Smithy' post piqued my curiosity so how, why and when did the forum come about? And how did individuals become involved?

I don't know Tish.  I found it by accident.  I'm glad I did. 

Brainless might know ! I joined in 2002 and the forum had been going around 2 years before that, I think.

Nope I joined in 2001 after my old girl won her first CC.

She had come back to me, at 8 months as a complete Juvenile delinquent, so I decided to keep her.

Her former owners were a bit peeved, thinking she would now be worth a  fortune in potential breeding LOL

Bearing in mind at that age a Juvenile in my breed has no resale value.

They posted on here for reactions, and I was contacted by a member who recognised the situation.

At 15 she is still as Imperious and self willed as ever ;)

I thought it may have been set up as a breeders reaction to bad press about the KC and to debunk the myths. I recall they have had their battering over the years.

I bet it was really exciting at the time quite revolutionary

I first saw ChampDogs advertised in the ad section of both dog papers.
A whois search reveals the domain name champdogs.co.uk was first registered in 1999 but champdogsforum.co.uk was registered in 2003.

I joined just before you, in August 2002, Daisy - it was informative and great fun then!    There were lots of spats, people removed themselves (or were removed) lots of good information, lots of silliness (remember the breeding of Henry & Henrietta Hoovers?).  There was also sadness, when lovely people who were members died far too soon, there were meet-ups at Crufts ....and lots and lots of support.  

Do you remember 'Visitor's Questions' (or something like that) and the trolls ?? :) :) :) Seems such fun looking back - but must have been a nightmare for Admin !!

Oh yes ....some of them were real corkers!     :-D :-D

I joined in 2003 after lurking for about a year.

It was buzzing!

So many good posters,  so much knowledge freely shared,  so many excellent threads.    Puppy farmers and casual breeders got short shrift and no beating about the bush.

Times change :-(

I  miss Husky Gal and Storm's blogs.   They were priceless :-D

Maybe times need to change again if those valued are leaving?

I  miss Husky Gal and Storm's blogs.   They were priceless :-D

We need to convince her to become DutchyGal and do a Blog for Barny aka Batdog. :) She is sorely missed for sure!

(remember the breeding of Henry & Henrietta Hoovers?)

Oh that was a good one, wasn't it!!

there were meet-ups at Crufts

The best day of my life was made even better by having my own CD cheering squad at Crufts. It would not have been the same without.

I am not entirely convinced though that it is CD that has changed. I think to a large extent it is the new breeders, the irresponsble new breeders, that have increased so much, that it has changed everything so much. Old timers leave because they can no longer stand saying the same thing over and over, and being told off for it -over and over- by people who often are as irresponsible as the ones asking.

"I am not entirely convinced though that it is CD that has changed. I think to a large extent it is the new breeders, the irresponsble new breeders, that have increased so much, that it has changed everything so much. Old timers leave because they can no longer stand saying the same thing over and over, and being told off for it -over and over- by people who often are as irresponsible as the ones asking"

I get that old timers leave because they can't stand saying the same thing over and over etc.

But things changed drastically when were told we had to "play nicely" with the sort of people who really aren't nice and just want to use our hard won expertise.   CD is now a wonderful resource for those who want to use their dogs as a cash crop and can't be bothered doing the research themselves.    And most of us help because at the end of the day it's the dogs and pups that suffer.

"But things changed drastically when were told we had to "play nicely" with the sort of people who really aren't nice and just want to use our hard won expertise.   CD is now a wonderful resource for those who want to use their dogs as a cash crop and can't be bothered doing the research themselves.    And most of us help because at the end of the day it's the dogs and pups that suffer."

But CD's mission statement / ethos is "to promote responsible breeding/ownership" isn't it ? so if you aren't permitted to call posters out on their unacceptable practices surely that's a contradiction.

Most people who love this site do so because of the honesty of the responses. Even when it may not be what we want hear it's what we need to hear to do right by our dogs.

I thought it may have been set up as a breeders reaction to bad press about the KC

KC did not get any bad press until 'Pedigree Dogs Exposed' was aired, I think that was around 2008-2010 give or take a year or so either side.

Before that KC was very, very good at promoting itself, it learned those techniques after the KC pedigree forgery cases of the mid 1980's. On here & other forums KC was promoted to high heavens by breeders & pet owners alike, probably to distract people from the fact that KC is the only breed registration club in Europe which does not have mandatory fit for purpose breeding tests for its working breeds, "bad  publicity" is quite recent.

Lest we forget.
http://vimeo.com/84863287
.

As Dill says....YEARS of trying to do right by your dogs, your breed and your fellow breeders makes it very unpalatable to be told that you have to be positive and helpful to those who are doing none of these.

CD is a business after all and wanting those 'breeders' to use its services is fundamental I'm sure.

Bang two dogs together and then get us to talk them through every step ...right to point of sale is asking a bit much.

Although I understand the reasons behind allowing adverts on Champdogs Forum (which of course, if you are logged in you do not see) this was the beginning of the end of my Champdogs addiction.

It brought home to me the fact that CD is a business - not just a group of like-minded friendly people who wanted to share the ups and downs, heartbreak and glories of owning dogs, of always aiming to breed the best dogs possible.    Whilst our enthusiam and knowledge benefitted the site (and the owners of the site) the fact that we were continually urged to make allowances and be nice to newbies diminished what to me was "our site".    I was wrong!

I found this site in 2005 when I was attempting to order custom made jewellery in the stone that is part of my log on name here and the name of my dog.  Jet.  It's produced near Whitby in the UK and I had a terrible time getting in touch with the people who made some things I wanted.  I thought, "dog people will understand my quest" and I joined here to ask if anyone knew them.  Moonmaiden welcomed me, was wonderful, helped me to contact the jewellery place and I commissioned several pieces of jewellery in the stone Jet.  Jet died in 2007 and now I have a necklace made of the stone in her name to commemorate her.  I miss Moonmaiden, she was so nice to me.  Does anyone know what happened to her? 

> I miss Moonmaiden, she was so nice to me

:) She wasn't always like that, I seem to remember :) :) :) I'm sure that there are a lot of people on CD who have an alter ego (at least, I hope so !)

I joined in August 2002 this was the first site I joined and although I look at others this is the one I check first when I come on line.

Can someone answer a question for me, who the heck was Sally Broomstick???

> who the heck was Sally Broomstick

Before my time - but the subject of legends :) :) :)

Try reading this Champdogs 2004

A real blast from the past - not too many still around now :( Some are still here but with a different name :)

I also found this site by accident. Iwas looking for some equipment and the bring and buy section came up in a search. I browsed through the forums for quite a while before finally becoming a member 5 yrs ago.

>Can someone answer a question for me, who the heck was Sally Broomstick???

I didn't dare post a word while she was here!

Well I for one am glad that the contributors above have decided to stay.

Interesting thread although those complaining about CD being a business must be completely unaware that somebody has to pay for the running of sites like this and an income is therefore necessary! Forums generally are no longer as popular as they once were since social media has taken over from them to some extent (there are huge numbers of groups catering for every possible interest on Facebook, many of them largely unmoderated). However there is still valuable information available on CD and the message about responsible breeding comes through very clearly from those members still willing to post. I don't understand why anyone would complain about the need to be polite on this forum or any other - being rude to a member and telling them they should not be breeding won't persuade them not to breed and is therefore completely ineffective (although no doubt is personally satisfying). I see rudeness all the time on social media and find it a pleasant change to come on here and not have to put up with it but each to their own!

>Forums generally are no longer as popular as they once were since social media has taken over from them

I find that so strange as the beauty of forums is being able to find things with a title etc.

Social media is of the moment gone in seconds and very hard to track down relevant posts with no topic headings.

I did like Multiply (our breed had a group) when it had groups as it had characteristics of both, with friends and the ability to have your own page, photo albums, as well as belonging to the group, but posts were in topics..

I much prefer forums too. It's much easier to find things under a thread rather then trawling through hundreds of irrelevant postings about nothing in particular or being pestered by people wanting to be your friend oe whatever. Belong to several forums on different subjects and only one facebook group which is for our village and great for the terminally nosy. :-)

The only thing I would be good on here is a 'like' button

I use FB reluctantly to keep in touch with other artists and with family and friends,  but it's so transient and to find something important is almost impossible.    I find myself not being bothered to find that elusive post and just giving up.    Don't know how people can stay connected to it 24/7

And twitter?    The name says it all really :-(

In addition,  most people don't seem to think at all before they post so they're full of pointless things like what they ate for dinner <yawn>

I didn't take it that the breeder wanted to be rude, but they are asked to turn a blind eye when there are people seeking advice etc when they don't appear to have the dogs best interests at heart.

Change is always difficult and for those with vast amounts of experience it must seem a bit tedious to be repeating the same info and have a site that was once mostly frequented by experienced doggy folk - But I guess that's why some members don't log on any more.

I do agree about being needlessly rude though.