[ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: shared with permission of the author
- From: Edwin Hill <edwinx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: fairway97045@xxxxxxxxx, freelist <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 16:03:46 -0700 (PDT)
BRILLIANT!!!!!....Ed Hill
Terry Cochran <fairway97045@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: I thought this worth sharing.
Ruth has been involved with showing and training GSD's for 40 years. She is a
wealth of knowledge. Too bad we drive people like this away from the breed.
Ruth Scheubler wrote:
True, not all the problems related to the decrease in participation in dog
sports are caused by nor fixable by the GSDCA. It is too expensive. It is
competing with a lot of other leisure time activities. And people tell me over
and over again that it is too ?professional? and ?too political?. And you are
right, it is not just GSDs. But saying the GSDCA and the way it has acted in
the past couple of years has no impact is not right, in my opinion.
I know Bob Penny did not come forth fully formed in his knowledge and ideas. He
lived to learn every day of his life and happily shared what he could. He
started at a time when there was time to sit, discuss and debate and people
understood that it was about the DOG and not so much about the RIBBON. That is
not true any longer in most of our activities in life. Things happen fast or we
go elsewhere. It is instant communications, instant gratification, or instant
change. In order to interest people, we need to get people?s attention. We need
good quality educational materials to do that, and those are beyond the scope
of a regional club. That is why we have parent clubs. The parent club?s main
purpose is education. Regional clubs cannot function without a parent club, and
the reverse should also be true as they each have a purpose.
The GSDCA is failing at that educational purpose. We have no illustrated
standard that says ?this is what the correct dog should look like?, an honest
representation of the standard and not something that shows every possible
variation on the theme from one extreme to another. Instead of caring about the
breed, we found ourselves caring that our own dogs were illustrated. That is
not about the breed. That is about EGO. *****, you are a judge. Do you think
the material this club provides to all-breed judges who want to add this breed
is sufficient? Judges at the seminar held at our local large all-breed cluster
last January did not think so. But the material handed out for several other
herding breeds was excellent. And when someone buys a new GSD puppy, what do
they get? And when they go to GSDCA.org, what do they learn?
If we tossed everyone off the board and started over, they still would not have
the time to consider the educational programs so needed. They would have to
deal with the election issues. They clearly need to deal with by-laws issues
so, for instance, people with charges against them cannot sit in judgment of
those charges. They need to work on ways to play well with each other so they
can actually make the club function as a unit and not like a dysfunctional
tribe. And they need to regain the trust of the membership. Education is so far
down the path ..
You are right that the best contacts are locally made. But it takes more than
just the regional clubs. It requires a unified program nationwide. Right now
our club pays dues to the GSDCA that get us nothing more than the right to
apply to hold shows. The only support we have received in many, many years is
the assistance in getting $500 towards the 2007 shows via Royal Canin. That we
are grateful for. But when it comes to help putting on judge?s seminars or
other educational programs, even those we were requested to put on by the
parent club at the futurities, it was basically, do it yourself or never mind.
The regional club challenge was actually Lori Nickeson?s idea but Lew made it
his mission to implement it. And he worked hard at that.
So yes, there are institutional and social reasons for the drop in show
activities. And there are also additional reasons for parent club membership
woes. The past year?s actions, which, giving everyone the benefit of the doubt,
might be just an endless series of bad judgments rather than an attempt to
hijack the club, only made it apparent how little the parent club is actually
needed for anything that truly makes a difference in my dog activities. All we
heard was fighting and attacking rather than efforts to run a unified and
efficient club. Nobody wants to join when all they see is strife.
I will continue to actively participate in the regional club and that club will
continue to pay its dues and hold events. I will continue to encourage people
to learn about this breed in whatever manner is available to them. But after I
get over the headache caused by recent events in this parent club, I will once
again leave the club to those who actually enjoy playing politics. I am just
tired of fighting and name calling and stupid decisions that undermine anything
that could possibly be positive. I keep telling myself that it will get better,
but it just gets worse.
When the club gets back to being about the dogs instead of the people, it will
again be worthwhile. But in the meantime, the only real way I have to get the
leadership to understand that I am fed up and not going to take it any more is
to withhold my dues. Nothing else seems to work. So be it.
Ruth
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POST is Copyrighted 2007. 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 - www.showgsd.org
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