CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS FOR LOCAL DOG CLUB
Source: Bedford and Edenvale News (Extract)
Posted: February 20, 2022
In 100 years, the SA Alsatian Dog Club has worked through the Great Depression, witnessed the moon landing, World War 2 and 9/11 and seen the birth of the internet.
It has also racked up countless awards, rosettes and trophies.
But, after a century of dog training, chairperson Jules Gordon said nothing much has changed.
“We can proudly boast that we are the oldest specialist dog training club in the country and now we have one hundred years of experience to show for it.”
The Alsatian Dog Club of South Africa was founded in 1922 as a specialist German Shepard training club.
“At the time, the club focused on attack training for security work and obedience training,” Gordon said.
Over the years the club stopped attack training and focussed on obedience work alone.
“The club was established outside Vereeniging before it moved to Primrose. From Primrose the club moved to the old Rand Showgrounds that forms part of the Wits campus today,” Gordon said.
In the early 1970s, the club found a new home at the Goldfields Show Grounds in Bedfordview, where it is based today.
Graham Price led the club at its new home ground for more than 30 years before his death in 2018.
“In the ’70s the club boasted a membership of over 300 German Shepard owners.”
Gordon explained that there was a waiting list for members to join.
“I remember passing by one day and saw what was happening. I didn’t have an Alsatian at the time. I would come down often and ask if there was space yet. Eventually, I decided to get a dog and figured they couldn’t turn me away if I already had the dog.
“The committee told me that I’d nagged them enough for me to be able to join. That was 40 years ago and I’m still here,” Gordon said.
He added that the club was so large that 10 different training groups were working at the same time.
Today, however, there are 40 active members.