AKC approves Working Dog Sport - Page 1

I just received my copy of the German Shepherd Review, and there is a printed letter from William M. Speck of the A.K.C. stating that the A.K.C.'s Board of Directors approved the Working Dog Sport on 10, May 2006. The letter asks the GSDCA to submit a representative to review the requirements of the WDS and submit changes before 16, June 2006, that would be available for the next board meeting of the A.K.C.. The outcome of that next board meetimg is not yet known to me. I think this is a good direction (finally) for the A.K.C.. This may be old news to some here. I heard the rumours about this being in the works, so to speak. I guess that the only questions that I really have is how the requirements will compare to Schutzhund or I.P.O.. If anyone knows more, please elaborate. Bob-O

Bob, I talked about this with John Brading a friend of mine who is in the events department at AKC. He is going to let me know more details when some of the details are worked out. I think this is long overdue for AKC to host and reconize the Schutzhund dogs. John for one has never seen a trial before and I think some of the barriers will be removed. I for one would like to see the titles listed on the dogs papers from AKC and this should follow now that they approved this. Marlene

Where could I get more info on this?

I searched the GSDCA website and found nothing. At this link one can find out a bit more: http://www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?SEARCH_BUTTON.X=23\&SEARCH_BUTTON.Y=10&article_id=2876 While there were several more subtopics and statements I did not see any definite rules and descriptions of the work expected of the dogs, and I presume that will be published during the next few months. Bob-O

Where are they getting the judges for this? AKC? WDA? USA? FCI?

The Working Dog Sport is basically the same as Schutzhund. Requirements are the same for the different levels. I'm not sure where the AKC will get their judges from and what the requirements to be a judge will be. The program was posted a few years ago just after it was proposed. I believe it was on the WDA website. It was detailed and covered the bases as I recall.

4 Breed clubs are approved to host the WDS program. The GSD, Rottweiler, Dobberman, and Bouvier (sp?). Each club can host up to 5 trials per year in the short term. The Judges will be the same as you would expect to see at any WDA trial. Consider that the leadership of the WDA has been the driving force behind this program for years. There are good Schutzhund fanciers in all of these breed clubs, that have experience in putting on Schutzhund trials. State side we have DVG, SV, WDA, and USA Judges that would be able to work these events if allowed to by their organizations. Only time will tell if these organizations will work with the AKC. The biggest question for me is Scorebooks. Who is going to issue them and keep up with the records? Will it be the Parent Breed Clubs, or will it be the AKC Registry? I am very optimistic about the program. It will take a few years to work out the bugs, but it is a good situation for those of us in the sport.

I am curious to know if titles earned in other groups will be accepted by AKC. If my SchH 1 (USA) dog can go into SchH 2 in AKC? I know that WDA accepts USA but not the other way around, so will USA take AKC titles? Probably not a huge issue with just 5 GSD trials per year right now, but if it lasts and grows it could become one. Lew Bunch suggested that the rules were still being hamered out and David Landau is the GSDCA person involved so I at least have some hope that sense will prevail. Lorri

As the program was originally set up, SchH1 is the same as their level 1, whatever that designation was. The same for SchH2 and 3. It was to be interchangable as the requirements were the same. USA accepts any results from any trial judged by an SV judge. WDA trial, trial on the moon. If an SV judge signed the book, both organizations accept the results. The WDA/USCA conflict is over. It was an ill concieved plan to drive a wedge between the GSD members in the US and force them to decide between one organization or the other and it ran out of gas when the SV set USCA straight that they would accept all results from SV judges.

Does anyone think that Schutzhund titles obtained through the AKC will be watered down now that an increase in "alternate" breeds will surely be taking part?