The AWDF is an alliance of national breed organizations dedicated to the preservation and advancement of the protective heritage working breeds. The founding member clubs were:
The United Schutzhund Clubs of America (for the German Shepherd dog)
The Doberman Pinscher Club of America
The United States Rottweiler Club
The North American Working Bouvier Association
Since the establishment of the AWDF early in 1989, clubs for the Giant Schnauzer and the Belgian Shepherd varieties have been accepted as members of the federation.
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.
Individual membership is not possible, since the AWDF is an alliance of protective heritage working dog clubs with a strong commitment to the preservation of the working character of our police style breeds.
Although the primary competitive arena will for the foreseeable future be the Schutzhund sport, individual member clubs are free 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 nation wide 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 police style 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.
But we know well that a positive public image is just as important as responsible breeding, training and ownership. The "Pit Bull" hysteria is a long term threat to the preservation of our protective heritage working breeds, for politicians under pressure can not be relied upon to distinguish fighting dogs from our sound, correctly trained protection and police style service dogs. The AWDF intends to take every possible step to differentiate our working dogs and training from the fighting dogs in the public mind, and to support law enforcement agencies in eradicating the dog fighting establishment.
The serious protective heritage working dog movement, for all practical purposes the Schutzhund movement, has been evolving for almost twenty years in America. It has been a rough road, with many false starts and disappointments. Organizations have come and gone, mistakes have been made and repeated. The formation of the AWDF marked the advent of a new era, one of maturity and responsibility, of cooperation and understanding among the many diverse elements of the American working dog community.