USA or WDA? - Page 1

I was just wondering what people thought about the two organizations? not individual clubs, there are good and bad in both. I have noticed more and more people who are members of both. So what are thoughts. positive and negetive please. john

I think it really depends on your area. The amount of clubs determines how many opportunities you have to trial per year so if your area has alot of one and not many of the other I'd go with the alot or both. I am a member of both.

what about scorebooks? if i get a schutzhund title with a USA scorebook, can i use that to get a breed survey under WDA, or do i have to repeat the title at a WDA trial?

I got my males' BH at a USA club, had the title transferred by sending both books to the WDA, then got my SchH1 at a WDA club. Both clubs recognize titles recieved under SV judges no matter what org. held the trial. Regards, Melanie

gsdfan, thanks for the info. i'm not trying to sound nit-picking, just trying to understand all of this. ive been looking at both usa and wda websites. if you dont mind, why must your dog be usa registured to do a breed survey under usa? thanks john

No problem, I had the same question (on scorebooks) about a year ago. I believe "Hodie" answered them for me back then. I have not stepped in the breed ring yet so someone w/ experience in that area should answer the next question for you.

Some of the basic differences is that the WDA does not require you to be a memeber to show or trial. Neither does your dog have pay to be registered in a seperate registry. They accept any FCI registration as well as any AKC registration. The WDA almost exclusively uses only SV judges, so titles earned with them are accepted world wide. The WDA does not recognise any USCA titles that are not earned under a SV judge. The USCA does require that you be a memeber to trial and show your dog. In addition they do require that the dog also be registered with their registry for a breed servey as well as for top level trials/shows. They do accept SV registrations at a cheeper price. The vast majority of their judges are only USCA recognised. If you are careful you can get your dog titled under only SV judges and then your scorebook as well as show titles will also be recognised world wide. I am a member of both and it can get very confusing in the beginning. Hope that helps some! Debby

I am a member of both org's, but our club elected to go with the WDA for a number of reasons. 1) Cheaper club and individual dues. 2) Most of the USA clubs in our area (NE Region) are very unfriendly, unwelcoming. 3) We got a tremendous amount of help from everybody in the EDA while in the process of forming our club: We feel very welcome in/valued by the WDA. 4) Anybody with FCI reg. can compete in a WDA trial/show/championship event. No need to pay all that money to reg. a dog, scorebook, etc. with USA. 50 Not crazy about most USA judges... wouldn't invite many of them to judge our trials anyway. Don't want to deal with the USA Regional Director in our region and not willing to wait till he either drops dead or leaves office ;) 6) Don't like the way the politics were going in USA for awhile, especially at the local regional level, but perhaps that will change. 7) After 2008 GSDCA/WDA/AKC will be the only club officiallyy recognized by the SV/WUSV, and so the only org. eligible to send a team to the WUSV World Championship.

To clarify some of the misinformation here: 1.USA does not recognize WDA scorebooks. This policy was implemented in 2003. See GBM Minutes 2003 2. You do NOT have to be a USA member to enter trials (other than national chmpionships), nor must your dog be registered with USA for club or regional level trials. Please see USA's Rules and Regulations, readily available to the world at large on the USA website. ( www.germanshepherddog.com) 3. USA judges are well -respected and are invited to judge in other countries. Germany has recognized the score awarded by a USA judge, Ann Marie Chaffin, for a German qualifying for the BSP (German National Championship.) Additionally, several have judged at the highest level, the WUSV World Championship. In contrast, some of the WDA judges are merely "defrocked" USA judges. ( See USA's GBM Minutes 1996) USA judges are not known as Santa Claus judges, while many SV judges give scores like candy, in order to continue to be asked to come over. You can easily see who some of these judges are by looking at the Trial Results section of the WDA website. There is a rule prohibiting ANY handler from handling more than 2 dogs in trials officiated by SV judges (USA has a variance allowing 3). However, in far too many WDA trials you will see one handler handling 5,6, 7, even 14 dogs in one trial!!! Simply check out the published trial results for proof. Nia

You must get the BH under an SV judge to go on for the SchH 1/Korung now. Both USA and WDA judges are welcome to enroll in the SV Judges program but as far as I know NONE of the USA judges have enrolled in the current program. Enrollment is open every other year as the SV judge's program is a 2 yr. program and I believe it is necessary to go Germany for a few days each year for the annual judge's training seminar. Personally, I find it astounding that no USA judges have chosen to become SV/USA judges! This is, IMO, just one more indication of USA's sepaeratist intentions, much the way the GSDCA went in the 70's, with an altered breed standard and rules not in concordance with, and titles not recognized by the rest of the world. I think this is a very self-destructive direction for USA and it makes me sad to see. Also sad for me is seeing so many of the people in USA clubs, the helpers in particular, getting greedy by combining their professional dog training business with club training, the clubs acting as conduits to funnel business to the pro helpers at huge expense. It getting to where a normal working stiff, possibly not completely "sold" on the sport in the first place, is being priced right out of the sport. This is especially true in my region. Who has $1,000./mo. to pay a helper if one wants to try to train 2 or 3 dogs up to their titles? I DON'T! Not all cubs in this region are expensive. Hegins Valley is still reasonable and Rich Pastuka is a wonderful trainer who is generous with his time and in sharing his knowledge, but he is clearly the exception to the rule, and their club field, although VERY nice, is quite far removed from the major population centers in this part of the state, and I think he only trains on Sunday mornings, early, which not everyone can make. A lot of our club members go to church Sunday mornings, then spend the rest of the day with their families. Interesting that as USA seems to be going the way GSDCA went years ago, GSDCA/WDA/AKC appears to be going back in the direction they departed from 'way back when! With the resources (read $) of GSDCA-WDA and the blessing of SchH sport by the AKC there is no telling how fast and how far our sport is liable to go in the future. I am not sensing the "exclusivity/elitist" attitudes with the EDA that have become so prevalent in USA clubs, which is like a breath of fresh air. JMO Shelley Strohl