In a message dated 12/6/2006 9:01:03 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, MarcatoGSD@xxxxxxx writes: and there was a nine year old girl competing with her dog! EXACTLY....for example...our kids Ryan , Hayden and Leah...all interested young...all NOT interested at ten. other sports.....Ryan is now 15 and is six foot one....NATURAL handler...Hayden is now into video games but wanted to get involved....too late....and Leah is now 21 , five foot nine and runs a five minute mile...and looks like a model....all lost to the AKC mandate of ten or older. What if the parent club started classes that were unofficial, but encouraged participation by kids younger than ten???? Every kid gets a little stuffed toy or something and everyone who buys a puppy from a breeder is encouraged to bring said pup and kid, show or pet , to participate???? Wow , imagine the interest. Look around most showrings now........the owners /breeders etc are not getting younger, and replacements are few and far between. Kathy Tank Victory....There's Something in a Name WEBSITE UPDATED: Nov 16, 2006 _Victory German Shepherds_ (http://www.victorygermanshepherds.com/index.htm) ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2006. 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 - URL temporarily deleted due to AOL issues ============================================================================