Severnside Schutzhund Group

By coincidence, in September of that year a meeting was held at Kennel Club headquarters between representatives of the BSA and the Kennel Club to discuss the future of the schutzhund sport in Britain. The meeting proved very productive and resulted in the Kennel Club giving tacit approval to BSA’s events by adding them to it’s list of unrecognised unlicensed events in November 2000. It had taken nine and a half years !

 The following year, no team was sent to the event as it was held in Slovakia and the Pet Passport Scheme did not extend to Eastern Europe at that time but from 2002 onwards, the BSA continued to select a team each year entered by the British WUSV member clubs.
In order to ensure continuity of entry, however, it was apparent that closer ties would have to be forged between the BSA and the two WUSV member clubs and dialogue was started with a view to all three Organisations joining together to progress the working side of the German Shepherd Dog in Britain.
Unfortunately, this was not to happen as in 2005, BAGSD decided to join forces with a small breakaway element of the BSA to set up their own Working Dog section. The large majority of the BSA members and clubs however voted to join the GSDL and full integration took place in 2007 when the BSA ceased to exist and the former BSA Branches became GSDL Working Group Branches receiving full approval and recognition by the Kennel Club.
Since that time, the Working Branch network has continued to grow with many GSDL show members coming along to training sessions to prepare their dogs for the requisite working qualification required to show at the top level abroad.
At the very successful British Sieger Event held over the weekend of 4/5 October 2008, two Protection Helpers from GSDL Working Dog Branches undertook the task of testing the dogs for their working suitability and one hopes that the closer harmony established between the Breed and Working sides can only benefit the development of the German Shepherd Dog in Great Britain.

For anyone interested in coming along to one of our clubs to watch the training or to find out more about the exciting sport of schutzhund, further information can be obtained from the following websites :-
www.gsdleague.co.uk or www.gsdleague-workingbranch.com
  Ron White.