We talk with Lori Nickeson, breeder/owner/handler of
the 2007 Obedience Victor - and so much more.

2007 Obedience Victor CH DeBrut's The Shadow Knows UD NA RE Left: Lori and Monte at the 2007 National       Right: Monte takes a Group 3 with Lori handling

Editor's note: Lori Nickeson has been breeding, showing and training German Shepherd Dogs for more than 30 years.

She is the breeder, owner and handler of the first CH OTCH male in the history of the breed, and the first Champion to be awarded the title of Obedience Victor: 1986 OV CH OTCH DeBrut's Butch Cassiday TDX. There have been exactly three Champion OTCHs to earn the OV title and Lori had the first two. The second, which she bred, owns and handled, was PAM 2003 OVx CH OTCH DeBrut's Moonshadow UDX AX AXJ HT RE. "Shadow" was also only the second Champion to earn OV; and last year 2007 OV CH DeBrut's The Shadow Knows UD NA RE became the third Champion to earn OV.
     In addition to her achievements with dogs, Lori served on the GSDCA Board of Directors for eight years, during which she designed and received approval for the Performance Award of Merit. The award recognizes those who show the versatility and trainability of the breed by titling their dogs in a variety of performance events.
     The GSDCA bestowed Lori with the LaMar Kuhns Award in 1992 and the Connie Beckhart Award in 2006. Her ultimate goal is to have the Grand Victor and Obedience Victor in the same dog. "If you're going to dream, dream big! If I can't do it I hope someday someone does," she said.

GSDbyDesign: How long have you been in GSDs, and why this breed (what interested you)?

Lori Nickeson: I've had German Shepherds myself since the early 60s. The first GSD that I actually trained was in 1966. His name was "Brut." That is the origination of my Kennel name, "DeBrut." I chose the German Shepherd for many reasons, I love their intelligence and character, their courage and their loyalty. I love to look at them and watch them move. I love to work with them and see the light of understanding come on when I'm teaching something new. I love the way they listen to me and tip their heads from side to side. I love the fact that they think I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread and that no matter where I am or what I'm doing, they would rather be with me  than any other place else on earth.

GSDbyDesign: How did you get started in performance events? What led you to show your dogs in all arenas?
Lori: Like so many other people in our breed, I got involved when I decided to take a rambunctious German Shepherd puppy to a training class to gain some control over him. His name was "Brut." He was very intelligent and it turned out that I had a talent for training. We made a pretty good team. I took him to some fun matches and he won some ribbons and I was hooked. He wasn't registered so I got an ILP number on him. When we started going to the AKC shows, I saw some of the "show dogs" and since Brut was mostly German lines, he was a different type. I decided I'd like to try my hand at showing in the conformation ring as well. At that time that's all there was to do; conformation, obedience and tracking. So in 1971 I bought my first "show dog." She took some ribbons and was a great dog. She finished her Utility title but she wasn't quite the quality to make it as a "Show Dog," but by then I was hooked on the conformation ring as well.
 
 

BRUT . . . the beginning

Photo courtesy Lori Nickeson

GSDbyDesign: What year was your first obedience Trial? Which dog was it? How did you do? What was your score.
Lori: I went to my first AKC dog show in 1972 with Brut and he won the Novice A class with a score of 196 1/2 in Portland, OR. I remember it very clearly because just before we were ready to go into the long sit and down, an Old English Sheepdog got away from its owner and ran in front of a car. They called for anyone with veterinary experience. I had worked as a vet tech for six or seven years at that time, so I went out to help. When I came back, I had blood all over me and they were calling for me to go in for the long sit and down, and I was sure that Brut wouldn't stay. He was going crazy with the smells. I didn't have time to even go and wash my hands because they had been waiting for me for a while. I was so nervous, but he did as he was told and stayed and won the class. He was a great dog.

 
GSDbyDesign: Did you have a foundation bitch or dog? If not, is therea more recent bitch or dog who is now prevalent in your lines?
Lori: I did have a foundation bitch. Everything I have at the present time can be traced back to that bitch. Over the first few years, I had bought several "show prospects" from other breeders; some of them picked up a few minor points but really weren't quite what the judges were looking for. I trained and showed them all in obedience. Finally I decided to breed a litter myself and I bred to Louise Penery's male CH Tucker Hills Oracle UDT, one of the few CH UDT's of that time. He was a son of the great CH Santana's Man O' War.
     Well the litter went wrong and the bitch had to be spayed. Since this was the only bitch I owned and she had been spayed, Louise was generous enough that she offered to take the price of the stud fee that I had paid off of a puppy if I wanted one. I chose a 10-month-old bitch named Riesenblut's Scherzar's Jezebel, we called her "Punkin." She finished her UD and earned several points and a major reserve. Punkin was bred to a CH Jungerhaus Ceasar son and and produced my very first litter. That that litter produced the very first DeBrut Champion, CH Debrut's Kiss Me Kate of Kris-t. Two of the other pups were pointed. Every dog I own at the present time can be traced directly back to Punkin.
 

GSDbyDesign: Tell us about BUTCH; how his breeding came to be; how you chose him; and how the two of you accomplished so much together.
My requirements in a stud dog are first, temperament; second, soundness of structure; and third, breed type and movement, and he has to have a beautiful head and ears. When I saw Stuttgarts Sundance Kid (5X Sel CH Am/Can CH Stuttgart's Sundance Kid ROM ROMC OFA), I fell in love with him. He was very young at the time and hadn't been used very much. I had a young bitch out of Punkin and  CH Cobert's Cardinal (a Reno son) I called Inge, and she agreed to let me breed her to "Bear." Her call name was "Sugar" and Bear's sire was called Sugar, so I knew it had to produce something sweet. I wanted a boy. Sugar had 6 pups; 3 girls and 3 boys - and 2 of the boys were long-coats. So I was left with no choice. That was in August 1981. I named him Butch Cassiday - you know, from Butch Cassiday and the Sundance Kid.
     I guess you could say the rest is history because he did make some history with his accomplishments. He was shown for the first time at the Marin County Specialty in California when he was 6 months and old and he went High In Trial. Bob Penny showed him in the conformation ring and he won a class of 10. I really didn't know what it took to become an Obedience Trial Champion when I got the AKC certificate in the mail saying he was one. He was the first male CH OTCH German Shepherd. At the 1986 National in Atlanta, he became the first recorded Champion to earn the Obedience Victor/Victrix title. 
     Butch is still the only German Shepherd to hold the title of CH OTCH TDX. That was before the UDX, or the VST; before agility, herding or rally. Butch earned every title that was available at that time. He was one in a million.
     As far as I know there were no working lines behind Bear, and the only working lines behind my girls went back to Oracle. But I believe with the right dog, it doesn't matter what the background is. They are so intelligent that if you have the ability to teach it, they can learn just about anything. Butch just did everything I ever asked of him, right up to the day he died. He is the only dog I've ever owned that I didn't have to make the decision when to put to sleep. Just before his 12th birthday, Butch took his usual place for the night on the bed in my office and that's where I found him the next morning. He had died peacefully in his sleep, taking the burden of the decision off my shoulders.

1986 Obedience Victor CH OTCH DeBrut's Butch Cassiday TDX

GSDbyDesign: Tell us about training your dogs in multiple venues. How do you stay focused and keep the dogs focused in each venue.
Lori: I guess I don't really see any problem in training in multiple events. I have always expected a lot from my dogs and they have always given it to me. Granted, there have been times when I've had too many at the same time, so I haven't  been able to take them all as far as I would have liked. When I started, there was only Conformation, Obedience and Tracking. As AKC added more performance events, first agility (we started working in agility)."Kurt" (CH DeBrut's Different Drummer UDX NA) got his Novice agility title at the age of 10 1/2 years. That was before they had the preferred classes. I didn't take him any further than that because of his age.

     But Kurt's daughter, CH OTCH DeBrut's Moonshadow, earned her AX AXJ and was high scoring Champion in agility at the National Specialty several times. Shadow was the 2003 National Obedience Victrix, following in Butch's footsteps. She is almost ready to certify in tracking as well. When AKC added herding to the mix, we played around with several of the dogs, but I didn't actually train in herding seriously until 2004 when I got the HT on Shadow and completed the requirements for her Performance Award of Merit title.
     Shadow got her HT at the National Specialty in Oregon in spite of me, not because of me. I was so awful in the arena that the judge finally took pity on me and told me that he just couldn't stand to watch anymore. He was either going to have to leave the arena or come out and help me. I said "please help," so he did. He took me by the arm and towed me around so I would be where I was supposed to be. He told me "Your dog is doing all the right things, but you're never where you're supposed to be and you're making a mess of it." That was not one of my finer moments in training. I am better now and hopefully will have Shadow's son, Monte, ready for real herding in the Spring.
     I have to brag a bit though because I did breed the 2004 Herding Victrix: HC DeBrut's Kiss Me Kate Windridge UD NA TD. She belongs to Sheryl Evans, who I think is one of the most talented herding trainers there is. Sheryl also owns DeBrut's Dixieland Jubilee  HX CDX NA NAJ, who won first place in the Advanced herding classes two out of the three days at the Colorado National. Unfortunately, she took third the day that they chose the Herding Victrix. Jubilee has 6 points toward her herding Championship.
     I have one of the best herding instructors in the country so I have no excuse for not getting the job done.
     My training and showing philosophy is a bit different than most I think. I train because I love to train. I show because I love to show. But I train for the fun of it. I don't nit-pick and drill my dogs. I try to get as much precision as I can without losing the attitude. I would rather have the attitude than the high scores. I want to enjoy myself in the ring, not be so up-tight that I want to up-chuck. It means a lot to me to have someone come up to me and tell me that it was fun to watch us work because we looked like we were having a good time. When I walk into the ring with my dog we are a team. I don't win or lose; "we" win or lose. I make as many mistakes as my dog does. I really don't get up-tight. I just figure we'll do the best we can and have fun while we're doing it. A hundred years from now, no one will remember anyway. It took me a long time to get to that point though.

     When I first started, I was nervous. I couldn't remember my name, and those nerves go right down the lead to the dog. Then the dog wonders what's wrong and starts worrying too. Especially GSDs. They are so in tune to me that they sense every little change in my behavior and attitude, and relate it to themselves. The next thing you know, they are all stressed-out trying to figure out what's wrong with me. So I finally figured it out and now I just have fun. It works for me and my dogs.
 

GSDbyDesign: Who has influenced your breeding program the most?

Lori: Person or Dog? The person would be Connie Beckhart. Connie encouraged me to follow my heart and think for myself  and to never lose sight of my goals as a breeder in where I was going and what kind of dog I wanted to produce. Always to maintain the integrity and image of the German Shepherd Dog. I've tried to live up to that advice.
     The dog I guess would probably be my old original Brut. Even though he wasn't registered, didn't have an illustrious pedigree or any titles to speak of, he was the very essence of what the German Shepherd Dog should be. He had courage, loyalty and strength of character. He was beautiful and bold and my best friend for 11 years. He is the dog that I have always tried to produce. 
 

	PAM 2003 OV CH OTCH DeBrut's Moonshadow UDX AX AXJ RE HT Shadow (and Lori) in agility, conformation and earning the coveted title of Obedience Victrix.

GSDbyDesign: Who is the next dog you have your eye on as "extra special"? And why?

Lori: Shadow's son, Monte, CH DeBrut's The Shadow Knows UD (almost X) NA RE. Monte is just beginning his obedience career. He was the 2007 National Obedience Victor. Monte is also working in herding, agility, and hopefully will do some tracking.
     I also have two of his sons. DeBrut's Iron Will of Nordica RN. "Will" is just 18 months old. I will hopefully finish him this spring and then concentrate on his performance titles; and Paul's puppy DeBrut's What's It To Ya, "Mr." He is just 10 months and I will be doing the training on him. He is fantastic. But since he is a long coat, he probably won't be shown in conformation, although he is one of the nicest dogs I think I have ever produced in structure, movement and temperament. Time will tell.

GSDbyDesign: If there was one thing you would tell others about performance events, what would it be?
Lori: Whether you ever put a title on your dog or not, the time you spend training is never wasted. Training builds a special relationship and a bond between you and your dog that is beyond anything you've ever experienced. Try it you might be surprised!

Thank you to Lori Nickeson for her gracious acceptance of our interview request and for providing us with such gorgeous 

photos of her dogs and their impressive achievements.

The German Shepherd by Design will be conducting interviews with notable breeders and handlers throughout 2008. If you would like to be featured on our website, please email gsdbydesign@aol.com.
 

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