I don't respond to the list very often but now and then I feel the need to speak my mind even though most times what I have to say isn't what most people want to hear. Years ago when I sat on the Board of Directors of the GSDCA we had a program at the Annual Meeting during the National it was "a panel of experts" answering questions from the audience of members in attendance at the meeting. Not sure how this little obedience person from the backwoods wound up as an expert but there I was. The last question of the day was "what do you feel is the biggest problem in our breed today" there were many different answers all of them addressing various problems, when it came to me my answer was " the Judges first and the breeders second, if the judges would judge to the standard of the breed the breeders would breed to the standard if they wanted to win. If that were to happen I think we would solve many of the problems mentioned here today " Needless to say it wasn't a popular answer then and it isn't now but it is a true and honest answer, In my humble opinion. I am a firm believer in our standard and I also believe that if breeders over all were more honest with each other as to the problems that their dogs and bitches produced instead of turning a blind eye to them we could eliminate a lot of our health problems. Lori Nickeson In a message dated 1/26/2013 9:25:22 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, Showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes: ----- Original Message ----- From: "Theresa-GSD Stolz-Scenecrest Farm" <scenecrest.geo@xxxxxxxxx> To: marhaven@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx, showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2013 11:57:02 PM Subject: [ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: Room for our Standard. ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2012. 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/ ============================================================================