WUSV - the World Union of German Shepherd Dog Associations:
almost half a million friends and lovers of the German shepherd dog
breed worldwide have come together internationally through the
German shepherd dog associations of their countries.
German shepherd dog breeders’
associations came into existence in Europe very soon after the SV
(German Shepherd Dog Association of Germany) was founded. Lovers and
friends of the breed, which spread so quickly, joined forces
everywhere in their own associations. It was up to the SV, whose
breeders were already supplying animals throughout the world, to
strengthen the links with associations in other countries. In 1968,
the Association introduced an initiative that firstly aimed to
promote international co-operation in all fields, and secondly aimed
to conserve the uniformity of the breed. For the time being, its
objective was to form a Europe-wide union of the associations in the
neighbouring countries.
A few months later, the
organisation achieved success. In May 1968, the representatives of
German shepherd dog associations from eleven nations met in
Augsburg, Germany to deliberate on the founding of a European Union
of German Shepherd Dog Associations (EUSV). After a busy weekend, it
saw the light of day: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Great
Britain, the
Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, the then Czechoslovakia
and the Federal Republic of Germany founded the new union.
Just five years later, this
supranational organisation paved the way for an even larger and more
important federation – a world union of German shepherd dog
associations. It was founded in 1974/75 – since then, the WUSV has
grown to 74 member associations in 63 countries. Its objective:
uniform breed standard, harmonisation of attitudes and assessment of
German shepherd dogs in breed and performance, clarification of open
questions regarding breeding and training, upbringing and
deportment, and the control of hereditary diseases. Their
headquarters is housed under the same roof as the SV in Augsburg.
One of the high points of the
WUSV’s work was reached in 1998: the European German Shepherd Dog
Championships were replaced by the WUSV World Championships. Since
then, these championships have represented one of the highlights in
the international world of the breed.
THE WUSV WEB-PAGE
:
+44 (0)1905 830900
