Companion Events Committee Meeting December 14, 2017 Orlando, Florida

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1 Companion Events Committee Meeting December 14, 2017 Orlando, Florida Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 1:01 pm by Gail LaBerge, Committee Chair Committee Members in Attendance: Gail LaBerge (Chair), Barbara Mann (Secretary), Betty Winthers, Jack Cadalso, Robert Amen, Maureen Setter, Kitty Sarvinas, Joyce Dandridge, Ruth Crumb, Jim Ashton Absent: Larry Wilson Also present: Carmen Battaglia, Board Liaison and staff members Doug Ljungren, Executive Vice President for Sports and Events; Pam Manaton, Director of Obedience, Rally, and Tracking; and Carrie DeYoung, Director of Agility. Others: Other Delegates in attendance and their clubs are listed in Appendix I. Minutes: There were no corrections to the minutes of the September meeting, so they will stand as published. Staff Reports: The comprehensive staff report from Pam Manaton is attached to the minutes as Appendix II. Doug Ljungren, Pam, and Carrie DeYoung discussed the report and answered questions from committee members and other Delegates in attendance. Entries are down from the corresponding time period in 2016 over all Companion Events. Some possible influences were the Canine flu scare and the existence of many competing events, both those of the AKC and other venues. It s important that we continue to try and attract new exhibitors, especially young people. The Achiever dog program began as a one-year pilot program on December 1. It requires qualifying scores in 3 different sports, at least one of which must be earned after December 1. A list of the sports and requirements can be seen on the AKC Website by going to and clicking on the link for the Qualifying Competition Chart. There are some useful videos available on the AKC Website. Videos will be available soon about the new Obedience Novice and Open stay exercises. Rally videos all up on website and a new video demonstrates the ACT course. The video strategy is to create web content that will help in marketing our sport. Things that are in the pipeline: 1. Improve events search feature and allow clubs to post their premium lists on the site. 2. Education light videos that are intended to introduce people to AKC sports. 3. Links from videos will lead people to a training facility. Maureen Setter asked again that AKC club training facilities should get priority. A question was asked about whether MACH points in regular Agility can be moved to Preferred and used towards the PACH. That s in the pipeline and should be available soon.

2 Our committee will be one of the Delegate committees that will have input into future changes to Scentwork. In the first month of Scentwork trials, there were 5000 entries. Trick dog is also being very successful, with 300 title applications/week. Thirty percent of the first titles awarded were the first AKC title the exhibitor had earned. A new level, called Elite Performer, will be added, hopefully in June. Ruth Crumb asked if the AKC is trying to capture the people doing these new events and steer them into doing traditional obedience, rally, and agility. Doug said that staff is working on ways to do this. Report of the All-Breed Suggestions Subcommittee: Joyce Dandridge reported for this subcommittee, which also had members Betty Winthers and Jim Ashton. The subcommittee used the results of the recent survey of All Breed clubs to list recommendations for these clubs to make it easier for them to add or maintain Obedience as part of their shows. They identified the top 10 reasons that clubs either dropped Obedience or were considering dropping it. They then grouped the reasons into 3 general issues: Stewards, Expense, Declining Entries in Obedience, and brainstormed suggestions for addressing these issues. Several ideas were suggested by the committee and audience members, such as using senior citizens for stewards, paying stewards with vouchers that can go towards dues or classes, using delegate judges, local judges, and provisional judges to reduce expenses, assigning stewards to work only half days, having a conformation match in conjunction with an obedience trial, having a trick dog and CGC evaluation with a conformation show. Betty Winthers suggested that Ken Kincaid s video on training stewards should be made available on the AKC website. A sub-committee was formed to look at clubs that are always successful with their trials in the hopes of sharing this information with all clubs. Larry Wilson is the Chair and subcommittee members are Betty Winthers and Maureen Setters. The subcommittee will continue to collect ideas and formalize the categorized list of ideas for distribution to All-Breed Clubs. Yahoo group: Jack Cadalso is being added as a moderator. Barbara Mann pointed out that all Yahoo groups are owned by individuals. She is the owner of the Committee s group, but would like to pass it on to someone else. She will research how to do this. It was suggested that the committee needs to look into creating a Facebook page. Survey on Novice to Open. The current version of this survey will be circulated to the committee and will be on the March agenda. The meeting was adjourned at 3:28 pm. Respectfully submitted, Barbara L. Mann, Ph.D., Secretary

3 APPENDIX I Companion Events Delegate Committee December 14, 2017 Orlando, Florida Delegates Attending NAME Carl Ashby Jaimie Ashby Erica Behnke Noreen Bennett Roberta Berman Charlotte Borghardt Mary Curtis Deborah Duncan William Ellis Joyce Engle Jim Henshaw Deb Kreider Bonnie Lapham Gloria Marshall Kathie Moulton Barbara Norton Marg Pough Patricia A. Sample Diana Skibinski Laura Trainor CLUB United State Kerry Blue Terrier Club Carolina Kennel Club Queen City Dog Training Club LEAP Agility Club of Central Massachusetts American Manchester Terrier Club Greater Sierra Vista Kennel Club First Dog Training Club of Northern New Jersey Lawrence Jayhawk Kennel Club Plum Creek Kennel Club of Colorado Northeastern Maryland Kennel Club Mahoning-Shenango Kennel Club Lakes Region Kennel Club Glens Falls Kennel Club Bayshore Companion Dog Club Green Mountain Dog Club Upper Snake River Valley Dog Training Club Finger Lakes Kennel Club Anderson Obedience Training Club Lake Shore Kennel Club Susque-Nango Kennel Club

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