This has been really interesting round of debate and conversation, regarding the white GSDs. But there is really only one thing at issue here......the purpose of our club and our Mission Statement. The purpose of the club is to promote breeding of GSDs that conform to the standard. The Mission Statement lists as one objective, the presentation of Awards of Merit to animals who fall within this standard. There is NO question that white or other off colored GSDs have GSD DNA. There is NO question that some of these animals are FINE EXAMPLES. There is NO question that having a standard in and of itself makes the playing field "not fair." Breeding to a standard automatically makes your breeding program "not fair." There is also NO question that they have been allowed to compete in our performance events for years--and receive AKC awards (though not the Awards of Merit from our parent club). They have NEVER been ineligible for any and all AKC awards. So the real question is NOT are these animals GSDs....they are. It is not "is it fair" because it's not. It is not can they enter and compete in performance events, because they can. The question is do we, as a club, want to amend the purpose of our club and change our standard and our Mission Statement. What we should not do, in my opinion, is fly in violation of this written purpose and Mission. To me this would NOT be a Board decision, but a decision of the membership. ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2011. 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. Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in any post. 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 SUBSCRIPTION:http://showgsd.org/mail.html NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================