Hmm... makes me both worried and excited. The worried part is that the rules aren't going to be strict enough and we're going to have more unstable dogs taught to bite. The excited part is if this may be a step in the right direction for the German Shepherd's future in the US. I'm wondering if the idea of what a German Shepherd SHOULD be (as well as the other approved breeds in this sport that are suffering a plight like the GSD) is finally getting into the director's minds! This will change, somewhat, the breeding of the German Shepherd Dog because the average show GSD cannot compete without risk of injury in protection. Perhaps all dogs to compete will be required to have hips/elbows OFA'd or PennHip'ed?! I hope so. This may start to change the AKC's guidelines on breeding, and may bring it one step closer to an SV-style breeding program. That would put a LOT of breeders out of business, but it should be about the quality of the dogs, not the breeder's bottom line. Maybe I'm getting too worked up over such a small step, but I wonder what the ripple effect will be 10 years down the line?!