I agreed to become an Ambassador for K-9 And Sports -- it is organized to unite working K-9 administrators, breeders and handlers with the sport dog community.

Our working K-9s come from sport lines, be they IGP, KNPV, French/Mondio Ring, field trials, hunt tests, etc. We as working K-9 administrators and handlers live and die based on the ability of the working dog breeding community to correctly assess the character, resilience and health of breeding stock. 

Dog sports are the most effective way to assess the qualities of these dogs -- thousands of hours of structured training, changes of venue, pressure phases, air and rail travel, etc. lead to world-level competition. The level of resilience necessary to perform freely, repetitively, at this level is tremendous and subjective -- some dogs stress and decompensate, and other dogs thrive. 

Breeders have a trove of information from which to draw when assessing potential breeding stock, from pedigree research, personal observation, a diverse set of performances at multiple venues with different judges and helpers/decoys, Körung/breed survey performance, etc. 

When we water down even one of these dog sports -- all of which were originally developed to assess the quality of breeding future K-9s -- we do a profound disservice to our working K-9 community which depends on our partners for survival. 

In 2023 we narrowed the pool of dogs a breeder can consider, because now IGP dogs are not pressured during the protection phase. Our working K-9s must face real threats in the field, with real physical contact -- there is no amount of scary faces, waving of objects, or angry words that will replicate or replace a physical-contact pressure phase.  

Many dogs fail during the pressure phase of IGP not because the pressure phase is injurious, but because the pressure phase challenges a dog's resilience, drives and stability. Dogs will refuse to engage or refuse to disengage in the face of an effective pressure phase; this is critical information for working dog breeders. 

We, the working K-9 community, are the end users. We depend on an incredible, international network of hobbyists to develop new training methods, to test the breeding pool, to share information, and to make mistakes and even fail along the way -- we use this information to acquire, train and deploy dogs that save lives.

What will happen to us, and to the communities we serve, if our apprehension dogs' pedigrees are filled with dogs unproven under pressure? 

I urge administrators of every country's working K-9 programs to reach out to the FCI (Fédération Cynologique Internationale) to share the presence of sport dogs in your working K-9s' pedigrees, and to affirm how rigorous breeding stock selection impacts your operators and your operations. 

Please contact me or one of the K-9 And Sports Ambassadors in your home country for points of contact in the FCI.  

I urge sport dog association leadership to consider your role in the real working dog community as you revisit these rule changes. 

In the case of the bite sports and hunt sports, dog sport isn't just a sport.

Be safe, everyone.