I tend to think there needs to be SOME leeway, as well. Although I do feel that there needs to be some sort of title requirement in the club's ethics aside from confirmation, and despite the fact that a uniform look and temperament is desired, I feel that some specifics of breeding should be left to the individual breeder. Vision of how a breed should be developed is a key element to breeding, and I don't think that the "art" should be downplayed or stripped away for the sake of uniformity. I think that's where a lot of breeds have gone wrong in the past, because the more specific in breeding you get, the more apt people are to lower the gene pool, which brings out genetic problems.
I think that one of the major places people are going to differ is on how they test their dogs' working ability/aptitude. People are going to have different ideas of what's important in the dog's drive so people are going to want to test differently. This is why I think there should be a varied list of titles and the dogs have to obtain X amount before being OK'd to breed by the club.
That's a great point about the AKC tracking, BTW! haha I never thought of the dogs taking visual cues instead of scent! I guess I just liked the description on paper, the way the CsV trailed was air scenting (from what I understand) not following a scent on the ground, as I think the Schutzhund trial works, right? Also, air scenting is how search & rescue dogs work, which is what I was planning on doing with my dogs, so it would be difficult to work both ways.
As far as bitework & Schutzhund are concerned, and my personal direction for breeding, I'm less concerned with the use of working-like GSDs and more with why the wolf was brought in. With the type of work the dogs were doing, they not only needed endurance, they needed independence. I think that, yes, Schutzhund is a wonderful test of ability, but I think the temperament of a CsV doesn't lend itself well to earning SchH titles (at least higher level ones) and that if a breeding plan were based around the temperament that DID excel at wining titles, part of the CsV's original temperament will be lost. Just personal preference, I think.
