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.
