WOULD YOU JOIN CLUB THAT HATES SHOW DOGS? - Page 2

I remember walking into Ray Silvertrust's club in Chicago. He said out dogs would never work.  Sadly, both were IPO3's, one 8 times over.  He only liked show dogs and made no bones about it.  We were simply trying to learn Schutzhund. Ron in that club was a great helper, and hopefully he ended up elsewhere.  Perhaps *we* may never work, but our dogs had been around the block.

Another club ran from a business West of Chicago referred to our dogs as "sh*t dogs".  They had a" $2.5M  kennel" who charged and most spent nearly $100 per weekend.  All showlines only. Working dogs really not welcome was the experience.  She advised everyone to lock up their belongings or they would steal it all.    A showline proceeded to collapse from heat exhaustion that weekend.   The owner was more concerned that the "Mexicans next door" would come in and "steal everything" since they "all were the same".   The only thing worse than a sp*c was a n*gger"... Sad that she was so prejudiced against Mexicans, considering her former helper was one...and I grew up in Mexico for at least 10 years. If you're looking for a dog to be "your bodyguard", best look elsewhere.

Another club in Chicago, where there were predominantly black people in it (I think we were the only white people through the whole weekend, though I'm sure their membership is more diverse) could not have been more welcoming.  The training was awesome, there were boxers, rotties, someone raised mastiffs, and they were serious about their training.  Neat club.  I think I ended up with a couple of proposals from my favorite dog owning twins from there :)  if we were still in Chicago, we'd love to train there.  They couldn't care less if you had showlines, and in fact, we saw a few.

Yet another club in Northern Chicago had every breed imaginable.  Not as serious as the one in Chicago proper (in frequency and dedication, from what we noticed), but very laid back.  Well run, and they couldn't care less showline versus working line, though the breeders leaned towards showlines.

Recently in Massachusetts we attended a couple of clubs.  One was torn apart by a very divisive individual who ultimately decided to start his own club, with dwindling to non existent numbers.  After watching him beat his dogs several times open handed  "when they didn't deliver" and bad mouth another club member with guest trainers in front of us, we decided it wasn't for us...and we were probably not for them. 

Schutzhund is a strange sport, with way too many egos and tempers - too bad, and in some way explains the shrinking membership of clubs.  If the club you went to isn't for you, they're as diverse as people are...you'll find one that suits you, and make a few friends along the way. :)

 "Recently in Massachusetts we attended a couple of clubs.  One was torn apart by a very divisive individual who ultimately decided to start his own club, with dwindling to non existent numbers.  After watching him beat his dogs several times open handed  "when they didn't deliver" and bad mouth another club member with guest trainers in front of us, we decided it wasn't for us...and we were probably not for them. "

I FEEL LIKE I'M WATCHING AN OLD MOVIE READING YOUR POST. UNFORTUNATLY HERE IN QUEBEC THERE IS NOT A LOT OF CLUBS BUT THEY'RE IS A LOT OF WHAT'S DESCRIBED UP. BASHING AND PEOPLE THERE WITH WAY TOO MUCH EGOS.  IT'S A SHAME CAUSE SCHUTZHUND WHEN IT IS DONE WITH NICE PEOPLE ENJOYING TRAINING DOGS, IS REALLY A FUN SPORT.

IF YOU ARE NOT CONFORTABLE..LEAVE..YOU ARE FORTUNATE THAT THERE IS MUCH MORE CLUBS IN USA.

I've seen it go the flip side too at some clubs that are primarily show lines....they really don't like the working line dogs coming in.  Guess they make their dogs look bad????  :LOL 

In any event you unfortunately get a lot of "pettiness" any time you join some sort of "club" but it kinda comes with the territory until you find somewhere to go that blends more with they type of person you are.  It's not just "dog clubs" that are like this; I had to shake my head a couple times about how petty even grown men can be at a gun club.  LOL  I've seen them not want to bring in a new member because they didn't like his wife, even heard that another person tried to join but was "discouraged" in a nice way because they did not meet the "financial status" they had in the rest of their members.

It may just very well be that this particular club you stumbled across was just not a good fit for you.  As globtrottr said there are a lot of egos, tempers, and sometimes even jealousy or envy that bring out the nasty in people.  Some clubs are very serious about their training and only want a certain caliber of dog/handler as members.  This may very well be the case in your situation.  It's not right, it shouldn't be that way but it is what it is and it's been this way for a number of years, probably won't change so all you can do is move on to a different group that will appreciate having you, treat you and your dog with respect regardless of what type of dog you have.

Well, just don't understand how thick my skin is suppose to be.

When you get asked to join but the helper makes nasty comments about show dogs I have to wonder.

But, in all the helper thinks she has the drive to do the work.

She is a awesome showdog with alot of good drives.

I passed the evaluation and was asked to join.

The dog loves to come out, but I was insulted a couple of times about showdogs in general.

I don't know if I should swallow my pride and do it for the dog.:)

Don't know of any other clubs around here who don't discriminate againist show dogs.This is the second one.

I love my dog dearly and wonder now what they think of my dog?

Are they asking me to join for my money or because she has what it takes. I guess it's time for me to step up

to the plate.

One lady last week saw my dog for the first time and saw how drivey her fight drive was and her biting was.

And admitted there are good show dogs out there.

what constitutes a show dog -apart from the obvious of it being shown????

mathews maybe they are just ribbing you and not actually trying to insult you. Maybe you aren't a joker or into sarcasim. My club is that way, they talk and joke allot about different breeds, lines and single out dogs. We all take a turn getting picked on but nobody gets ran out or discriminated because of their breed or lines of their breed. To an outsider it may seem crude but it's all in fun.

I can't imagine that if the asked you to join that they would in turn try to drive you out.

I belong to a working dog club, and happen to be the only member with show line dogs. I take a LOT of good natured joking, I admit I make a lot of the jokes myself. I can tell you from experience, that you either develop a thick skin and prove the nay sayers wrong, or you join a show club.

You may think the helper and some others are being mean. Honestly, they are telling it like it is. You may very well have the best working show line dog out there, but you have to prove it just like everyone else has to. Show line dogs that really have what it takes are few and far between. There are probably a lot more of them out there than we know, but because they are trained like show dogs, we don't know about them.

Decide right away, do you want your dog trained like a show dog, or do you want your dog trained like a german shepherd dog? It isn't easy to train a show line dog. It is a LOT of hard work. In my opinion a LOT harder than a working line dog. This means, as handlers and trainers we have to work several times harder. Truthfully, I see a lot of show line folks who spend more time teaching their dogs to stack, run a ring, and not spook at gunfire. The black and reds that we love, NEED more time learning to deal and work through stress and pressure than they need to spend time stacking and pulling out on a show line.  Most clubs see this type of thing more often than not. People show up all excited about having a german shepherd and learning schutzhund. Then a lot of those people figure out pretty darn quick how hard it can be, how much time is needed, not just with the club, but on your own. They don't show up as often as they should, they don't do a lot on their own, they get frustrated, and they don't come back. I have seen it several times in my own club, when people show up with their show line dog, all excited. Come to a few trainings then we never see them again.

The members in my club will tell you they never expected to see me come back after my first visit. I was determined to prove I had a dog that could do the work. I showed up early, I asked so many questions, I am sure the members cringed when they saw me.  To this day, I am still amazed that when I asked for membership that I was voted in.  I knew if I didn't get voted in, there was no way I was going to join a show club. I wanted a working dog club! I wanted to work and learn from people who were competitors in regional, national and world level events. I was fortunate that I found that in my club. Everyone was honest with me, and told me up front, how much harder it was going to be for my dogs, and me. They never once have led me astray.  My club doesn't hate show dogs, they are just realistic and honest, as we should be who own the dogs.

I don't know if my experience is helpful. However, I can tell you that YES, I would join a club that didn't like show dogs, if I knew the helper was safe, and would train my dog in bite work, without causing harm.

Bravo Deeswolf, your my new hero!