Why are GSD shows dying on their feet? - Page 4

 Thanks for those kind words REIMZ, but I really can not enjoy dogsport this way anymore. And... as some people would assume... I did not stop for the money... to prove... because I started my old hobby again, riding big twin motorbike... and there is NO JUDGE who has to say to me... left... right... run... to big... to small.. to this.... not anymore...

But I still love the dogs....!!!!

 OH THANK GOD ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 

Finally good news in the dog world. I will start going to shows to watch this abomination die.

You have made my day, week, month, and YEAR.

DIE DIE DIE DIE bastages.

 The main thing that started a nose dive in the UK. for the show scene was foot & mouth some 8/9 years ago. If you think back the shows have gone steadily down hill since then. People found that they had time & money for other things & these other things have taken over their lives & they have not come back to the show scene. At the present time it is the credit crunch & in some cases the loss of a job. Travelling and the cost that goes with it that is the nail in the coffin for exhibitors. Two many shows in one area not spread out enough. Some people will only go to a show if the handlers are there. Then they complain that it has cost them a fortune in handler fees. Now we face the possibility of another club deregistering.

In some cases it is the double handling by exihitors. Their only goal is their dog wins and anything that gets in their way they will trample over and that goes for the clubs hosting a show.  One rule that should be set in stone for clubs is that their committee do not show at their own shows. Surley they can give up one day for their club to ensure that the show runs well. How can you be on a committee show your dog with all that it entails - then tell some one off for double handling when that is what you have just done yourself? You are only committeed to your self then and not the club. Perhaps if we showed our dogs slightly differently NO PAID HANDLERS. Show them our selves!  When you go to Germany and watch the Seiger show some handlers are some what over 40 years of age and copeing well. Why haven't we got that?

To usurpe a speach by President John Kennedy ' Ask not what can my breed do for me but what can I do for my breed' The problem with any breed of dog man will use it to his own ends. Power corrupts.

Well said Sophy.

With the lack of ring training available and the seeming need for handlers to get placed its no wonder people dont want to show.

Maybe it should be compulsory for dogs to be shown by their owners with no sound from the audience, it would then give the little people a chance to have a go and also it would reduce the expense that is associated with handlers.  Another thing it would highlight is those dogs who dont even recognise their owners!

It certainly appears to the outsiders that he/she who can shout the loudest regularly wins.  Also I've noticed that the same handlers are regularly placed top, and how does a newbie to the breed compete with that?

I am a newcomer to the show scene (although not to the breed). I have considered showing my young male, but to be honest, I find what I have seen so far very off-putting. At my first champ show I was rather confused to see handlers running around the ring, calling and whistling to the dogs, right next to the sign forbidding 'the attraction of exhibits from outside the ring'. I was also rather annoyed at being bumped into constantly as I tried to admire the dogs. This spectacle was in direct contrast to the other breed showrings, where the atmosphere was calm and controlled whilst the dogs still showed their movement beautifully.

Then came a club show. Handlers running around the ring, shouting, swinging balls at the end of ropes, shaking rattles, crashing into spectators, screaming the dog's names ... whilst the dogs ignored them completely! Dogs slipping their leads and running back to their owners, or, on one memorable occasion flying across the field to attack another dog. Dogs gaiting around the ring at top speed, looking more like a horses during a trotting race than anything else. And to be told that I had no chance in the ring unless I had a top handler show my dog.

Yes, I am probably ignorant of the nuances of showing a germanic dog. Yes, I was probably naive to think that I could handle my dog myself and we could have a bit of fun together! But experienced exhibitors are wondering why the numbers of GSDs being shown is falling, so I humbly offer my uneducated initial impression of showing GSDS. Maybe other newbees feel the same.

The show scene has been diminishing for many years, for many reasons. We need to identify ALL possible reasons, and then consider those we can do something about, and those that we cannot. We should then set about tackling those we can do something about, in an organised and unified manner. This is where an effective and determined GSD Breed Council has a major role to play, and this is the precise reason we desperately need to make sure the GSD Breed Council is "fit for purpose". If and when this is done, and it is a mighty big IF, there is no doubt we can make considerable progress towards sustained improvements of our GSD Show Scene. Every challenge can be addressed and solutions sort and implemented on an agreed and unified programme. However the FIRST PRIORITY is to make the GSD Breed Council "FIT FOR PURPOSE". From this everything is possible, without this very little is even feasible.

We have the people in our breed that can bring this about, they simply have to "work together", and put personal agendas aside in order to succeed.

A piecemeal approach by various Clubs and/or individuals will certainly be doomed to failure. United and co-ordinated through a revitalised and determined GSD Breed Council, we can certainly succeed. This is the absolute priority, from which everything else will flow.

 I think cost and politics are some of the greatests factors why people stops showing their dogs...

Funny we we're talking about this n a USA show list and those two things kept coming up. If you don't show your own dogs than it cost a fortune for a handler (sometimes up to 200$ for a day and if your dog win you have to pay more!).  Anybody with a regular budget just can't compete. Like I said to the list..shows has to be fun and when it cost you $200 to watch you dog gait 2 times around the ring and get dumped there is nothing fun anymore.  it's a big business now and for newbies who try to show their dogs..instead of giving them advice, they just tell them that they just won't win without this or this person on the leash.

IT'S A SHAME!!

Politics exist in Sieger and at the National and everywhere.  Some people even told me it is worst in germans show..I don't know about that but if we want to keep showing dogs we will have to adress those issues.  And be honest about it..Includes the newbies that wants to learn and keep them interested..I don't know what is the best approach but maybe newer judges will make a difference..I surely hope so....

Hello David, i could'nt agree more, but i think if we go back to my initial comments on this thread, re. club members insisting they have a say, instead of the committees making all the decisions, irrespective of the wishes of the membership, the same criteria could be applied regarding The Breed Council.  Once upon a time ( probably in a previous existence, or thats how it seems now !! ) i was on the committee of  The British German Shepherd Dog Training Club, and at that time any committee member attending the Breed Council had a clear mandate from the club members, on what to say, and how to vote.  I dont think that's happening in the majority of the clubs anymore.  As you so rightly allude, collectively we can move any barrier placed before us: but fragmentated, thats all we are, pieces of something that was once whole, but now broken, and is neither use, nor ornament.

things we think we can fix-- only promote honest judges - ok who decides who is honest--bring down the cost of entries-- can clubs afford to do this-- if the entries are much bigger then yes-- stop all the mad running around the outside of the ring --now to me that is one of the hardest things to do as it only takes one to do it and the rest follow suit and yes i do it to-- make shows more pleasant and more enjoyable--????? things we know we cant fix --the price of fuel and all of the above    

jim h