GOING TO THE DOGS.

• Author: Gray, Tim
• Position: Spencer Stolpen trains guard dogs for competition

Five years after his career as an NBA executive ended, Spencer Stolpen nets big bucks with high-priced pooches.

Wayne Simanovich, freckle-faced and stocky with thinning brown hair, stands with his hands at his side. He is composed, considering that a waist-high German shepherd -- menacingly named Condor -- is bouncing on its forelegs in front of him, barking and occasionally nipping lightly at the jute-and-leather sleeve encasing his left arm.

Simanovich raises the arm. Condor lunges, grabs hold and yanks downward, bending the big man at the waist. Another trainer, standing nearby, barks: "Otis" -- German for "out" -- and the dog releases Simanovich as promptly as it grabbed him. They do it again. And again. Through it all, Condor's tall wags rapidly. Once more, the dog lunges. This time, rather than calling him off, Simanovich lets the sleeve slip off his arm, and the dog goes sprinting across the field with it in his mouth.

This is schutzhund, the sport of guard-dog competition. Schutzhund is German for "protection dog," and it began as a way of training dogs in obedience, tracking and guarding. Now trainers compete to see whose dog best performs a demanding series of exercises, including mock attacks. Simanovich, one of four owners of Caine Manor Resort Kennels LLC in Charlotte, is one of this obscure pastime's foremost practitioners in the United States. He has won the national championship -- yes, there's a national championship -- three times.

You likely haven't heard of Sirnanovich or schutzhund -- he estimates the United States has only 5,000 practitioners. But if you're a sports fan, you've probably heard of one of his partners -- former Charlotte Hornets President Spencer Stolpen. Stolpen, 52, was the business brains behind the Hornets their first eight years. Back then, he was quoted in newspapers and on TV, feted in Charlotte, treated like a man who mattered.

But in 1996, he and Hornets owner George Shinn split -- Stolpen won't say whether he quit or was fired, and Shinn isn't talking. But it looked as if Shinn made Stolpen the fall guy for what was then a faltering team. Stolpen concedes only that "it was my job to take deflection from George." He was the bulldog to Shinn's ingratiating beagle: "I wasn't Mr. Yes. That was George's place as owner. My job was to be Mr. No."

Under Stolpen, the Hornets had given forward Larry Johnson an $84 million contract despite his bad back. That, in turn, helped prevent the team from re-signing the best player it ever drafted --...