Does anyone know of the ÖPO1 title - Austrian? - Page 2

Calvin, I'm sorry to hear that you're having problems with your scorebook. Let me offer a few ideas/thoughts.... The gals at the USA office simply do what the membership instruct them to do, & while you didn't get the answers you wanted, there are certainly reasons for what happened. Several years ago, maybe since the USA's inception, it was decided that the people that work in the office could not actually belong to the USA. So you have gals, who are good at their respective jobs, but aren't actually competing with dogs at any events. This was good since there tended to be less conflict of interest kind of issues that came about, but created some new things, such as what your going through. With no real practical knowledge of showing & what is actually out there in terms of titles. Since there are only 2 full time people at the office, certain jobs take precident over others, & researching titles/degrees isn't very high on the list. In many cases, a country offers their own titles/degrees, so even as a judge I have a hard time keeping up who offers what. While your intentions are honorable, a lot of folks don't think the same way good sport people do. Hundreds of people, & maybe more get imported dogs, with titles/degrees listed, whose dogs have no idea of what training is. In other words unsuspecting people get ripped off all the time. There are all kinds of scams people try to pull on others to make what they are selling seem to be the best deal. I can't remeber the year, but a few years ago, the USA office staff job duties were clarified at a national meeting, & it was decided to have the person registering the dog, be the one to provide documentation regarding the dog, rather than the office staff do that work. So where this ties into your situation, is that if the gals at the USA office don't recognize a title/degree, then they offered you the answer you recieved. As for the scorebook, the same things goes, a lot of people basically cheated, so only those scorebooks whose titles/degrees could be verified would be replaced. As an example, several years back, I judged a fellow & gave him a passing score. He presented 2 scorebooks, & I signed both. 3 weeks later we were both showing at another competition, & this time the fellow failed. Somehow he seemed to forget one of his scorebooks, so only one was signed. Later, a girl in my region bought the dog handled by this fellow, & when I asked if she got all the paperwork, she only was able to produce one scorebook, with all passing scores. She was lied to, but since she liked the dog, nothing more came of it, but it was wrong none the less. Shortly after that situation, USA judges instructed only to sign one scorebook. If you get a scorebook from the USA, they generally stamp proof of SchH 1 on record at the USA office, provided everything checks out. It's not that big of a deal, since there was a time when we first started requiring the BH that lots of imported dogs got their BH after getting a SchH title in another country. So now you have some background. Why couldn't you get the person you bought the dog from provide you with information on the title? In turn you could pass that along to who ever might need to see it. I would make a copy of what ever you find, & keep it with you, maybe even put it with your scorebook in case something is ever said. Lastly I would contact whatever club you decide to trial your dog at in the future, & explain your problem, so the trial sec, or even the judge doesn't have a problem. I can't imagine you having a problem anywhere if you contact people in advance. Please PM me if you need futher help Good luck, Al Govednik

Hi Al, Thank you for your lengthy reply to my post – I appreciate it. I hope my response is not viewed as disrespectful in light of the time you took to help me out. I am new to the sport, the world of the GSD and I have only been a USA member for a year. Therefore the impressions I’m getting ready to share are from that perspective and may or may not be useful to the club. I see 2 issues here, a personal one (the matter of my scorebook) and a global (from the membership perspective) problem. Specifically - with whom is the appropriate authority, within a national organization, regarding the centralized consolidation and dissimilation of information related to our sport. My comments are oriented at the latter issue. Since join the USA and frankly before, I’ve received what I would call a “mixed bag” of feedback about the organization. The bulk of it can be distilled down to a frequently heard sentiment that the club exists for the betterment of a few elite members supported by the dues of the under-represented rank and file. I can not speak to the validity of this feeling, but can say that, after traveling the US a fair amount last year (visiting Schutzhund clubs as I went), the opinion has been presented to me on enough occasions to make me wonder about it’s accuracy – as you can only here something so many times from so many different people before you really have to consider if it is in fact true - regardless as to whether you’ve actually experienced the situation yourself. Fast forward to this matter. The USA has been around now for what, 20 years? I have difficulty thinking that during that time someone couldn’t have put together a list of title notations to help out the membership – it really doesn’t seem like it would be that hard. While I’m sure there are a number of titles throughout the world and some have probably even changed over the years, if the all of the nations of the world had their own notation (which is clearly not the case) – that would only be a list of what, 150 or so? Complied over a term of 2 decades or more I just don’t see that as a huge administrative burden to keep up with. CONTINUED:

I guess I don’t understand the whole process and my current situation lends personal credence to the criticisms I’ve heard from others. If the USA office doesn’t know the titles within in the scorebook they’re certifying, why certify them at all? I’m not asking this as rhetorical question – it doesn’t make sense to me. Furthermore, from my perspective as a member of a *national* organization, limited staff or not, they are exactly the people I’d expect to be a central repository for the knowledge required to resolve issues such as these. While the OPO title appears to be somewhat obscure when compared to the SchH or IPO variants, my recent research has shown it to be a common notation in Austria – which I would think to be no small player in the GSD world. While I’ve been able to locate a document outlining the rules for earning the trial, they are in German which is no help to me or anyone at the club level in discerning it’s validity. Given the rules as they stand, I see opportunity for this to be an problem time and again for owners of imported dogs from countries other than Germany. How can a judge or trial secretary accept a scorebook or title they aren’t familiar with and allow the handler to compete? What’s even more perplexing in my case (although I’m sure this is infrequent) is that the title was awarded to the dog by an SV and USA sanctioned judge. How can a judge accepted by the USA be awarding titles not known to organization? My personal feeling is, when I pay to join a national organization I expect some degree of support and centralized management of the both the regional and local components. Instead, as I read your post, the burden related to this issue appears to be mine, along with that of the local secretary and the judge present for that event. I see that as inefficient and certainly an opportunity for misunderstanding. Again, no disrespect intended – I am just the type of person who raises concerns such as these as I feel it a personal responsibility to try to improve that with which I’m associated. I see this as an easy area for the organization to provide support to the membership and one I would hope that the directors would consider revisiting their opinion on. Thank you, -Calvin Ledford

Calvin, Good post, you make some good points. I think can help clear up this situation regarding titles/degrees. Don't hold me to a certain time frame, but I've got a few ideas that I'm confident will work here. I'm curious about your other thoughts as well. Al Govednik