IN LOVING MEMORY
Dedicated to our Members and our dogs who now play in greener fields together.

Founding Member
John Wayne McKinney
April 30th, 1943 - January 4th, 2007


John McKinney Remembered

Presented by Dan Elias-President San Diego Schutzhund Club
2005-2007

Lt. Commander John Wayne McKinney – U.S. Navy- Retired

We all lost a dear friend on the 4th of January, 2007. The untimely and accidental death of John shocked the many associated with him; those involved in Schutzhund and in promotion of the German Shepherd Dog were particularly affected.

John was born in Philadelphia on April 30th, 1943.
He received his appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, when he was just a teenager. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1965 with a Bachelor’s degree. Upon graduation he was commissioned as a Regular Navy officer with the rank of Ensign. He went to flight school and became a helicopter pilot.

In 1971, he met Heidi Stephan, a fiery red-head, and the love of his life, while attending the U.S. Navy’s Post-Graduate School in Monterey, California. They were married on March 4, 1972, and would have celebrated their 35th anniversary this March. Rumor has it that Heidi introduced John to the German Shepard Dog breed and that he fell in love all over again. Together they co-founded the San Diego Schutzhund Club and Tannenhof Shepherds, in the early 1980's.

A Pioneer of the Sport in the USA and on the Pacific Coast, John dedicated the majority of the last 25 years promoting the sport. During that time, the San Diego Schutzhund Club has hosted nearly 40 trials, multiple local and regional conformation shows, and twice hosted the North American Sieger Show (The most recent being the 2001 NASS, held in San Diego, and still touted as one of the best and most memorable shows!) John served as co-coordinator for the event.

He wore many other hats as well. Besides being a surrogate dad and jungle gym for the many puppies freshly weaned from their mothers,
he was a trial helper, a helper trainer, training director, competitor, coach, event coordinator, and politician to the sport. He has been a consultant for the WDA and was the organization’s webmaster, running the website.
Whether it was his involvement and interaction with club members, their dogs, other sport enthusiasts or with various board members from dog sport associations, John preached fairness for the dogs first.

John was in it for the dogs and because it was rewarding and fun. John had an unconditional love for dogs, just like they have for all of us. He dedicated many hours training dogs, but more times than not, he spent that time training their owners.

With John, what you saw is what you got. John was an intelligent person, a straight shooter, firing a gun loaded with opinion; but most of the time it was all friendly fire. John was a loyalist. He was loyal to you and expected it in return. When he did something, he did it without pretense, malice, and without ulterior motive. That is how he approached life and that is how he approached the Sport of Schutzhund.

There are two stereotypical classifications for the German Shepherd Dog amongst the Schutzhund world. There are the dogs that look good but cannot work, and there are the dogs that work, but would get laughed at if they entered the beauty contest. Well, over the years, with a team effort, John and Heidi have bred working dogs that look good!…the way Max von Stephanitz intended. John was successful at taking many dogs, including those from Tannenhof Shepherds own kennel breedings and trialing them to Schutzhund III titles. By the way, those dogs all received high V ratings in conformation shows.

The dogs, the Club members of the San Diego Schutzhund Club, the WDA, friends from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and especially his wife, Heidi, will certainly miss John, but the many contributions he gave from the heart will remain with all of us to pass on to others.