German rules for German Shepherds - Page 21

Watertown, NY.

Yes, it is illegal to have dogs off leash on your own property if the property isn't fenced in. I had offers to use private property for trainin purposes but it wasn't fully fenced in.
I had to meet with the City Manager to try to get an exception from the City itself just to continue to work my area search dog. It was denied and furthermore denied that I can use private properties. I can't even track in this City because the leash cannot be longer than 6ft.

The local advocates used my dogs case to get the laws changed and it continued to come up on Radio Shows, Blogs, etc. So it never actually died down, even though the Farmers Market incident is two years old now. I tried to join into the group that advocates for the dogs in the City but then realized it's better to lay low and just let grass grow over it. Problem is that the advocates kept mentioning it since they believe it's a disgrace to the City.

The City caused a lot more controversy over the new roommate law. Another pearl of our oh so great City Council that is known to make some sane and well thought out decisions....

This place has got to be the most dog unfriendliest place you will ever find! You can do obedience, so long the dog stays on the leash.
From what I know, there are Agility classes outside the City limits on private property. But they too are not year round classes. Many people cross the boarder to Canada for that.

I'm driving to Syracuse now.

what about renting an acre of land from a farmer just outside your city for club meetings?
for trials, hay fields or plowed fields or sod farms owners will be happy to take a few $$$ to give access.

it will take a little extra doings to create a club in an anti dog city, but still its doable.


Sita, all that requires start up money which we don't have. My husband is a Specialist in the military. Just not possible. I've tried to get a group together to at least work on Obedience. People won't commit or show up. Now that I'm in Syracuse, I at least get Obedience and Protection training and the helper is a great guy. Tracking, not so sure what I'll do about that... if all else fails, I'll just have to do without tracking because we don't have the gas money to drive an hour daily just so I can go and track.

What makes me angry, we've got awesome places to track right here in the City and I can't use any of them because one thing is for sure, I won't end up in the Newspaper again. The only thing I could think of is using land  on Ft.Drum...

SitasMom - GREAT !!!

You just don't get it. I'm out of this discussion. Some people are blessed with huge opportunities in different activities. Others are not! Those who live it understand, those who don't live it, will never get it. This is not Germany!

There are places in the US with a close nit large Community but unfortunately it's not us. Now that I'm going to Syracuse, you know how many people showed up for IPO Training in the last three weeks? TWO! TWO people.
The Helper, and I. Yesterday, it was three people working their dogs. The Helper, I and someone else. That's it.
We can't even work the group because there are not enough people to actually do a group setting.
 

club membership can pay for the rent and for insurance (sportsmen's insurance agency).

club can start as an obedience club...and once members learn how to handle their dogs (become watchful even when talking to others), tracking an then protection can be added. by then there will be more members to share the cost burden.

obedience can be done on leash and in a backyard.

i'm a full believer in if there's a will, there's a way.

Watertown, NY 13601 is a small place, with lots of open land just outside of the city limits. I wonder how many of the local farmers have working dogs that would donate a small corner of their land in lieu of free membership to a club...


does the club where you're going advertise? i bet many people don't even know it exists.

our startup money came from the first 5 members (5 x 300) 1500 went along way to get our club up and running. My husband built the jump and wall. I drove 6.5 hours each way to get a used set of blinds that were donated.

Barenfang, I do get a lot of things...
I´m not talking about you, but talking about the USA as a whole.
Why on earth do you think you need to defend yourself all the time?
It´s not about you - it´s about all the people who never trained any dog in any venue.

SitasMom wanted to train her dogs, and she recognized that she has to do the work by herself ( found a club ), and she had success - the workingdog breeds NEED people like her fighting for the breed making things possible.

I am not defending myself. This is exactly how it goes for a lot of people! It is just one example of many. Lack of tracking land, resources, people that actually commit, no helpers... it's the reality in the US. If you don't live in a State or place where Schutzhund has a stronghold, you are pretty much doomed to either spend ridiculous amounts of money or do something else!

In the beginning I was exactly like you but now I understand because I'm living exactly what so many are complaining about.

Sita, what do you not understand about "I HAVE TRIED IT ALREADY!"

I am here for three years now. And we'll be stuck another two years. Where do you think I do my obedience. In my driveway and yard. People do not want others to be on their private property, PERIOD! They have cattle, horses and whatnot, they don't want Schutzhund on their land!

And again, what do you not understand about that I'm going to Syracuse now! Jeez! Stop pressing something that won't happen. There are no people, people will not pay 400-600 dollars to belong to a club, heck they don't even want to pay more than a 100 for a puppy! They don't even want to do it when it's for free, they don't commit! You set up a day and date and who is there? Not a single person!. I'm not going to open my own club, period. There is no need for it, there is no want for it, there is no land for it, there are no resources!
 

Baerenfang, I don´t know how old you are, but I have been in the States for the first time in 1987 ( for quite a while, training police dogs ).
From the 80s up to 2008 I have been over there a lot of times - I don´t see any improvement.
People are either importing unseen or breeding whatever they want. I´ve seen lots of very good puppies ( 1. generation American bred ) - but these dogs are not titled, not shown, not used for breeding later on. As soon as a new stud arrives, everyone is going for the flavor of the day, breeding without any knowledge.
The very few who do care about training and / or showing their dogs are the national heroes, but for the rest reading about dogs is easier than training dogs, and it´s easier to say " i don´t have the possibility to train " than to say " I´m not interested ".
SitasMom made a point - as soon as people do have a club in their surrounding they will start with basic training -they don´t even need to do Schutzhund in the beginning - but they need to start - they need to learn about their dogs. All of our German clubs were founded by anybody at one point - if people want to do so ( see SitasMom ) it´s possible.
Right now there are almost no regulations - nobody is forced to go the German way - there might be better ways - but in the mean time there isn´t even a beaten track...

Because it is America!

A: Depression
B: People lose their jobs, lost their house, dogs and everything they have ever owned. They might pull themselves out of a hole and have to pay off thousands in debt. You think titling a dog is big on their list?
C: If you are in the military, you will move every couple of years. You might be lucky and get Ft.Hood an therefore be close to the SchH club in Austin. You might be lucky and end up in Colorado and have a Club right in front of the door but you might be not so lucky and end up being sent to Korea, Hawaii or infamous Ft.Drum.
D: People don't have time! They might work three or four jobs and go fulltime to College. I've come to realize that most Americans go to College for many many years and even have to go back to College in their fourties. It's not like Germany where you get out of School, Ausbildung/College, Job buying, getting a family etc. The lifestyle in the US is different. Heck, it was hard enough to get my SAR team together for once a week.
E: People are widespread. I just talked to my helper yesterday that I wish we were able to train twice a week. Again, the last three weeks, I was the only on showing up. So we were two people and he's got private property, a huge training field with EVERYTHING you can only dream about and no, people DO NOT show up, just because it's readily available.

America is a complex country and things are just not that easy! And yes, I'm constantly promoting the sport and they will go and check it out. But once they realize what kind of commitment is involved they just don't or can't do it.


You may have spent a lot of time in the US but it doesn't look like as if you truly understand the culture.