What could the wolfdog community use?

[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.