Need to get the National out of St. Louis.......rotate it like it is supposed
to be.
Amy Greenhut
Justrock Shepherds
Home Of Ch.Elway And Ch.Harley And Nichole
Gen Oak Leopard Tortoises And Tortoise Rescue
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carolyn Martello" <marhaven@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "edwinx" <edwinx@xxxxxxxxxxx>, "Linda Bankhead" <lindabankhead44@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "freelist" <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, gsdworkingline@xxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, January 4, 2017 2:48:28 PM
Subject: [ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: Ed's new Idea ~ MY thoughts
Ed, how about you keep your happy marriage .....AND we get the National out of
St. Louis ...... THIS YEAR! ! <G>
That would give us more motivation for the Futurities which seems to have been
most of the discussion this week.
The Futurity Committee is doing a good job of trying to make our Futurities
better. There have been some ideas
posted that seemed to include totally re-vamping the Futurities into all kinds
of things. We just need to remember
Futurities are simply a "Breeders Showcase".....a Conformation Breeders show
for breeders to exhibit the results
of their breedings..... to compete for the opportunity to get to the National
to compete in the Futurity finals. Simple!
It is POINTLESS to participate in the Futurities if we cannot, or will not get
to the National always in St. Louis, with
our winners to compete in the National if they do win.
If we don't get to the National with our Futurity winners........it is
pointless to enter the Futurities.
I think we ALL agree that this Breed IS a working dog!! It IS GREAT when our
big winners also have some type of
working title also! We have put Herding titles on most of our National winners.
The dogs definitely CAN DO IT!!
That does not mean that EVERY CONFORMATION WINNER'S OWNER CAN DO THAT! We do
not demand that the
top Obedience dogs or Working dog or Herding dog also earn an AKC Championship.
I would challenge anyone that
has one...to give it a shot in conformation!! It is not easy, it is not simple,
it is not cheap....and it does take more
training and work than you can imagine to get a conformation dog to perform in
a way that will aid it to win!
One last comment and then I am done. ( YES I LOVE WORKING DOGS AND WORKING
TITLES!! ) Most of ours have
had both.... our own Grand Victors and Grand Victrix and Selects have had
herding titles WHEN we can get it done and
I do love Herding every bit as much as Conformation ..............BUT.......
I sincerely believe the biggest failure and loss for this Breed will be the
failure of Conformation!! You can win ANY of these
titles with work, and you can have a Service dog, Guide dog, Police dog,
etc.....that does not resemble a German Shepherd
Dog. BUT..........ONLY Conformation demands we pay attention to the Breed
Standard and compete with the BEST of our
Breed Standard....and it is after all the BREED STANDARD that defines this
Breed!
It is NOT an 'us' versus 'them' thing IMO. It is a passionate commitment to
what we each love and CAN do!!
Carolyn marhaven@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.marhaven.com
On Behalf Of edwinx@xxxxxxxxxxx To: Linda Bankhead Cc: freelist Subject: [
SHOWGSD-L ] Re: Linda's new Idea
I got another great idea! How about we get the National the hell out of St
Louis! Just a thought! ... now if
I can break up a happy marriage today , the day will be perfect! FB
I don't think anyone is saying to choose anything! I believe the purpose of the
original discussion was to try to be more inclusive to help the club grow and
survive by supporting all of our venues equally! The club will not survive by
focusing primarily on one venue. We need to give equal weight to all venues and
support each other accordingly....
Many posters have commented that the majority of top conformation breeders are
not young. I don't see people fighting to take their spots and I think you will
agree that as the old guard passes, there are not an equal number of breeders
ready to take the reins.
The days of conformation solely carrying the breed are over. So, we need to
adapt and reinvent ourselves by appealing to where the masses are in our breed
(which is performance) while still validating the conformation ring. One should
not take preference over the other. The time has come to give each the credit
and value that they deserve and to support each other in that quest.
Reality is such that money and expenses matter. Conformation entries are down
in every breed as people explore all the things they can do with their dog from
obedience to dock diving to tracking or barn hunt. These events are cheaper and
owners can do it themselves instead of hiring a professional. Times change.
There is an unprecedented array of options one can choose and we are in
uncharted territory. If we do not adapt, we will die.
It starts by getting rid of the "us" versus "them" attitude and changing it to
"we".
Sarah
On Jan 3, 2017, at 4:35 PM, (Redacted sender "ELG440" for DMARC) <
dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > wrote:
Who are you talking to? Conformation dogs live with the owners, travel to the
shows with their owners, and spend plenty of time with their owners.
Conformation dogs can do performance, and only are limited by the time the
owners can dedicate to the training.
Performance dogs that don't have proper conformation, aren't going to enter the
conformation ring.
It is time to stop cutting down one or the other. People choose what they want
to do with their time and their dogs. There is no right or wrong. It is not
better to do both, just a choice.
Evan
http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ;
http://www.dogshowjuniors.com/GSYRFindex.asp ;
http://asgardgermanshepherd.com/ ;
In a message dated 1/3/2017 7:13:38 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, wynsum@xxxxxxx
writes:
A competition performance dog lives with its handler constantly - they go
everywhere with us, are trained daily. A conformation dog often spends a lot of
time away from its owner being conditioned, trained and shown. Few people do
both well.
