The GSD is under serious threat in Great Britain - Page 3

WITH REGARDS K.C./HEALTH TESTS/ABS I HAVE IN THE PAST SPENT A CONSIDERABLE TIME COMMUNICATING WITH BILL LAMBERT AT ABS WHEN I WAS A MEMBER OF THIS SCHEME. THIS WAS IN REGARDS TO AN ABS MEMBER ADVERTISING AT STUD A DOG WITH A HIP SCORE OF 35 IN JUST ONE HIP FROM REMEMBERANCE THE TOTAL SCORE WAS IN EXCESS OF 50+ AS WELL AS ADVERTISING DOUBLE DILUTE PUPS FOR BLUE/LIVER.
THE RESPONSE FROM MR. LAMBERT WAS IT WAS NOT A MATTER THE K.C. COULD TAKE ON BOARD AS TO DO SO "WOULD JUST DRIVE BREEDER OUT OF SCHEME" SO MUCH FOR K.Cs. STANCE ON HEALTH/WELFARE IT WAS FOR THIS ATTITUDE THAT I RESIGNED FROM ABS
BSTAN

Honestly never thought I would hear myself saying this! but IMO the ONLY way forward in all of this is to keep talking to KC. We may not want to do that, we may not be getting anywhere doing it, but the fact of the matter is that people like us are seriously out numbered. The general public dont read the dog press and they dont read this forum. They believe what they hear from KC. Nothing is going to change that.
We can fool ourselves all we like, but truth is, 'breed people'/ 'show people' or whatever we may be called are a very small minority. We dont have LOADS of support. We only have the support of ourselves and its time we stopped fooling ourselves. All this picking and sneering at KC is not, IMO , getting anyone anywhere.

Zac, you have got it in a nutshell.  I would prefer the breed clubs to get together to promote the fact that their members do all the health testing, even though the KC don't require it. 

And to the lady who sent the letter, she should get her facts right, there is no compulsory hip scoring for parents before puppies are registered. 

Of course, that is IF their members do all the health testing.  Make it a condition of membership, its easy enough to bring a rule in at your AGM.

Doppelganger: GSD Breeding in the KC-ABS are "required" to hip x-ray the parents of their litters.

We ALL know the MOST Kennel Club ABS breeders can safely IGNORE the rules & regulations of the ABS.

They simply want to ENJOY the cheapest and best advertising and promotion for selling THEIR "ABS" LITTERS.

PERHAPS WE SHOULD ALL JOIN? &  FORGET ABOUT "INTEGRITY!"

We will all witness the GSD Clubs and the GSD Website owners that DO NOT step up to the challenge. The GSD "public eye" is watching!

You have such a sense of drama.  What happened to your advocation of tolerance on another thread (thought it was odd) ? What about not splitting the breed further by alienating those who have chosen a different path? Hey Ho, that's gone out the window then, it's back to thinly veiled threats.  At this rate you may as well not bother to put any shows on because it will only be your own few dogs entering them (over and over and over) - everyone else will be avoiding you like the plague.  You are truly heading towards creating a wilderness for yourselves. 

Videx - you have SO MUCH TO SAY - how you love your capital letters for emphasis - why don't you actually DO something, instead of writing, writing, stirring, abusing, writing, writing ad infinitum. It appears that you just produce the bullets and hope that others will fire them for you. So HOW ABOUT SOME POSITIVE ACTION??? How about YOU set up the system you keep harping on about?

Many in America look on the situation in United Kingdom with a sort of deja vu. Your situation today is much as ours was in the seventies when the GSDCA , with the benefit of the policies of the AKC ( of not necessitating health checks or titles for the breed ), took the breed in a direction similar to your Alsation type GS. There is some lessons to be learned ,maybe, as you strive forward. 1) The K C will not knuckle in to your demands at this point until it is either financially disastrous for them, OR financially beneficial to them . 2) The support of activities sponsored by the KC will ensure their continued path. (It was only after most of the breeders of GS breeders who bred dogs that represented the international type completely stopped participating in activites and events of the GSDCA, that over time they became an island that people didn't want the product anymore. Shows like Westminister in America are no longer entered in by American breeders of the international type and more importantly breeders of the international type DON'T CARE about the results of Westminister.) Nobody who breeds the international type even KNOWS who the American Grand Victor is from year to year. 3) Whem the international type in the United Kingdom have developed their own shows, events, and credibility with the general public overall, as having the true type, the contrast and isolation WITHIN the United Kingdom will force the KC to start to change some things because of monetary benefit. They may not change some others, but you will have marginalized them to a point that the public will insist on acquiring dogs of the international type.
This is what has happened here, most people in the states when they buy a German Shepherd DONOT want an Americn line dog with that extreme angulation and shyness. The breeders of the international type hear this all the time. More importantly, the size of the shows, events, the breed part of the GSDCA, has decreased so much that the GSDCA has had to embrace the Working Dog Association and the titles and health checks that come with these breeders of international type. There is still a small segment of the American showline people holding on but the tide has turned over here. Your battle will take many years to accomplish, but first you will have to shed your NEED for the participation in KC events and acquiring their awards and titles.
This is just an observation of one from the outside.

Hi Gustav,
                  As an ex-show person, now involved in sch , I like to keep an eye on the GSD situation in the show side.
Having read all the different threads on the problems our breed is having with the kc in this country, and being a strong believer in breaking away from them (kc), imo your comments are the ONLY way the GSD in this country can go.
                                                                                                                                                                      Regards,
                                                                                                                                                                    Weeman.