On August 30, 1968, at the invitation of Mr. and Mrs. Alfons Ertelt, there was at their home an informal meeting of San Gabriel Valley friends and fanciers of the German Shepherd Dog to discuss the need and advisability of forming a German Shepherd Dog Club in and for the San Gabriel Valley. There was, at that time, a large and increasing number of people interested, owning, and supporting the breed in the San Gabriel Valley area.

Thus, through this vision, as well as the hard work of many dedicated friends, was born the GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG CLUB OF THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY.

After this August 30, 1968 preliminary meeting, there was a Founders' Day Dinner, again at the Ertelt home, on September 21, 1968.

As of the Founders' meeting, there were already 6 charter members who had formed the club -- the GSDC-SGV. They were:

#1 -- Alfons Ertelt #4 -- Krista (Ertelt) Bock

#2 -- Ira Lund #5 -- Ingeborg Sentfleben

#3 -- Bonnie (Lund) Larini #6 -- Lillian Tiffany

At the Founders Meeting on September 21, 1968, several people came forward to become founding members to help the charter members launch this new venture. They were: Berl Ellis, Heinz Sentfleben, Tom and Phoebe Ballard, Dr. Michael & Lucy Derechin, Beth (Gneck) Pederson, Pauline Harris, William & Desdy Kellogg, Ron Lucas, Guiseppe (Joe) & Norina Rosen, Carl Spitz, Sr., Darrell Charlton, Jr., Dr. Zoltan & Helena Puskas, Joel Bevecqua, Mary Kirtland, Harald Ertelt, and Joan Ludwig.

And, another group signed up for membership that night -- Dorothy Ellis, Dany Canino, Marion Egly, James & Vicki Giebelhous, Marjory Robbins.

Our very first Specialty Match was held on October 6, 1968 in Covina Park, Covina, Calif. (remember -- we were "conceived" in August and "whelped" in September--so we were really very young puppies to be doing this!) At this Match we had 234 entries -- 55 in obedience!!

Flush with this success, we contacted the American Kennel Club about a license for a Sanctioned "B-OB" Match. Our hopes were dashed. We were told that we needed to show an "interest in the community" for our breed, and activity with our breed. We also had to draw our area of interest to identify the "San Gabriel Valley" as an entity, and demonstrate that we had membership within that area to sustain an active club and active interest.

And so we tried. We started Obedience and Conformation Handling Classes in Covina (Tony Braga was one of our early Instructors!) -- open to the public, but specializing in German Shepherd Dogs. We entered our dogs in Holiday Parades in Covina, El Monte, etc. -- featuring the GSDC-SGV banners with wagons in our club colors (red, black & white) and, of course, our dogs and people--many time "decorated" with seasonal colors (collars, ribbons, etc.). And, as I recall, although I can't really document this, we did win several prizes in these events from the local communities. I think it was refreshing to see dogs and people working as teams for the community.

And, after a few more matches and letters, we were approved by AKC to hold our first B-OB AKC Sanctioned Match on March 22, 1970, with 253 entries. We gave a number of B-OB Matches after that stellar event. And we kept asking about an "A" Match (the prelude to a Licensed Specialty). We finally conquered all the hurdles, and now were told we could apply for a license to hold an AKC Sanctioned "A" Match (the immediate predecessor to a licensed show). For those who have wandered into an already licensed club, this is an EXPERIENCE!! An "A" Match is run just like a licensed show-except in those days you could not hire a Superintendent, you had to prove to AKC that the Club could do it themselves. AND -- you had to send to AKC, along with your application, a list of all Club members (not too bad); WITH: the number of litters registered by each Club member with the AKC within the last THREE years; also, the litter registration number of each litter -- the number of licensed dog shows/trials in which EACH MEMBER exhibited his GSD within the last TWO years, and the name and date of each show/trial, the number of GSDs owned by each Club member along with the AKC Registration number of each dog.

Our Club members at that time were pretty good sports, and were "more or less" willing to go along with this requirement. They dutifully filled out the detailed questionnaire -- which was a lot of work on their part. After all, can you remember each show and its date that you entered over the past two years, or where you won that wonderful 4th out of four? Can you find the ribbons for those shows? or the catalog -- marked -- or anything?? But our members did it.

And, WE DID IT! We held our FIRST AKC Sanctioned A-OA MATCH (Pre-entry, complete with Premium List, just like a show to prove to AKC you can do it, but still a match). The date was OCTOBER 19, 1974. The big "A" Match went off without a hitch! We thought we were home free. Then, we applied for permission to hold a Licensed Specialty. We had the approval of the GSDCA -- the Parent Club apparently thought we were doing great and wonderful things. The AKC had other ideas.

After our very successful AKC A-OA Match, we applied to AKC for permission to hold a Licensed Specialty. The Parent Club was 100% behind us, and so stated. But, the AKC decided that since it had been about a year since the club had sent any membership information, we should do it again!! "Just to make sure that you still have the same level of interest in your breed in your area, you understand, of course."

Well, we did not understand on one level of course -- we'd done it once, why did we have to do it again? But on another, and more powerful level, we understood that if we did NOT do it, the license we sought would NOT be forthcoming. So we set about it. We had copies of what we had sent earlier to AKC -- so we did this one by telephone (since we had so many arguments about the first time, we decided to make this one as easy as it could be). So, Krista, Audrey and Beth spent many hours on the phone (at their own expense) updating old members lists, contacting new members, etc. -- as well as going through catalogs for current member-exhibitors. But we sent it in! And, we got the license!

The GSDC-SGV FIRST Licensed Specialty Show and Obedience Trail was held on October 26, 1975. Our entry was 176, with 29 of those in Obedience.

One thing I didn't mention in this "history", that I probably should have…..We had to draw a very definitive map describing our limits for the GSDC-SGV. We also had to demonstrate that the all-breed Clubs in Los Angeles County overlap -- e.g. -- the Kennel Club of Beverly Hills, the Kennel Club of Pasadena, the San Gabriel Valley Kennel Club, were also within Los Angeles County. (The Rio Hondo Kennel Club did not exist at the time we were seeking license). But the Rio Hondo Kennel Club is now licensed, for a long time.

My thanks to Krista Ertelt Bock for her input ----I never would have done it without her.

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