help w/GSDCA-WDA recent events - Page 1

Im trying to make sense of all the things going on with everyone in the front office of the GSDCA-WDA. 

This is the link to the events Im refering to. http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/forum.read?mnr=790004-gsdca-announcement

I am a member but Im very close to just going to USchCA. I dont want to make a decision w/out all the facts. How do the recent events effect members?

Smartguy,

Here's a quick response for the people that do not think what happens behind the scenes affects them and for all those that; 'just want to train their dogs'.

A few years ago there was a lot of opportunity to train you dog, go to a show, get involved in the breed. As the politics came into play many became disgruntled. You had to have a law degree to figure out where you could participate, which club you had to belong to, which judges you had to trial or show under, whose scorebook you could do what with an a slew of other things related to 'just training your dog'. To make matters worse membership in the two organizations became sole membership in one. One organization moved to separate the breed and the other became corrupt.

As a result of the politics and disgruntled enthusiasts, many left. No need to incorporate all the BS in your hobby. If it's no fun go find something else to replace it,,, and many did. What's left is; you now have some division between clubs and training opportunities. Those events you can actually enter are few and far between. Basically what you could do easily a few years ago is more difficult to do today. The sport just became more expensive and difficult. Just look at the number of events and the entries in those events compared to a few years ago and you'll see there's not as much opportunity now as there once was, and it's not as fun.

WDA is alive and well, just keep training and wait for the dust to settle and then decide.

The only effect is that members are concerned and nervous.

WDA can still aquire foreign judges, titles earned at WDA trials using SVF judges are still valid at any WUSV trial. Hip/Elbow submissions are still accepted by the SV.

Much of this will come to the light soon.

Yearly membership is due in January, wait until then to make your choice.

Smartguy asks how does the current state of affairs affect WDA members. The answer is no one knows. The WDA may be alive, but it is not well, unless you consider a decrease in membership from about 3000 to about 800 and shrinking as being well. These numbers, by the way, come from the outgoing long serving WDA secretary. Now we hear that several WDA exec board members, including those who are SVF judges are leaving the WDA. Can this possibly be a good sign that all is well?

The WDA president is telling members not to worry, all is well and everything is fine. But as a poster here noted, most likely the Captain of the Titanic told passengers everything was fine even after they hit the iceberg and the boiler room stopped working Perhaps the ship can be righted. Certainly the WDA president thinks so. He is so confident that a la V. Putin he wishes to alter the by laws so he may remain in power to at least 2017.

For the moment, WDA events continue with SV judges. But you are right to be concerned about the paperwork. The long serving WDA secretary will soon be gone and no one knows, as of yet, who is taking over. And to be sure, whomever it is, they will have no experience whatsoever of handling paperwork vis a vis the SV, which can be very picky indeed, especially when it comes to things like breed surveys. One hopes it will not be so, but it seems likely there will be serious speed bumps ahead even if the ship does not go down.

It is a shame, because as Dog1 noted, the WDA had offered many venues and opportunities to trial and show our dogs that are now gone as nearly half of its clubs have left since 2012. Just look at the WDA Newsletter for a list of clubs to confirm this. One must ask what the current board did to cause these departures. Under the past four presidents, (Landau, Davis, Spreitler and Peterson) the WDA thrived and grew. But in the past three years, everything has changed. Why?

It cannot be blamed on the dispute between the WDA and GSDCA regardless of which organization is right or wrong. This dispute was only the last occurance in a long litany of events. The hemorrhage started not long after President Peterson ended her term and well before the WUSV Championship. As high court judges like to say, "for as long as the memory of man runeth", relations between the GSDCA and its stepchild WDA have been frosty. Yet, this did not lead to a huge exodus of clubs and members. For those of us who booked passage from the start of the voyage, we must look to the most recent of the ship's crew for answers.

Gertrude, excellent post!  I thought I would take the time and take a look historically at the number of events, both shows and trials, that the WDA has held.  In my opinion, the health of an organization can be judged partially by the number of events that it holds.  Here is a table showing the number of trials and shows held from 2007 to 2014.

WDA Historical Events
Year	Shows	Trials
2014	7	27
2013	15	41
2012	19	44
2011	18	49
2010	17	58
2009	18	N/A
2008	17	41
2007	16	41

 

A note regarding 2014.  of the 7 Shows listed, 4 have already been held since April 26th and there are 3 more listed on the WDA event calendar including NASS.  Of the 27 trials listed 14 have already been held since April 26th and there are 13 more listed on the WDA event calendar.

 

 

 cmandela thank you for taking the time to post the number of Events (Show & Trials), its very informative when you are looking to trail. I am kind of shocked at the low number of WDA events availbe ascompared to UScA's offerings, i think the NE region has 20ish events scheduled from now till the end of the year. And NO i am not trying to stir the pot saying one org is better than another

I know of at least 3 clubs that are planning to have shows and also several what are planning to have trials,
They are not posted on the website yet.
All details must be complete before they can be posted, and planning isn't complete yet.

you cannot use 2014 numbers as planning for the year is still in progress..