Cross posted from Gen Conver.:
Has anyone entertained the idea of an AZG or DHV type body here in the US to govern (and ideally, bring together) the various working dog organizations and agencies (SchH/IPO, PSA, Ring Sports, the NAPWDA, USPCA, NDDA, SAR Dogs etc...)?

The reason I bring this up is that there are so many different sports that are actually quite similar, but seem exclusive to a lot of people. The bigger issue to me though is the lack of uniform standards for working service dogs (Police and SAR dogs especially).

In SAR, the events of Sept 11, 2001 and the Columbia Disaster have shed light on the inadequacies of the current system, or lack thereof. I'm not disregarding the work of those that responded to those incidents, not at all, but there have been valid complaints about the quality of work executed by SAR Teams all over the country under many circumstances.

In Police and DogSport there seems to be a lot of overlap and redundancy and in SAR, a lack of uniformity. I am fully aware of the various standards out there, from local, state and national organizations, and there are some good ones. However, if there was some uniform standards, especially in Police and SAR, it would be a lot easier to determine mission preparedness of specific individuals and there dogs for local, state and federal emergency and safety officials.

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John H.

John, please don't "cross post" as all these take up space and make a thread hard to follow.

I'd be happy with uniformity and cooperation at the STATE level for PSD and SAR.

I agree with that the only problem with this though would be developing a governing body with in each state that is not only competent but also not influenced by any “good ol’ boy” system.

Being politically involved and not political has proven difficult in the past but I still hold hope for this ideal.