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Dear Prospective New Member, Thank you for inquiring about membership with the
Greater Philadelphia Schutzhund Club (GPSC). First and foremost, we are about having serious fun
and furthering the working dog movement in the United States through United
Schutzhund Clubs of America. Some
of our members have shown their dogs at regional, national, and international
events. We are one of the few
“elite” clubs in the United States that can say that every full member has
titled a dog, which, as you will learn, is only one of our great
accomplishments. In order to get to
these levels of competition and to achieve these and other accomplishments, we
must take our training sessions and membership responsibilities very seriously
and we would expect you to also. Our
club is always “on the lookout” for prospective new members and the
membership process is very simple. (1)
After
filling out the application and paying the non-refundable application fee of
$75.00, the new applicant will come to club for a couple of weeks without a dog.
This is so you can observe what we do and make sure club life is for you. (2)
On or
around the third week, you will bring your dog to club for an evaluation.
The evaluation may take a couple of sessions.
The dog should be a minimum of ten (10) month old. (3)
If the
dog/handler team is deemed suitable, you will be invited to become a probation
member. The probation period last
at least six months. The fee for
training as a probation member is $300 per six-month period; the fee is
non-refundable and is not dependent on the number of sessions attended or the
number of sessions held. The training director and 2 board members will
determine if you are to move on to the next phase or remain a probation
member for another six-month period. (4)
Probation
and provisional members may only train one dog per session.
The probation and provisional members will usually be the last dogs
trained. (5)
We
welcome visitors who want to bring a young dog to the club, however, do not
bring the dog onto the field without first asking permission.
We will be glad to guide you and give you advise in regards to raising a
puppy that will someday be a Schutzhund dog.
As the great
English poet, Alexander Pope wrote,
”Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined.”
This is the most important time of your dog's life; so, do not take it the wrong
way when you are told not to train the puppy too much.
You would not undertake a difficult project without first
having some understanding of what you are attempting to achieve, so, RELAX,
watch and listen. What you see the
more advanced dog doing will soon be yours to learn. Pay attention, it will pay
dividends. Important
Notes: (1)
When you come to the field with your dog, the dog must be in a travel crate
in your vehicle. We have had
uncrated dogs jump out of the owners vehicle.
We want to prevent your dog from harming itself, other club members, or
their dogs. This rule is not
optional and you will be asked to leave the field if you show up with the dog
uncrated. (2)
We do not own the Armory field. The
owners have stated that if the day after we train, they can tell we were there,
we will loose our training field. So,
clean up after yourself, pickup cigarette butts, clean up after your dog,
etc. No exceptions! For
a dog/handler team to rise to the level that every member of this club strives
to, we must train in all three phases of Schutzhund.
Tracking and obedience is every bit as important as protection.
We will not train a dog in only one or two phases of Schutzhund; you must
attend and participate in all three phases of the training. In order for you to progress, you must train on your own at
home. The training director
will let you know what you should be practicing and it is up to you to do it.
We
work with new members to help them learn the sport of Schutzhund and support
them in their quest for greatness. New
members, especially novice dog handlers, are time consuming for our training
director and helpers. In return
for our help, we need your help! We
expect everyone to show up on time, learn, teach if you can, and HELP OUT! For
training sessions, you are required to help with things such as field
setup, teardown, and cleanup. The
field is setup the same way every time, take the initiative to jump in and help.
If you are not sure what to do, ask for guidance.
Club
events require a lot of member participation to get things organized and setup.
If you have a special skill that will help with getting things organized,
please volunteer. Getting the field
setup requires a lot of work and we need all of the strong backs that we can
get. You, and ever other member,
will be required to get to the field early and help! To
keep training as a probation/provisional member and eventually become a full
member, we will be watching for three things. (1)
Attendance of a minimum 70% of the training sessions. All phases. (2)
Prospective members must show initiative and willingness to work with the
club during training sessions, trials and events. (3)
The dog/handler team must show progress towards titles and the overall
understanding of Schutzhund training theories. If these three things are not met, the probation or
provisional member will lose affiliation with GPSC and will be asked not to
attend further training sessions. These
requirements are clearly laid out in our bylaws and serve to preserve our
club’s elite status in the world of Schutzhund and insure it’s future.
It is our feeling that being a member of GPSC is a great commitment on
each and every member’s part and there are other training methods for people
that cannot make the commitment that we require.
If you find that club life is not for you, we can put you in touch with a
private trainer. We elect new full members at our annual meeting in
January. Election to full
membership is based on vacancies in the full member roster and the readiness of
provisional member applicant. Time
as a provisional member is not a determining factor when electing a member for
full membership. Our
training schedule is as follows: (1)
Sunday morning at 8am for tracking at various location.
Obedience and protection starts immediately after at the Spring City
Armory location. (2) Wednesday evening at 6pm at Ben-Jee Kennels for obedience and protection. Please attend a training session at your earliest convenience and track me down. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at (610) 399-8305 or you can email me at John_Genovese@comcast.net John Genovese President Greater Philadelphia Schutzhund Club
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