As a parent of a young boy who would love to become active in handling GSDs and Heaven knows we need all the new blood we can get...I have to ask. Why the disparity between the AKC age to show in Jr Handling which is NINE. and the GSDCA membership for a Jr which is TEN???????????? How is that promoting the breed to the younger set? Why dont we offer JR memberships to younger, much younger children , even as early as 6-8? For a small fee (think club revenue) they get a patch, a coloring book, and a GSDCA Jr member card, etc I think NINE is too late as per AKC as it is...but TEN. for our club? WHY? I thought promotion of the breed was crucial and as our own esteemed Mr Rinke said in his article... and I paraphrase, ok....."our own shows are starting to look like AARP conventions... ." Meanwhile the WDA, SV have herds of children from toddlers through teens attending and helping and even showing.... Someone please give me an explanation for this , as our breed club seems to become more excluding of newcomers, with very few exceptions at every turn...even the little guys..so it would seem??? Kathy Tank http://www.victorygermanshepherds.com PUP-DATED: FEB 19, 2010 Home of: CH. Elvaston's Nations Cup TC, 26 BOBs CH. Victory's Leviathan CH. Garter's E-Male of Fran-Jo Anne Isle "Victory... There's Something In a Name" ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2009. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================