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THE AMERICAN WORKING
DOG FEDERATION

Jim Engel    1994


Since this araticle is more than a quarter century old, some of the information has evolved; but it is included for the sake of historical interest.

From the very beginning of the introduction of the protective heritage working breeds into North America, starting in the World War One era, there has been an underlying tension between the home land heritage and the American canine establishment.

The purpose of the founders of these breeds, such as the German Shepherd, the Rottweiler and the Bouvier des Flandres, was to preserve and enhance the centuries old working dog tradition of rural Europe. The preservation of working character was paramount, and the desired physical type was that which suited a dog to his work.

The American canine establishment has its roots in the English upper class canine tradition, which is fundamentally pacifist. The British have regarded protection style working dogs as a perhaps necessary but an unpleasant activity that should be restricted to military and police trainers. The hysteria driven campaign in recent years to eradicate undesirable foreign breeds is not an aberration, but consistent with the British character and heritage.

The fact that there are no British protection breeds and no working heritage has meant that there is no natural place for the continental -- French, Belgian, Dutch and German -- working breeds in the scheme of things we have inherited in America from the British. In order to be acceptable such dogs have been sanitized, stripped of their heritage. The working character, so carefully preserved by the founders, has by many been breed against in order to produce dogs sufficiently servile so as to be acceptable to our betters.

In this "Americanization" process, noble dogs such as the German Shepherd, the Giant Schnauzer and the Boxer have become virtually different breeds from those existing in the homelands, both in external form or type and especially in character.

Over much of this century these Americanization forces, as embodied in the AKC, have been predominant. Until the last two decades ordinary people were not able to afford casual European travel, and, especially in the homelands, the working dogs have remained in the hands of working class people. Because of this and language differences, North Americans had access to breeding stock but not to the working culture.

But there have always been a few North Americans stubbornly persistent in seeking to establish the working dog heritage. In the German Shepherd community especially small groups of breeders have attempted to emulate the traditions of the homelands, such as breed surveys and working trials.

This seeking of European roots has had as one of its primary manifestations persistent efforts to introduce the Schutzhund trial into America.

Schutzhund is the sport devised by the founders of the German Shepherd just after the turn of the century to serve as a breeding eligibility test. This and similar sports in Belgium, France and Holland, such as the Dutch KNPV police trials and the Ring sports, have been popular for many years. Schutzhund has levels I through III, each with an increasingly more demanding tracking, obedience and protection test.

Although Schutzhund is perhaps perceived in America as primarily a sport, for the true working dog enthusiast it is much more; is indeed the test by which a dog is determined to be a German Shepherd and thus eligible to be bred and perpetuate the race.

This concept that in the ideal a dog must prove its working character as a prerequisite to breeding is at the very root of the conflicts between the European heritage and the conventional American perception of these breeds as pets and show dogs.

In 1969 there was a short lived National Schutzhund Association formed under the leadership of Herb Preiser in Illinois. In 1971 Alfons Ertelt, Kurt Marti and a few others launched the North American Schutzhund Association. Although they almost immediately changed the name to the North American Working Dog Association, the NASA abbreviation was maintained. NASA's goal from the beginning was to differentiate themselves from the Europeans and work toward mainstream acceptance, with AKC affiliation a goal of many. Much to their credit, the American Doberman Pincher Club was a charter NASA member and held out to become last ditch supporters in the end. (The American Working Doberman movement has been a most interesting saga in and of itself, but that's a story for another day.)

In the same time period, several other more European orientated Schutzhund organizations came into existence. There was some natural competition with NASA, which had spawned its own Schutzhund rules, much to the annoyance of the commercial importers and used dog salesmen who wanted to display their wares without retraining their dogs. After some success, NASA finally disappeared in the 80's.

During the middle seventies some Schutzhund activity was going on under the auspices of the German Shepherd Dog Club of America (GSDCA). In 1975 the displeasure of the AKC made the GSDCA back off and lead directly to the formulation of the United Schutzhund Clubs of America, which in spite of its name is specifically a German Shepherd organization. (Although other breeds have always been allowed to participate in its Schutzhund trials, conformation events and breed surveys are for German Shepherds only.) USA quickly became the predominant working dog sport organization in America and within a few years was larger, and certainly more influential, than the AKC shackled GSDCA.

In the eighties determined men in several breeds, such as Ray Carlisle for the Doberman and Erik Houttuin for the Bouvier des Flandres, worked diligently for change from within the establishment to make a valid place for working dogs within the AKC world.

For a time there were indications of progress and change. In 1987 Mr. Louis Auslander, president of the AKC, was so impressed with a Schutzhund demonstration at the Medallion Rottweiler Club near Chicago that he invited the dog, Centauri's Gambit, a Bouvier des Flandres, and an equally accomplished Rottweiler, Pete Rademacher's Dux v.d.Blume, to put on a Schutzhund demonstration at that year's International Kennel Club show in Chicago. And so they did. Both of these excellent dogs, both AKC Champion of Record as well as Schutzhund III, put on memorable performances before the brightest spot lights the AKC world can provide.

Meanwhile, time and the working dog movement marched on. The United Schutzhund Clubs of America, under the leadership of Paul Meloy, began to provide breed surveys and other conformation events, evolving from its purely working heritage into a more complete canine organization. These events, for German Shepherds only, emphasized the changes going on within USA as it evolved into a complete, single breed, canine organization.

Men and women in each of the other breeds, seeing the handwriting on the wall, were forming informal alliances in order to establish their own working dog heritage. In 1986 the North American Working Bouvier Association was formed at the annual championships in the Chicago area.

Beginning in the mid eighties there was increasingly serious discussion of a formal structure for the American working dog movement. The needs and desires of the working dog community, which could only be realized through such a national level organization, included:

Finally, on June the 17th of 1989 a foundation meeting was held in St. Louis. Present at the creation were Paul Meloy, Vernon Crowder, Erik Houttuin, Jim Engel, Eckart Salquit, Jacqueline Rousseau and Ray Carlisle, all familiar names on the American working dog scene.

After lengthy discussion, the American Working Dog Federation (AWDF) came into existence as an alliance of national breed organizations dedicated to the preservation and advancement of the protective heritage working breeds. Charter members were clubs for the German Shepherd (USA), Doberman, Bouvier (NAWBA) and Rottweiler.

Because of his leadership record and experience in dealing with the European working dog community, Paul Meloy was the natural selection as founding AWDF President.

The original AWDF Doberman member club was the AKC affiliated Doberman Pinscher Club of America. This affiliation, the increase in Doberman Schutzhund activity and the growing acceptance of the membership panicked the old guard.

This precipitated the infamous AKC dictate of June 18, 1990 forbidding Schutzhund and all of the traditional protection sports and trials. By this action the AKC demanded that its member clubs for these breeds repudiate their heritage. This has formalized the already emerging rift in these breeds, with the AKC clubs moving to the solidification of their concept of working dogs as mere "pets" and "show dogs" and the emergence of clubs with the traditional European point of view in each breed.

As a result of the withdrawal of the AKC Doberman club, there was an immediate formation of the United Doberman Club, which became a full AWDF member in January of 1991.

Long term AWDF objectives include an independent registration system and FCI affiliation. FCI stands for "Federation Cynologique Internationale", which translates as the "International Canine Federation." The FCI is the predominant international organization throughout the world with the exception of England, Canada and the United States.

Although the AWDF is not yet a member of the FCI it is recognized in that for several years we have sent teams to represent us at the annual FCI international IPO championships. (IPO is the international sport equivalent to the Schutzhund trials more commonly held in the United States. The rules are so close that Schutzhund trained dogs can easily participate in IPO trials on an equal footing.)

At the present time there are AWDF affiliated national clubs to serve the:

In line with the practice in the homelands, the Belgian Sheepdogs are regarded as four varieties of a single breed, as follows:

In America the Groenendael is sometimes known as the Belgian Sheepdog, and the Laeken, the rough coated variety, is not generally recognized.

The AWDF is open to a single, national level club for each working breed. Other clubs may submit membership applications to the secretary; the criteria for acceptance is national scope, adherence to the purposes and principles of the federation and broad acceptance by the working community of the breed to be represented.

In addition to the single breed clubs, and pending final approval of a revised Constitution, the AWDF will offer membership to four national level all breed clubs to support, promote and regulate:

There is no intention to interfere with or oppose existing organizations in these areas, which are welcome to explore affiliation. Also, while there is no current AWDF desire to take the initiative in establishing new organizations, interested groups may contact the secretary (listed below) for detailed information and assistance.

Individual membership is not possible, since the AWDF is an alliance of working dog clubs with a strong commitment to the preservation of the working character of our protective heritage breeds.

Although the primary competitive arena will for the foreseeable future be the Schutzhund sport, individual member clubs are encouraged to conduct working trials, breed surveys and conformation events appropriate to their breeds. In particular, French or Belgian Ring competition can be supported by any member club where there is sufficient interest.

Among the reasons for the federation is the maintenance of the credibility of the Schutzhund title (and other working titles) in the United States. To this end, a high priority is given to educational programs for current and potential judges to provide nationwide uniformity in procedures and scoring. Ultimately the goal is for a person with a score book from any organization to be able to enter any local trial. Only regional and national championships, and qualification trials for international competition, would be breed specific.

Another fundamental goal is strong public relations, that is, demonstrating that properly bred and trained the protective breeds can combine strong working character with the stability and reliability necessary in a family companion. Internally each of the member clubs have a strong record of encouraging responsible breeding, ownership and training. Most Schutzhund clubs are producing well trained dogs, good canine citizens as well as strong trial and protection dogs.

In keeping with its function as an umbrella organization for the individual breed clubs, the AWDF at the current time serves mostly administrative and coordination functions. Perhaps the most important reason for this is that the people involved are all very busy building their own breed organizations, leaving little time and energy for AWDF functions.

The most important AWDF function is the annual championship, where three teams for each breed compete in a Schutzhund trial, with the aggregate breed scores determining the winner.

The first AWDF team Championship was held in St. Louis on March 16-17, 1991 by the Bouvier des Flandres club. It is now an annual event.

Although the member clubs have wide latitude to conduct their own affairs, all provide a magazine for the membership, hold or support Schutzhund trials and conduct conformation events. Most have or are seeking links with international breed organizations, such as the WUSV which is the world union for national German Shepherd dog clubs.

Jim Engel, Marengo    © Copyright 1994