It is a great pleasure and honor for me to welcome you in Sursee.

My area of responsibility within the WUSV Board includes the World Championships. With the training coordinator of the WUSV, Mr. Egon Gutknecht, a very harmonious cooperation has developed and we support the respective organizers with words and deeds.

I am proud of the fact that such an event can be held in my home country.

I would like to thank the Swiss Shepherd-Club (SC) and the SC local group Sursee for their willingness to organise such a big event. It is absolutely not a matter of course to be so committed in this day and age.

Visitors and participants have the opportunity to praise the positive points of such an event and thus express their thanks to the staff.

The organizing committee has shown great commitment and recruited a team of helpers to ensure that everything runs smoothly. All those involved deserve our unreserved thanks for their great commitment to our passion for the German Shepherd Dog.

The Universal World Championship is extremely close to the ideals of the breed's founder, Rittmeister von Stephanitz.

The dogs are judged in the following categories:

• Nose work (foreign track with 3 objects)

• Obedience (willingness to work with social compatibility)

• Protection service (instinctive disposition with optimal leadership)

• Anatomical structure and movement (quality level and ranking points)

• Health (hip and elbow joints according to certified findings)

These 6 evaluation units, separated into bitches and males, result in the possible total of 600 points. The dog that is socially acceptable, healthy, eager to work, has a strong drive and is easy to handle is awarded the title "WUSV World Champion Universal".

However, the preceding quality requirements, such as endurance test, character test examination, companion dog examination, DNA pedigree check, must also be taken into account. With this list I would like to show you what an immense effort has to be fulfilled by the participants and their dogs in order to be able to compete in such a World Championship. I would like to thank the competitors for their commitment to our breed and therefore to the perception of the whole cynology.

The international judging panel consists of experienced judges from Spain, Austria, Slovenia and Germany. I would like to thank them very much for accepting this honorable, but also trustful task.

I wish the event a harmonious course, the participants the necessary luck in the competition and the visitors interesting discussions and demonstrations in beautiful Switzerland.

René Rudin

Vice President of the WUSV