What could the wolfdog community use?

[draggar]

I have a great domain for a vlcak related site (I have the domain for the .com, .net, and .org). I've been working on a site for it over the past few days (since it was official that we were getting one) and after looking at this site I'm really wondering if it is needed.

This site seems to have everything that is needed, my only concern is that the most recent "article" is 4 years old. Events, litters, and shows do seem current, though.

This site also has years of being an established website ahead of mine - the only drawback is that this site is on the 3rd page of results when people google vlcak (but #4 when people google wolfdog).

After seeing this forum I decided not to make a forum for my site (why compete in such a small community?).

I'm still debating over the site. If I do continue with it, what should I put on there? I have links to resource sites (like this site), a link section for breeders, as well as pages on the history and the breed standard.

One big advantage of having my own site would be that there are more sites honestly talking about the breed - not this misleading fluff you see all over the place. Working together the honest sites could push down the misleading sites in Google searches.

I'm also going to research to find out if it is better to have the three domains pointed to the one site or maybe even build one main site and two supporting sites?

Originally Posted by draggar

One big advantage of having my own site would be that there are more sites honestly talking about the breed - not this misleading fluff you see all over the place. Working together the honest sites could push down the misleading sites in Google searches.

This is exactly what I was going to say. When I first started researching CSVs, I had a horrible time trying to find information. Most sites in English only have the same 2 paragraphs of very generic info spouted over and over. I would say that even if your site just links back to sites like this, and even if it is the same (good, more in-depth) information, it still helps bring validity to the breed (mainly here, in the US) and it makes it all the more likely that someone searching out the breed will find good info. I say keep it up!

[draggar]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Now the question is (and I'm checking with some web development friends of mine) if I should (when the .com is done) to also develop the .net and the .org into other sites.

[draggar]

Great - now all the files (except the favicons) are gone from my server. The host is claiming someone logged in and deleted all the times - a few things don't add up:

1) A hacker wouldn't just go into each folder and delete all the files except that one
2) My FTP and access logs do not support this claim.

It seems it all happened around 8PM server time (not sure where that is but I noticed it around 9:30PM EST).

Many of my sites didn't have a backup, including my vlcaks site.

[draggar]

I've decided one thing I would like to do with my CSV site is to have a video blog (web cam / Flip videos) starring Luna.

I've been debating over an introductory video and I was thinking of saying something like this:

Hello everyone,

This is Galomy Oak's Aurora del Mango, a.k.a. Luna. She is a Czechoslovakian vlcak. While this breed is very new in the USA, they have been around for over 50 years in the country of origin (Czechoslovakia) and has ben gaining popularity in Europe.

The breed itself was created when Czechoslovakia wanted to engineer a breed used primarily border patrol. In 1955 the CSSR government initiated the program using 48 working line German shepherds and 5 Carpathian wolves (a.k.a. Eurasian wolves). Their goal was to engineer a breed of dog that had the physical stamina, build, and alertness of the wolf with the temperament, pack mentality, and the trainability of a German shepherd.

Over the next 10 years the breeding program fine tuned the desired qualities from both parents and in 1965 the vlcak was officially born.

They were used extensively as border patrol dogs in Czechoslovakia and over time they became popular as household dogs. In 1982 the vlcak was named the official dog of Czechoslovakia.

Their popularity spread out into the rest of Europe. In 1999, FCI (the World Canine Association) recognized the vlcak as an official breed. In 2001 the American Kennel Club recognized the breed as part of their foundation stock services. This mean that vlcaks can compete in non-conformation AKC events such as obedience, agility, and herding. In 2006 the United Kennel Club fully recognized the breed allowing them to show in UKC conformation shows.

This breed is very rate in the USA - fewer than 30 dogs now live in the USA and fewer than 10 are registered with the AKC. All vlcaks in the USA are imported from Europe (mostly the Czech republic, who retained country of origin status). Luna was bred by Galomy Oak kennel out of Virginia. Her litter is the first born in the USA.

(maybe a little more?)

Thoughts on this in case I do decide to go with this idea?

[Rona]

I may be wrong, but I've always thought CSVs' specific (very strong!) 'pack mentality' came directly from wolves? That's why it's so important to gradually train a pup at early age to be able to stay at home on its own... later it might turn to be very hard if not impossible

[draggar]

I've decided not to do the video blog at this time. My webcam is over 10 years old and has a very poor refresh rate and resolution - the videos would look horrible.

[draggar]

I had to rebuild the site from scratch - luckily there wasn't much in there so it didn't take too long. I am always open to feedback (positive, negative, even the ugly).

You can see it at Vlcaks.com

[draggar]

I'm not as much of a dog person as my wife is. Yeah, I work Kiri (our GSD) at schutzhund and probabaly will when Luna is grown up (since my wife wouldn't be able to handle them) but I'm not the trainer, I'm not the dog show person, I'm not the fanatic, my wife is. I prefer to play with them and cuddle with them on the couch / bed.

Luna is great and I can see us involved with the vlcak breed for a long time. We'll probabaly still have a GSD for a while but we know we won't have any more collies (skin issues here in south FL) and only get another malinois if the right one comes along.

With that aside, I admit I wouldn't have much to contribute to the community from the breed standpoint but I do know enough to get some websites up and other tools.

I don't want to compete with anything that exists now and is established. I thought of a forum but this one is already here and if I start up a second one then "factions" could form between the two which could start rifts within the breed - possibly leading to what the shiloh shepehrd breed is going though.

I've thought of other ideas and I'd like some feedback on what people think. Right now funds are very shot with me so I may have to resort to free scripts for a lot of this.

YouTube clone - just for the wolfdog community. This site has pictures (or I could also look for a Photobucket clone) but no "tube" services for videos. The only issue is that this would be a HUGE strain on my storage.

Social network (Facebook clone). This could be good for the community, help people keep in touch with others quickly without all the millions of other people on sites like Facebook / MySpace.

Photo sharing - I think this site already has this but maybe another one?

I'm not sure what else I could include. Anyone have thoughts on this?

[AMERICANI]

I don't know exactly what it would entail, but I had recently thought of having a North American version of www.wolfdog.org. Maybe the admin of the European side would cooperate with some of the info and updating... (I'm sure I am only dreaming because it has already been a headache for them to update everything...lots of info to keep track of), but anyways, I fully support anything helping the community being established here. Thanks

[Rona]

Originally Posted by AMERICANI

I don't know exactly what it would entail, but I had recently thought of having a North American version of www.wolfdog.org. Maybe the admin of the European side would cooperate with some of the info and updating... (I'm sure I am only dreaming because it has already been a headache for them to update everything...lots of info to keep track of), but anyways, I fully support anything helping the community being established here. Thanks

Do you really belive that American English is so much different from British or International English? In that case why not add Australian forum (with Sona as moderator? )

[draggar]

Originally Posted by Rona

Do you really belive that American English is so much different from British or International English? In that case why not add Australian forum (with Sona as moderator? )

I think they were suggesting a "North American" version of the site not for the language issue but for the geographical concerns. In North America the breed still has a long way to go. While this site is great from an international approach (including the forums) the issues that we'll have here may seem small compared to what this site is concerned for.

I would hope the active North American members here would still remain active members here (I know I would - international unity is important, IMO) but a NA version of the site would allow us to concentrate on issues that concern us here.

[GalomyOak]

The forum is a very useful extra, but the real value of this site (for me) is the database! With time, hopefully our club will have a flourishing website - and it would be way cool to model some features from this site...but for the foreseeable future, we are going to (and should be, with no doubt!) heavily linked to breed clubs in Europe...not a one amongst us has the expertise or knowledge to branch too far away with this breed - still a ton to be learned. IMHO.

Daniel Charbonneau (Wolfen Kennels - Canada - Loki/Sonia's breeder) started this group a few years back:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/CDNUSA_CSV/

I guess it would be possible to breathe new life into it, if desired? I really prefer having the support and criticism of Europe from this website, personally!

Marcy

[draggar]

Then the question would be - would the North American club(s) want a mailing list (like the Yahoo group) or a forum? Both would have advantages and disadvantages.

As for the database, I think it would be best if we stuck with one (the one on this site would be preferred since it is already set up). I like the GSD database on the Pedigree database, it's great for research and I'm sure this one will be just as good (or better?) when this breed reaches 100 years of age.

[AMERICANI]

Originally Posted by Rona

Do you really belive that American English is so much different from British or International English? In that case why not add Australian forum (with Sona as moderator? )

I had a british woman ask for a translator while talking to me

[draggar]

Originally Posted by AMERICANI

I had a british woman ask for a translator while talking to me

Why do I have a scene from National Lampoon's European Vacation running though my head?

I've spoken to some people with very heavy British accents - it can be hard to understand for us Yanks sometimes. I can see the opposite with someone with a very heavy southern accent, New England accent etc..

[draggar]

I'm looking for some adult vlcak pictures (I have plenty with Luna) for my site. Does anyone have any I could use? Feel free to post (or PM) a link to pictures I can use for my site please?

Thank you.