I've stayed out of the discussion because I find that most people with strong
convictions tend to not want to change them. For every perspective there are
others with a different one. I went to the Northeast Futurity/Maturity last
year. I drove 3 days to get to the show, and the weather was unpredictible to
say the least. I have been showing for a while and thought the club did an
outstanding job of putting on a show weekend trying to please all exhibitors.
They did have an obedience trial in conjuction with the specialty. They had a
concession wagon selling food and also one day had a wine tasting vendor
selling local wines and offering a tasting table filled with cheeses and fruit.
The club also offered a hospitality night with a catered meal all things to
allow for socializing after the event. Coming from out of state I knew no one,
yet while sitting under the canopy to avoid the rain and snow chatted with some
wonderful people and made new friends from the east. My "expensive" handler and
his wife spent every evening providing food and snacks and wonderful hot coffee
to their clients, all out of their own pocket. Without exception I have found
the handlers to be some of the nicest people in the sport.
I appreciate your passion for the breed and you have some great ideas, I
encourage you to join your local club and plug in. What you don't realize is it
takes manpower to run multiple venues and most clubs have a small nucleus of
members that do all the work. One of the requirements we ask of new members
with our club is to volunteer 6 hours a year to club events. We have many
people that are pet owners that join the club and then do nothing to help, and
drop their memberships at the end of the year. We have always tried to have
multiple events on our show weekends, then found that we could not get the help
needed. Many clubs offer temperament tests during the futurity weekends, but
you have to have a certified evaluator, and volunteers to run the tests. You
have to fly the evaluator in, put them up in a hotel and hope you can make
enough money to cover the costs. Same with a herding trial, etc...
The point I am trying to make is you have to be on the inside to see the whole
picture of how it all works, until you are involved with the club you are only
seeing things from an outside observer.
The GSDCA has offered amateur owner classes for the futurity for a number of
years with very little participation. If there are so many owners that want to
show their dogs where are they? I have great admiration for those that do but I
don't feel like the breed is stopping anyone from showing their own dog. You
say that UKC shows are so wonderful because no professional is allowed, I went
to look at some of their shows and saw very few entries of German Shepherds.
The largest entry was 5 dogs so if owner handling is so popular why aren't the
entries larger? I suspect the reason is the same as the AKC shows, it is an
expensive hobby and many families have to budget their monies for the many
activities their children are involved in. I also believe there has been a
cultural movement perpetuated by the Animal Rights groups that only rescue and
shelter dogs are appropriate pets and that owning a purebred dog is a thing of
shame, let alone the cruelty of showing dogs! I don't think it is fair to
blame the breeder for the lack of entries at shows or the lack of young people
showing. There are a number of breeders that have mentored many juniors, but it
is up to the individual to continue, if you don't enjoy the sport you won't
participate. You can't candy coat the work or commitment involved with
showing, by making it easier you won't increase entries. The people that want
something for nothing will eventually get bored and move on to something else.
There are kennel clubs out there that offer quick championships and they appeal
to those who want instant gratification. I have participated in them and they
are fun, but the accomplishment of a hard fought AKC championship means so much
more to me.
In the end it takes a certain person to show dogs, people take offense to how
they are treated at shows not realizing they are trying to be social during
serious competition. Join the club, stay for hospitality after and you will see
the true personalities of exhibitors. The friendships are made at club
meetings, programs and parties. I hope this doesn't discourage you but will
encourage you to become involved behind the scenes, hopefully you will come up
with a new perspective.
Sheri Chambers
________________________________
Really, Kathy? I'm trying to contain myself! I drove almost 3 hours to your
club events just to volunteer. And, combine with my volunteering at other GSDCA
events that is a good amount.
And, the point isn't to say "look how great our club is and we are doing well"
but to get consistency in the Futurity program across the breed.
Here is the last Northeast Futurity I went too which was in the last few years.
It was in a big field adjacent to the hotel. People spaced themselves out
around the field way far away from each other. I saw no real socializing and I
had to walk the entire perimeter of the field and make my way to each person
individually to ask them about their dogs.
Most people brought their own food or they could buy sandwiches but I saw
nobody sitting together eating (except people running show).
There was no other event at all except the show. Thus, the only people there
were conformation people and really expensive handlers. There were hardly any
dogs there with most classes having none, 1, 2, or 3 dogs in them. It was a
short day because there were hardly any dogs.
If you consider that a Futurity success than more power to you. I'm happy that
is what is considered a success in the conformation world. I guess everything
is A ok with the Futurity system and that there is tremendous consistency
across the country. Kudos to the breed!!
As usual, I can only take so much of this List before I need to take a break.
It is about that time....
I will depart with one last thought....too all you older breeders: How much do
you love the breed? Do you love the breed so much that you have set the breed
up to succeed when you die by ensuring that you have supported a younger
generation (not constantly chase them away); that you have supported changes to
try to help the breed membership grow; that you have tried to be inclusive
realizing that the era of conformation being the sole draw for the breed is
over? Conformation will never be eliminated and will always be important so
what is the huge battle to also support performance so the club survives. Most
GSDs competing in performance are not owned by GSDCA members. How much do you
really love the breed?
Ok, I need to take my mandatory mental health break from the List. It's so
draining trying to get this List to realize changes need to be made in our
breed for the betterment of our breed and the future success of our Club.
Carry on as usual.....
Sarah
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