation of this show, as well as the image of the Rottweiler breed and its owners, please make an effort to maintain the park’s pristine condition while attending this show.

Of course, one of the great things about any Sieger show is getting to see other folks in the Rottweiler community you get to see perhaps once or twice a year.  For instance, I got to see my buddy Sasa Weisenstadt – one of the premier Rottweiler show photographers in the world.  Sasa even took a few photos for me which are in this article (the ones without the ThruMyLens watermark) – thanks Sasa!

One of the things that was VERY appealing to us about the Miami show (besides the fact that its located in..well…Miami) is the fact that it was a double show with two separate judges.  On Saturday, one judge (Olga Grin – FCI Russia) judged the males while the other judge (Siegmund Trebschuh – ADRK Germany).  Then on Sunday, each judge switched roles – so having two opportunities to show and get critiqued in one event made the added expensive and trouble of traveling from Ohio worthwhile.

The one variable no show can account for is weather, and Saturday certainly presented a challenge with record breaking rain fall.  Many of the exhibitors were challenged with monsoon-like rain while exhibiting, including myself:

I think perhaps the rain may have dampened Olga Grin’s view of Zeus.  It was apparent Olga likes a Rottweiler with a very compact body, and Zeus has a longer body.  In her written critique she also called Zeus a “medium sized dog” with a “small head for the size of his body.”  We were baffled by this as Zeus is over 125 lbs. and right at the top of the breed standard in height – any larger in size and he’d be disqualified.  But again, the rain may have played a factor here in her ability to judge Zeus.  Regardless, she did place in 2nd in the 18-24 month males, which we were super excited to get give the level of competition in this class of five dogs from both the US and Europe.

On Saturday, the sun shown brightly on both the show and our dog Zeus, who ended up in 1st place (V1) under judge Siegmund Trebschuh.

Thanks for the double handling assist David

Zeus’ V1 rating made him eligible to compete for the title of “Best Youth Male.” The competition for this title was held at the end of the show, and due to the large number of entries, the sun had already set by this point.  To provide enough light to finish the show, people pulled up their cars close to the ring, and turned on their high-beam headlights:

Unfortunately, I made a strategic error while competing for Best Youth Male – instead of having someone else hold Zeus while I baited him, I decided to let my wife try and bait him.  I’m still kicking myself for this decision because I truly believe the judge wanted to give Zeus the title, but our presentation was very poor as Zeus just doesn’t bait well for anyone but me.  Lesson learned!

Minor set back not withstanding, the The 2015 South Florida Rottweiler Klub RKNA Breed Show was an outstanding event that surpassed our every expectation.  I was actually born in Broward County Florida (the same county where the show is held) so for Zeus to go V1 in my home state so very near where I was born meant a lot to me.  But even without the V1 placement, we would still be looking forward to attend this fantastic event next year and highly recommend it.

With this win, Zeus joins an elite list of Rottweilers who have earned “multi-V1” show ratings and we could not be more thrilled!