A CONFORMATION TEST in GSD WORKING TRIALS - REQUIRED - Page 7

So you mention the FCI working chapionships... those are multi breed.  So how do you work that out? Or do we use it as another excuse why the mals are doing superior work.. "But our dogs look nice.."  I actually think it would further erode the working ability that our dogs have.

 I do agree we should be working together for the good of the breed.  I just don't think this is the way to do it.

Dave

 Deeswolf, I apologise if you are offended, however I am sure you UNDERSTAND my point.

"hearsay and gossip is not FACT" is funny how everything that we say is hearsay and gossip while anything negative you say about workig lines is truth. :) And who is being selective now.

Like I said nothing wrong in making surre that working lines conform to the standard, but lets not make another showlines out of them.

Sir,

I was not being insulting toward you. I merely wanted to know how you would work a multi-breed working event with your suggestion.

Would this apply to other FCI events such as the RH championships?

Please do explain..

Dave

The founder who shed tears of blood for this breed once said that work came first and confromation came second.

Poor Max must be rolling in his grave right now!

Videx, you may be on to something. This will be great if the judges actually use the breed standard when examining the dogs. Hopefully it will return the GSD to what it was instead of a bunch of sickly looking clones that, litter after litter, produce weaker and weaker dogs. Don't get me wrong, I believe that there are show line dogs capable of doing great work, but, those numbers are dwindling further and further each year.
I own both working and showlines and do believe that a common ground can be reached if that is what people want. Unfortunately, I do not think that is what people want, especially the vast majority of show line breeders who will lose a significant portion of their income if this were to be implemented correctly.

I would also like to point out that more working line people might be open to some of this if the show line people will stop trying to water down the sport of schutzhund. It is already watered down enough.  This only serves to make it easier and easier for people to obtain a Sch title and start breeding. There are proposals on the table for 2010 that would basically do away with the BH and combine it with the Sch1. In the obedience portion of the Sch1 there would be on leash healing and they want to eliminate the "A" frame. At all levels there is a big push to eliminate stick hits and the long bite. What a joke!!! These are the two things that you hear most people criticizing the dogs at Sieger shows for. They basically want to make it so that the dogs do not look bad before they are awarded their "VA" rating. Shouldn't we be striving to make the dogs look better by actually breeding and training dogs to do the work properly?
I am a big fan of what the AWDF is doing. They are now holding trials and awarding titles using the old Schutzhund rules from many years ago. The club that I am in the process of forming in the western suburbs of Chicago will hold these trials (as well as the trials with the current rules) and we are also going to hold trials using the rules from Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Their version of "schutzhund" is much tougher. It is the tests they used for the dogs in their military program. Only a handful of dogs are allowed to attain a level 3 title each year.

If it holds true what so many of our breeders say, "They are breeding to improve the breed", shouldn't it be that the dogs are getting better and in turn the tests for them should be tougher. Unfortunately what we have seen is that the GSD as a whole has gotten worse and we are looking for excuses to cover up the weaknesses. Very, very sad!!!

Good post OGBS some valid points.