Meltdown in America
The FCI was established early in the twentieth century on the principle of national sovereignty, that purebred affairs in each nation are and ought to be under the control and authority of national entities such as the VDH in Germany and SRSH in Belgium. The United States, Great Britton and Canada, while not FCI members, have elaborate legal agreements and protocols in place with the FCI which have worked well, provided a strong culture and tradition of worldwide order enabling the smooth migration of dogs for breeding purposes and judges, both conformation and performance, for international perspective and cooperation in fostering worldwide breed uniformity. While far from perfect this has worked well. Glossary
There was an alternative. Prior to WW I the German Shepherd as a breed and the SV were growing rapidly, and it is conceivable that they and other breed specific entities could have gone on to form independent international structures under control of the mother club in the nation of origin. The reality is that the Germans were in no position to make waves on any front after winding up on the losing end of two world wars and, for better or worse, the principle of national sovereignty thus became the foundation of the purebred canine world, carrying on to the present time.
Today this world order is being seriously challenged on two fronts. In Europe the SV is seeking to break free, to establish independent control and authority over worldwide German Shepherd affairs by evolving the WUSV as the primary structure, independent of the FCI, the VDH and a century of order and tradition. This is an existential threat to world order, but one which will be resolved by Europeans and which I will address in detail elsewhere.
The second front, of concern here, is the current meltdown on the American working scene, which is taking absurdity and illegality to an entirely new level. The expulsion of USCA from the AWDF has precipitated an existential crisis in American working dog affairs, the outcome of which will shape our working dog culture for decades to come. USCA is by far the oldest, largest and most powerful American working dog organization, and although there have been controversies and rough patches it is the product of a forty year effort of thousands of decent, dedicated and hardworking people. It is something of enormous value, the foundation of our heritage. As in any family we have our quarrels and disagreements, but in time of crisis shared values draw us together.
Over many years I have from time to time played a role, beginning with the AWDF foundation meeting in the St. Louis USCA office in June of 1989. Present were Paul Meloy, Vernon Crowder, Erik Houttuin, myself, Eckart Salquit, Jacqueline Rousseau and Ray Carlisle, all at the time familiar names on the American working dog scene. Although at one point nominated for national USCA office, I withdrew in favor of a well-qualified and less controversial candidate, primarily to preserve my freedom to speak clearly if sometimes provocatively on working dog affairs.
USCA today has about 200 clubs, has been running 300 yearly trials and has about 4500 members. The DVG entity in America, a German organization of dubious legitimacy, is the next largest with approximately 800 members, conducting a little over 40 yearly trials. The various minor breed clubs are all much smaller and conduct only about ten yearly trials in total.
The one vote per member club format has been unjust and inequitable from the beginning, for a group of delegates and officers representing approximately 1500 people, the total size of the remnant AWDF, has just expelled 4500 people. This lack of a proportional representation scheme, where the influence of each organization is in some way related to their total membership and trial activity, has been a ticking bomb for thirty years, and it just went off.
Much will be made about FCI recognition, the supposed "legitimacy" of the IPO titles granted by the various organizations, but the AWDF was and always has been an "Invited guest" of the FCI allowed merely to participate in events and attend meetings and will always be in the shadows as long as AKC predomination in America lasts. Note carefully that this invited guest status is very limited in scope; there is no contractual relationship, long term commitment or recognition of titles. Given all of the IPO titles routinely handed out in Europe by FCI judges to totally unworthy show dogs the value of the title is exactly nothing, depends entirely on the integrity of the individual judge, and the trial helpers under his direction. There have been many things to criticize in USCA over the years, and those who have been involved long term know I have contributed my share, but it is beyond question that their judges training program, qualification process and the integrity of those now serving is world class by any standard, and this is the foundation of the validity USCA titles, which rank among the best in the world. This will remain true regardless of the outcome of the current confrontation, the people running a Mickey Mouse national organization may very well be able to expel USCA, but they cannot diminish the integrity of the titles granted, which stand on a forty year record of excellence.
Furthermore, should the SV move to establish the WUSV as independent from the FCI come to fruition then USCA will become a full-fledged partner equal to the entities in any other nation, and the GSDCA might well face the choice of either an AKC affiliation or a WUSV affiliation, but not both. This will of course be uncharted water, but one credible possibility is a much better world on an equal footing worldwide. The problem of the debasement of the show lines under SV control, however, would remain.
The consequence of all of this in the short term is that in America today, as a result of the USCA expulsion, we have two increasingly hostile entities at loggerheads. USCA is roughly three times as large as the remnant AWDF in terms of membership and conducts six out of seven trials, and their future depends entirely on their steadfastness in staying their course. Those in control of the AWDF are no doubt jubilant, congratulating themselves on their cleverness and power, but they remain the tail wagging the dog; their ability to govern remains to be seen. There is likely another German Shepherd entity in the works, to be a candidate for AWDF membership in their new national order. Surely those plotting this coup have this in place, setting the stage for the epic battle to come. As mentioned above, how this plays out depends on the outcome of the WUSV and FCI confrontation in Europe.
The DVG is and always has been an exclusively German organization, and the American DVG clubs are thus inherently German entities. LV/DVG America is a "Landesverbands" or DVG region, only different from the others in that it is physically outside of Germany, grossly illegal under FCI regulation. Forty years ago this was a major selling point, the claim being that only a German organization could provide real, credible Schutzhund titles, but today it is an increasingly inconvenient and cumbersome reality.
The increasingly pertinent fact is that this is and always has been in gross violation of the principle of national sovereignty in canine affairs, a century of order and progress. The existence of German DVG clubs and trials on American soil is invalid and inappropriate both according to long standing FCI regulation, tradition and founding principles and current provisions of the AWDF bylaws.
Although there were serious discussions at the time, spanning several AWDF meetings in St. Louis, the DVG was ultimately excluded from the AWDF in the beginning and for many years thereafter for these reasons and because of ongoing abuses of power evident even then. A major stumbling block was American resident, active German DVG judges openly using their position for the promotion of commercial activity, including unpublicized or secret mid-week trials where they took turns handing out titles to the dogs of each other's clients. Christa Bremmer, then DVG president in Germany, was actively enabling and supporting these rogue German judges.
There are some subtleties, but the legal principles are fairly straightforward. Section 2 of the AWDF bylaws, Rules for Club Memberships, require that all constituent AWDF clubs be national in scope. This is important since the limitation of only one AWDF breed club means that such clubs must serve the entire nation and provide a unified voice in federation affairs. DVG America, being international in scope and more importantly being an integral part of and controlled by a German organization clearly violates the spirit and letter of this requirement. Thus DVG trials and resident judges on America soil flagrantly violate fundamental FCI principles and laws concerning the holding of trials and issuance of judging licenses in other nations.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, long before the internet and at a time when the cultural separation was much greater, many fewer Europeans speaking English for instance, these legalities were just swept under the rug, the idea being that the important thing was to kick start the Schutzhund culture in America. It is of course not unheard of to cut corners in the beginning, but the problem is that forty years later these structures have become serious impediments to American growth and maturity, as we see in ongoing German interference in internal American affairs. This is a serious and ongoing problem in the control the SV exerts over USCA through the WUSV, but the fact remains that USCA is legally and practically a stand-alone entity that can and increasingly does act for itself, as in the push back on the removal of the stick, while DVG America is still an integral part of an illicit international German organization totally under the direction and control of the DVG hierarchy in Germany, with American office holders wielding little real power. This is a forty year old festering sore.
Many of us have been critical of the relationship of USCA as a member of the WUSV, primarily because of the SV show dog influence, but the technical relationship and practical reality is much different from that of DVG; USCA is a legitimate stand-alone entity affiliated with an international organization, while DVG America is an integral part of a German entity residing on American soil. We need to grow up and seek independence, run American working dog affairs truly by and for Americans, and these organizational and historical differences need to be fully understood and acknowledged.
The result of this coup is an AWDF consisting of DVG holding forty some yearly German trials and the other AWDF breed specific clubs putting on six to ten legitimately American trials. The crux of the matter is how can the AWDF be an "American" federation when 80 percent or more of its events are actually German trials illicitly conducted on American soil? The idea that DVG America can be a legitimate part of the AWDF or play any valid role in American affairs is as absurd as Iowa joining the Euro Union and yet remaining an American state.
Every member of USCA needs to stand steadfast in support of this heritage and the leadership needs to renew and reaffirm support to the local club and its amateur trainers above all else. If they remain faithful to these core values all will be well regardless of what may transpire in Europe or among the tattered remnants of the AWDF. I believe that they will.
Orginizations and Conflicts
Legacy Lost, the Other Breeds
The Americans