Jagdgebrauchshundverband (JGHV)

The Jagdgebrauchshundverband e.V. – JGHV for short – was founded in 1899 and is the umbrella association for working hunting dogs in Germany. Its motto still sits beneath the logo: “Zur Jagd den brauchbaren Hund” – a capable dog for the hunt. Its member clubs include breed clubs, working dog clubs, district groups and district hunting associations; the state hunting associations and clubs abroad are associated.

That is a lot for jghv.de to carry: exam dates and judge training, news from the association, the annual assembly, documents to download – and above all the answer to who is responsible for what. Board, committees, regional associations, assessors: these details change all the time, and the association already keeps them in its own data. Maintaining them by hand on the website as well would mean doing the work twice – and the constant risk of an outdated address somewhere.

Our work together began in 2019 with a maintenance contract on the Business package. At the time, jghv.de ran on Joomla 3. We kept Joomla and its extensions up to date, stored weekly backups externally, protected the site with a firewall and checked it four times a year for security and six times for display.

On top came the tasks an association has all year round: adding new PDF files, replacing old ones. In November 2022 we removed Google Fonts from jghv.de and then scanned the whole website once more, so that no font is loaded from Google’s servers any longer.

The rebuild started in 2024. From April, the new website took shape on our project server, with Joomla 5 and YOOtheme Pro, plus extensions for custom fields, filters, tables and imports. We matched the header to the layout of the association’s publications: the round logo with the dog, the name with the founding year 1899 and the motto on a strong green.

Before the first line of code, we agreed with the association on the table format of the data and researched the API behind it. Then we built the imports that bring the data straight into the Joomla database.

For visitors this means: board, committees, regional associations and contacts appear on the website exactly as the association keeps them. For the association it means: a change is made in one place, not two.

Until the launch, the new website ran with us; hosting and maintenance of the project server were in our hands. At the end of September 2024 we compared the content of the old and the new website. In February 2025 we moved jghv.de to the association’s server, fixed problems with the import along the way, checked the latest news once more and supported the team by phone.

The news goes back a long way: the news section now holds 299 posts since 2014.

What began in 2022 with saying goodbye to Google Fonts holds for the new website too. On 9 October 2026 we measured the home page, on desktop and on a phone: on the first visit, before any consent, it connects to not a single third-party server. The three font files come from its own server, and only one cookie is set – by jghv.de itself.

Measured on 9 October 2026 on jghv.de, home page, one run without cache – with the same result on desktop and phone.

Under “Termine” visitors find the exam dates for VGP, HZP, VStP and VPS, the judge training courses and the seminars for trainee judges – each as a PDF with the date it was last updated. The member clubs are neatly grouped, from breed clubs to associated clubs abroad. Service, information, the annual assembly and the sponsors complete the site, and the search sits at the top right.

Since the move we have kept developing jghv.de step by step: new users, a corrected menu order, the members of the animal welfare working group. Since April 2025 the list of recommended training leaders has a new sort order and shows postcode and town instead of the phone number. In November 2025 we turned a presentation into images and rebuilt the template so that either a gallery or a slideshow can be chosen. 2026 brought a new breed and the scheduled imports.

Seven years after the first maintenance contract, jghv.de is an association website that draws its contacts from the association’s own data and grows a little with every new requirement – maintained in one place, visible wherever it is needed.