Animal Rights Policies Threaten One Of Germany’s Most Important Shows

Click here to read the complete article
140 – November/December, 2026

By Amy Fernandez

You can’t negotiate with a bully. Generally, people make this discovery by third grade. Any compromise or concession opens the door to more demands. Five minutes later, the bully will be back demanding more. What’s this got to do with dog shows?

Plenty. Here in the US, we don’t pay too much attention to major European shows, possibly to our detriment. There are some major developments happening with the Verband fur das Deutsche Hundewesen (VDH), the Association for the German Canine Society, which practically speaking is the German Kennel Club. Organized like AKC, it is a club of clubs–180 member clubs to be precise. Like AKC, they have a tremendous amount of power and oh my, they have got themselves into a pickle. They made concessions to AR extremists, and they are facing some big-time consequences.

Ground Zero of this disaster has become the newly updated rules for their upcoming fall show in Dortmund. This show will be notable for more than the impressive projected participation of 8-10,000 dogs. Held in conjunction with a major horse show, the Dortmund fall show focuses on hunting breeds, hounds and gundogs. However, many other breeds are expected to attend because this club’s format combines three shows along with a roster of related events, like junior handling, obedience, seminars and demonstrations. Like Westminster and Crufts, this show traditionally draws global participation.

Click here to read the complete article
140 – November/December, 2026

Short URL: https://caninechronicle.com/?p=375095

Posted by AnthonyA on Nov 14 2026. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.