Welcome to the United Schutzhund Clubs of America - Page 2

I may still hold a current membership with UScA....but I do agree with the mast consenses that it is one of the worst by-laws and rule change in the history of the organization.......no good will come of this for the breed.
Many of membership holders will probably not renew....some will.  Regardless of who does what.....this organization is facing the possibility of destroying itself in the long run......I hope things change for the better soon....it would be a shame for that to happen.  Many good people still belong to the UScA, and are NOT in support of this rule change.

KCzaja,

I am curious how the change in the by-law is killing breeders who "HOT and KKL" in this country?  Based on my observations for my region, I do not see this change affecting the breeders as you apparently are seeing.

I am a breeder on a very small scale. My dogs are HOT and I am a USA member and will remain one. I am able to train, trial and show my dogs in my region without issue, and have been able to for several years. The USA clubs in my region, are typically medium sized to large clubs, more than 15 members, many of which have more than one dog. These people, some of course are also breeders, do not appear to be having issues training, trialing, showing or KKL their dogs. What I do see are a few breeders of SL dogs who in the past have belonged to both organizations, and never trialed their dogs under either organization, but only showed their dogs under both organizations. These are the people I never see at SchH trials, or the regional SchH3 championship, but they attended USA shows at every opportunity. This leads me to believe, in my region that the by-law change only affects those people who only train for and show their dogs in the show ring, not on the trial field. Possibly there are a few members in my region who lost an additional avenue to make the world team. Overall, the by-law change hasn't affected how we train, trial or breed survey our dogs, or personally, it hasn't affected my dogs at all.

My region has several USA clubs, and there are many trials during our trial season. We have a few opportunities a season to show and breed survey if needed. I can't really think of any breeders in my area that have been affected  in the way you mentioned. As I previously mentioned, there are a few folks who used both organizations for showing and KKLs, but they didn't use USA clubs for trialing. I know I haven't heard any of the breeders or handlers in my region who feel they have to send their dogs to Germany for training and breed survey because of the by-law change.

I am seriously interested in what you have experienced or witnessed in regard to breeders and handlers whose dogs are HOT and they can no longer train, trial or breed survey because of the by-law.

Dee

Dee...
I cannot speak for others...so I won't try to.
I do know that some of us belonged & support(ed) both organizations...whether it was by Conformation Shows or Trials....it shouldn't matter which.
The fact that this by-law change affected alot of supporters (in either)...is the primary concern & issue.
Not being able to "vote" for the changes by the mast supporters of the organization...is the thorn of pain.
Respectfully,
Robin

cru:

          Did your club rep vote no for the ammendment?

We were not members of a UScA club at the time......however;...personal friends who DO/DID have clubs with BOTH organizations.....did not.
We have supported BOTH organizations...which ever venues we decided to participate in over the past years.

Robin I agree with Dee.  Last years USA Nationals had more than double the amount of dogs in it compared to this years  GSDCA WDA National Championship.  Even the 2010 USA regionals had more dogs in it than the 2010 WDA National event.  Why?  USA has many more trialing opportunities than does WDA.  With WDA the focus has really been the show dog.  Since schutzhund  is my area of interest, and schutzhund is my only  reason for belonging to either organization, I will stay with USA.  I also think the amendment is not the best idea, I would like to see it repealed, but for me, switching to WDA would be cutting off my nose to spite my face.  I know the WDA people are talking about how they are going to improve and increase the amount of trials, but that remains to be seen, and since they never thought it was worth doing before the Johannes amendment, it seems a little bit disingenuous to me.  Since actions speak louder than words, I sort of need to first see it  in order to believe it, before deciding if it would be worthwhile to switch to WDA. 

I just checked  both organizations' websites for my area (region).
9 USA  trials for the remainder of 2010 
4 WDA trials for the remainder of 2010

Somebody, please tell me how to tell, reliably please,  the difference between a trial, show, korung conducted by a club in one parent organization, from another? I have been participating in those events, hosted by SV, DVG, USA, WDA and GSDCC, for some 20+ years, (entered maybe 150 times? 200?) and I still have to ask the event secretary which score book he/she wants out of my dogs' files. Further, the last thing I ask someone I meet a an event is which parent organization(s) they belong to.

In my not-so-humble opinion, the more opportunities an owner, breeder and/or handler has to title and Koer their dogs, the better, especially in a country the size of the US, where events spread over thousands of miles. 

I cannot see how excluding any segment(s) of the population of GSD enthusiasts can be good for that organization, let alone for the sport and the breed. This new attempt to further polarize the already too-distant factions within the sport and the breed reminds me of something out of "Our Gang," where there was a sign over the makeshift club house door, proclaiming "No Girls Allowed." What's next?
(Please don't tell me its going to be USWSSA. (United States Women's Schutzhund and Show Assoc.)

S

By forcing sport enthusiasts/breeders to chose one organization or another, you are removing additional options to title and KKL your dogs. I know full well that UScA national events draw more entries, which is really disappointing  for WDA members to now be excluded from those events.

I just went and peeked at the numbers. I looked over trial, breed surveys, and conformation events under SV judges that I would be willing to drive to were I permitted to be a member of both arganizations, from now until winter hits.

WDA trials: 7
WDA shows/surveys: 4

USA trials: 8
USA shows/surveys: 2


Do you see how this cuts options in half?  And I'm lucky enough to live around many clubs, I can't imagine what a disaster this might be for people who only live near to one or two clubs.  Add in getting your dog ready, taking time off work, the timeline of a heat cycle if you want to breed your dog, a few "back-up" options in case trial day ends up not going the way you planned...and the pickings become slim indeed.


Please correct me if I am mistaken, but you must be a member of UScA to obtain a scorebook and trial in UScA events, don't you? I did see that UScA would accept GSDCA members entering the Sieger Show, is the same true for all UScA local, regional, and/or national events? I was under the impression that they would not accept WDA scorebooks long before this bylaw change. Am I not understanding the policies correctly?

I wish we could just have ONE FCI scorebook, good in any FCI sanctioned event... PERIOD. Did I have to join the SV and get an SV scorebook, or even register my foreign score books with that org. to compete in Germany? NO. (They did make fun of me because my USA book was so big it wouldn't fit in my pocket.  :-)

I probably won't be competing much for awhile, just the odd event here and there, for fun, but I am hoping by the time I am, all this nonsense will have passed.

S

"I wish we could just have ONE FCI scorebook, good in any FCI sanctioned event... PERIOD."