Geoff Empey

Hey since we have such a broad spectrum of members across the world. I'd like to open a discussion about dog life differences between the 2 continents.

Reason is we have a new member in our club who grew up in the Czech Republic during the Communist era.

He was telling us stories about going either to Shutzhund or target practice before and after grade school, (Bringing his target rifle to school on his back and leaving it in the corner of his class to boot as it was the norm) or jogging through the streets as a 8 year old boy with a pig leg to lay tracks for others tracking and all of this stuff was sponsored by the police and military. That seeing a mixed breed was a very rare occurence, as everybody has a purebred dog. He was saying if 2 different breeds mixed it up in the backyard, litters like that were culled without a second thought and it is not thought of as cruel.

Here in North America we are swamped with mix breeds the local shelters are full of unwanted dogs and organizations like PETA and HSUS rule the roost. Protection dog sport is being pushed to the fringes by organizations like that. Yet dog sports like flyball, agility et al are deemed the doggy norm. The majority of dog people in North America don't have a clue about getting started in protection sports where in european countries it is sanctioned and encouraged by the government.

Is the gap that big between the 2 worlds? I'd love to hear some first hand accounts on what you see the gap being.

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"Does your dog bite?" "No" .. Person tries to pet dog .. GRRR RAWR ROFFFFF!! "I thought you said your dog doesn't bite?" "That's not my dog ..."