I hear ya! I take my dogs to school, and the first thing they ask me is "Is this a K-9?" I know they mean gsd, but most of the time, the only time these kids see a gsd is when the police bring them! And most of the time police still have gsds, though mals are gaining on us. They don't even know the breed name, just the job that they do.I hear they are very popular, but I can count on my hand the number of gsds I see walking the streets with there owners. Denise W. The Good Ole Boys~Chopper and Chase http://www.showgermanshepherds.info for show and performance (join my site ring-follow the link) ________________________________ From: "grnram415@xxxxxxx" <grnram415@xxxxxxx> To: Kmgraphic2@xxxxxxx; ELG440@xxxxxxx; showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Mon, June 14, 2010 2:39:40 PM Subject: [ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: Temperament Test...and Obscenity not want we meant Diane, I hear what you are saying but have rarely encountered incidents as you described at AB shows. And, I have been showing for more than 10yrs at AB shows, with GSD's. I have seen novice GSD people shoving their dogs in other people's faces and expecting everyone to accept and adore them. I have seen GSD's take the rap when some stupid little dog initiated an attack on the GSD. I have seen obedience people get upset with vocal GSD's next to the obedience rings. And, there are some exhibitors that will avoid the GSD at all costs. One thing I will never forget is at a show and was getting Maggie out of her crate to go to the ring. Well, Maggie loves to show and gets very excited. She screams and yells when it is her turn. To the novice, it sounds like she is being abused. She is very, very vocal. At one show, I was getting her out of her crate and she was very vocal about it, telling me to hurry the h*** up. BTW, she would also beat the crap out of me in excitement as soon as it was her turn. I have the scratch marks on my jacket to prove it LOL! Anyway, this woman (unk breed) confronts me as I am walking out of my booth with Maggie. She wants to know what I was doing to my dog and Maggie is wanting to get to the ring, NOW! I followed Maggie's lead and off we went. The woman followed us and observed Maggie's excitement. We showed and went back to the booth. The woman came up later and apologized. Since my brain was still on showing, I didn't get it at first. She said she thought GSD's w ere mean and we had to man handle them to get them to behave and show. She was amazed that Maggie was acting out of excitement. I brought Maggie out for her to meet and she walked away knowing I wasn't abusing my dog to get her to show and fell in love with Maggie. My point is this. JQP looks at the GSD as a military, police, guard dog. They don't see what we see. They don't have that experience. I say, don't avoid AB shows. Go to as many as you can and show JQP what this breed is about. Engage them when they have an issue and explain the behavior. Yes, they bark and it could be excitement or wanting to get to Mommy or Daddy. Barking doesn't mean aggression. Use these shows to EDUCATE! As a side note, if you want barking and annoying, try being parked next to a beagle handler at a dog show for 3 days. Those beagles and the handlers made me crazy. Yikes! We need to be more proactive in educating the public. That isn't going to happen at specialties. Get out to those AB shows and take the time to talk to JQP and other breed exhibitors. Laura -----Original Message----- From: Kmgraphic2@xxxxxxx To: ELG440@xxxxxxx; showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Mon, Jun 14, 2010 10:54 am Subject: [ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: Temperament Test...and Obscenity not want we meant how about the other breed exhibitors? yesterday, while relaxing and atching karen judge, i heard ... . from an irish setter exhibitor - "your dog barked" - she was referring o a crated GSD bitch, sitting right behind her owners, who had the UDACITY to bark at another dog as it passed her crate. the irish handler was urious and started yelling at the GSD bitch. thankfully, the owner told her hat for and shut her up . from a host club member - the presence of a couple of ex-penned GSDS as "terrifying" some chows and the chows pitched a fit (of course, THAT was lso blamed on the GSDs) - the club rep claimed the GSDs were "mean". rust me, i had judged these dogs the day before and they are NOT mean - just ogs. dogs BARK - go figure. thankfully, one of our handlers told him off. . from an aussie handler who was angry that a young male GSD was niffing her bitch's butt. she actually said, "this bitch is breedable!". ell, UH, lady - you're at a dog show, your bitch is in season and this male dog oticed! . from a weird man with 2 large somethings (i don't remember what breed e had) who actually walked the 100 plus feet AWAY FROM THE RING and behind hrubbery and a bathroom building to come tell us that calling our dog was othering everyone at his ring. we were NOT being disruptive at all. or whatever reason, our breed has a bad rep - undeserved and unfair. by he time i left yesterday, i wanted to tell the rest of the dog world to ET REAL DOGS! i love many other breeds but the people are ridiculous. iane, who stays away from the all-breeds as much as possible iane Silver-Strasser ilstra German Shepherds Skatiebug'z_ (http://skatiebugz.shutterfly.com/) The online store for verything German Shepherd and then some! http://skatiebugz.blogspot.com_ (http://skatiebugz.blogspot.com/) kater's Blog n a message dated 6/14/2010 10:27:17 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, LG440@xxxxxxx writes: We need to educate the judges out there, (not the specialty judges) that hile temperament is the first thing in our standard, that does not mean ur ogs are going to attack first chance the get. Well, not all of them nyway. =========================================================================== OST is Copyrighted 2010. All material remains the property of the original uthor and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind re permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the howgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER F ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL ARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A IOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. 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For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================ ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2010. 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@xxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================