THE EIGHTY-EIGHTH REGULAR MEETING OF THE DELEGATE PARENT CLUB COMMITTEE September 11, 2015

Transcription

1 THE EIGHTY-EIGHTH REGULAR MEETING OF THE DELEGATE PARENT CLUB COMMITTEE September 11, 2015 The September 11, 2015 meeting of the Delegate Parent Club Committee was called to order by the Chairman, Pat Laurans, at 9:00 A.M., at the Doubletree by Hilton Newark Airport Hotel in Newark, New Jersey. Committee Members Present: Anne Bowes Connie Butherus Pat Laurans Karen Mays John Nielsen Betty Jo Patrick Peter Piusz Helen Prince Larry Sorenson Karen Spey Also Present: Bill Feeney Tom Powers Michael Liosis Lee Arnold Pat Cruz Charlie Garvin Alan Kalter Mark Dunn Guests: Michelle Anderson James Ashton Robert Bergman Gretchen Bernardi Harry Booker Lisa Boyer Bob Brown Suzanne Burgess Viola Burgos Becky Campbell Katie Campbell Karen Clausing Cindy Collins Sharon Collins Ann Mariah Cook Catherine Cooper Kathy Coxwell Ruth Crumb Margaret Di Corleto Marylyn DeGregorio Karen Dorn James Efron Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club of America Afghan Hound Club of America German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America Windward Hawaiian Dog Fanciers Association English Setter Association of America Schipperke Club of America Rottweiler Club of America Scottish Terrier Club of America Dachshund Club of America American Pointer Club AKC Board Liaison AKC Board Liaison AKC Staff Liaison AKC Board AKC Board AKC Board AKC Board AKC Staff Pug Club of America Obedience Training Cluyb of Rhode Island Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier Club of America Mississippi Valley Kennel Club Kennel Club of Philadelphia German Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association Great Pyrenees Club of America English Springer Spaniel Field Trial Association Naugatuck Valley Kennel Club Mastiff Club of America Basenji Club of America Miniature Pinscher Club of America Genesee County Kennel Club English Cocker Spaniel Club of America Siberian Husky Club of America Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Club Bearded Collie Club of America Mt. Vernon Dog Training Club The Chow Chow Club Taconic Hills Kennel Club Dandie Dinmont Terrier Club of America Nashville Kennel Club 1

2 Mary Ellen Eschweiler Sally Fineburg Mary Ellen Fishler Nancy Fisk Bryant Freeman Anne Gallant Deidre Gannon Lynn Garvin JoEllen Gregory Kathy Gregory Sandra Haber Don Hanson Keith Hanson Susan Hamil Steven Hersey Mike Houchard Ann Hubbard Eugenia Hunter John Ioia Don James Sara Karl Gary Koeppel Gail LaBerge Stacey LaForge Sanda Launey Karen Luckey Colleen McDaniel Jack McDaniel Mary McDaniel Betty McDonnell Aleta Moore Vivian Moran Harvey Mohrenweiser Ruth Ann Naun Bob Newcomb Dick Nosiglia Bev Nosiglia Jeannette O Hanlon Patricia Peel Billie Ponton Richard Rohrbacher John Ronald Doug Rapport Cathy Rubens Norma Ryan Pat Sarles Kenny Saenz Joan Savage Ereign Seacord Nance Olson Skoglund Lynn Worth Smith Monica Stoner Waukesha Kennel Club Hatboro Dog Club Poodle Club of America Hockamock Kennel Club Clumber Spaniel Club of America Peteit Basset Griffon Vendeen Club of America German Pinscher Club of America Marion Ohio Kennel Club Otterhound Club of America Port Chester Obedience Training Club Mohawk Valley Kennel Club American Lhasa Apso Club Bichon Frise Club of America Shoreline Dog Fanciers Association Skye Terrier Club of America Conyers Kennel Club French Bulldog Club of America Irish Wolfhound Club of America Southern Adirondack Dog Club Leonberger Club of America Bernese Mountain Dog Club of America Parson Russell Terrier Association of America Atlanta Obedience Club Tibetan Terrier Club of America Bassett Hound Club of America Spinone Club of America Whidby Island Kennel Club Irish Water Spaniel Club of America Lakeland-Winter Haven Kennel Club Norwich Terrier Club of America Airedale Terrier Club of America Cardigan Welsh Corgi Club of America Standard Schnauzer Club of America Border Terrier Club of America Bulldog Club of America St. Bernard Club of America Kanadasaga Kennel Club Staffordshire Terrier Club of America Alaskan Malamute Club of the US Northwestern Connecticut Dog Club Welsh Springer Spaniel Club of America Samoyed Club of America Irish Terrier Club of America Fayetteville Kennel Club Columbia Terrier Association of Maryland Twin Brooks Kennel Club Chihuahua Club of America Portland Kennel Club Welsh Terrier Club of America Gordon Setter Club of America Viszla Club of America Saluki Club of America 2

3 Maggie Strouse Rick Su Chris Sweetwood Judy Tighe Dianne Tyree Bob Urban Bruce Van Deman Sally Vilas Lori Webster Larry Wilson Maggie Witwer National Shiba Club of America Keeshond Club of America Trap Falls Kennel Club Americaqn Brittany Club Tibetan Spaniel Club of America American Black and Tan Coonhound Club English Toy Spaniel Club of America American Shih Tzu Club Norwegian Elkhound Association of America Philadelphia Dog Training Club Puli Club of America Committee members and Guests introduced themselves. On a motion by Connie Butherus, the minutes of the June 7, 2015 meeting were approved as printed. Candidates for election to the Parent Club Committee gave brief resumes of their involvement in the sport. Parent Club Delegate L: Those who have not already done so were encouraged to contact John Nielsen or Peter Piusz to sign up for the list. Parent Club Conference L: This list provides a venue for people to express their clubs concerns and a means of communication between clubs. You can join by contacting John or Peter. CGC Title Numbers, Mike Liosis: September 1 st we are up to 35,500. At the June meeting it was announced there were 31,800 titles. As of Parent Club Legislative Liaisons, Anne Bowes: Anne read Sheila Goffe s report that stated, As of August, 2015 we have 60 Parent Club Legislative Liaisons who have joined the Yahoo group. 78 members had indicated interest in the group and invitations have been sent on three occasions. Anyone wishing to participate should contact AKC Government Relations at doglaw@akc.org or so that an invitation to the group can be ed. AKC Government Relations regularly posts our legislative alerts and other items of interest to the group. A few additional posts have been started by legislative liaison members and those have been received well, generating good discussion and feedback among members. Participation seems to be limited to a small number of individuals who do the majority of the posting and commenting. We are not sure if this is because many of these same people are involved in other legislative forums including the AKC GR Facebook discussion group. AKC Government Relations welcomes feedback that will enhance the value of this group and asks what content participants would like to see and what information the group would deem valuable. They ask if some type of discussion group other than Yahoo (such as Facebook) would generate more interest. John Ronald, Samoyed Club of America, feels being able to post your opinion on a media site can become problematic. If one is not knowledgeable to know if they are private messaging they could incur lawsuits. There might be an opportunity for the Parent Club Committee to do best practices on how to use social media to serve our clubs whether this is Facebook, the Internet, or Yahoo groups. With respect to getting more members, his club would like to be more participatory but a lot of members do not know how to use this. Ruth Ann Naun, Border Terrier Club of America, feels the E-list of people who serve as Legislative Liaisons is a good forum for those people who are on it to have a dialog about this. She trusts there is already a method by which the President of the club Board can have an update as to whether or not the member who is their liaison is a member of the E-list. This way the club president will know if their liaison is involved and informed. Gail LaBerge, Atlanta Obedience Club, stated she is a member, but is not getting the information. She will contact Sheila Goffe and suggest that invitations be sent out again to the parent clubs to make sure they know this exists because this process may be falling between the cracks. 3

4 Parent Club Rescue Alliance, Peter Piusz: The Parent Club Rescue Alliance has a similar problem. We have 240 Rescue Organizations that are part of the Rescue Alliance. We have about 217 that we have sent invitations to that have not responded. We ve picked up about 7% over the last quarter. Trying to entice these people is a problem. There are two projects they have been working on to stimulate the group. One is to improve their insurance coverage. Dennis has said that the AKC would help with this once there is a definition of what they are trying to achieve in terms of their insurance coverage. The other side comes out of the AKC Marketplace. Chris Walker was quite open saying that there would be a place for purebred rescue on the AKC Marketplace. Since that has disappeared no one really knows what will happen. Peter expects to have this on our agenda for the December meeting because, if the AKC uses the rescue to call it the AKC Rescue Network, the Marketplace would be a good place to do this. How to do it is open to discussion. There needs to be something more than what is currently being done. At one point your parent club has identified those groups that are qualified to be on the AKC Rescue Network. Dock and Crop, Peter Piusz: This is our slow time of the year. There is no legislation out there. Patti Klecan is not at the meeting and she was to talk about Dock and Crop in Canada. There is not an alternate program so it will be a very quick meeting at the same time as the Coordinating Committee. Parent Clubs and AKC.org, Peter Piusz: This particular issue came out of what we all saw with the Marketplace. The expectation was that each parent club would have their own store or web site on the AKC Marketplace which was not linked to their parent club web site. Since Chris Walker is gone the Marketplace has disappeared for now and none of us really know where we are as parent clubs, what we re supposed to do. The idea behind having a separate web site on akc.org was that the AKC could use its vast data base to promote more events directly through the store. Jeanette O Hanlan, American Staffordshire Terrier Club of America, contacted the AKC Communications Department in August because their National Specialty is in three weeks and they are sending s to anyone who has registered an American Staffordshire Terrier in the last two years. They got right back with her and said they would be happy to do this. Pat Laurans added that this is a very necessary item that has to happen and she asked that Bill Feeney and Tom Powers bring this issue of each parent club having a separate store back to the Board and give thanks to each staff member who is willing and able to contact all the people who have registered a specific breed. She asked who the breed clubs should contact. Peter stated that all parent clubs have spent serious money on their web sites and there needs to be some kind of link. Information on who to contact should be sent to Peter Piusz to place on the Parent Club Delegate List. Parent Club Health Statements for Online Classifieds, Peter Piusz: There was an that went out about the Code of Ethics Guidelines. For those that want a copy you can go to the Delegate Portal to PDF s and access the guidelines. Another will be sent out to the Parent Club Delegate List. The Committee has received two more responses from Beaucerons and Border Terriers and this brings us up to 98 parent clubs that have submitted health statements. They have also heard from Curly-Coated Retrievers, West Highland White Terriers, Labrador Retrievers and Bernese Mountain Dogs who are working on theirs but we do not have an actual statement from them. Connie Butherus requested that they be used as submitted by each the Parent Club Boards and not edited down. How this started was through the On-Line Breeders Classifieds. The Committee felt that when people are looking at breeds there should be a pop-up that list the health concerns for that breed. The concept is that they wanted the clubs Board of Directors to explain what they see as testing that should be done for their breed. This is not to set a standard. It is to educate the public so that when they are buying a certain breed they know what to ask the breeder. Parent Club health testing requirements and recommendations as submitted by parent club letters from their Board of Directors will be the ultimate standard. It is an educational tool. Bred With Heart started after that and Mark Dunn is going to talk about this. Jack McDaniel, Irish Water Spaniel Club of America, stated AKC does not recommend a Code of Ethics. Mike Liosis stated AKC does not approve a club s Code of Ethics and leaves this to individual clubs to send to club members for a vote. Some clubs refer to this as a Code of Conduct or Recommended Practices. Harvey Mohrenweiser, Standard Schnauzer Club of America, stated there is an excellent web site which addresses a great deal of issues and gives a specific definition of the difference between a Code of Ethics, a Code of Conduct and a 4

5 Code of Practices which will help to educate you regarding the differences. Sara Karl, Bernese Mountain Dog Club of America, said we have CHIC, we have Bred with Heart and we have the project Peter is working on. Every one of them has different requirements and she wondered why they can t all be the same. Charlie Garvin explained it is up to each club to decide what they want to include. Many clubs require their members to sign their code of ethics when they pay their dues. Parent Club of Excellence Program, Connie Butherus for Larry Sorenson: Since the June meeting there have been several more submissions. There will be an additional reminder to the clubs that have not responded. At this point they have had several Conference Calls evaluating the information they have. Connie encouraged more clubs to participate. Out of 160 breeds only 40 have responded. Special Coordinating Committee Meeting, Pat Laurans: Pat announced that last night the Chairmen of the Coordinating Committee had an open and productive meeting with Ron Menaker, Chairman of the Board; Dennis Sprung, President and CEO; and Carl Ashby the Vice Chair. A lot of topics were brought up. There was an openness and willingness to hear one another and to hopefully work with one another. One of the topics that was brought up is something that is coming forth from the By-Laws Committee that deals with judges being able to charge a minimal fee which has been set at $ over and above expenses. It will be read and then voted upon at another meeting. There was a vote of the Coordinating Committee and all committee chairs, with the exception of one abstention, supported this proposal and Pat was asked to report back to this meeting. This type of meeting is productive in terms of communicating and working together. Best Practices to Increase Club Participation and Membership: No report. There will be a presentation at the next meeting. Breeder of Merit, Peter Piusz: We, as parent clubs, want to know who our Breeders of Merit are. AKC told us they can t do that because they didn t keep that information. The concept was that the AKC Staff would do a survey of the 11,000 Breeders of Merit and that would apply to parent club members. Out of this survey they received 1,126 responses. There are 11 questions: Name, Litters per Year. Zero litters per year was 6%. One to three was 66%. Four to six was 20%, Seven to twelve was 6%. Thirteen plus was 1%. Question four was, Are You a Member of Your Primary Breed s Parent Club? 1,028 was yes and 8.7% was no. They were asked to select their parent club of which 985 people answered. They were asked if they had a secondary breed. 1,080 answered. Yes was 298 which was 27.6%. The next question asked Are you a member of the parent club of your secondary breed? 152 yes, 141 no. Almost 53% said yes. Next asked was if you are a member of a parent club for breeds you are actively breeding? 1,077 answered, 76 said yes, which is 07%. The last questioned the primary reason for your answer to question 10? Previously involved with the breed was 43 and interest in the breed was 41. Several meeting attendees indicated they were active breeders and had not received the survey. Don Rapport indicated this survey was not identified as coming from AKC. It came out on Survey Monkey. Peter will place the information he currently has on the Parent Club Delegate List. Mari Beth O Neill is working on how we will handle the data. It s just a question of when. Mike Houchard, Conyers Kennel Club, asked that SKC consider trademarking the term, Breeder of Merit. AKC H.E.A.R.T. Program, Mark Dunn and Bill Feeney: There is a really good article in Perspectives that everyone should read. It goes heavily into the education part of the program. The program is a new way for AKC to engage, encourage and recognize breeders who meet your parent club specific health testing standards and continuing education. Breeders have to do all of the parent club health recommendations for the breed they sign up for, they have to agree to pursue continuing breeder education to stay current on the best breeding practices including advances in canine health, and they have to submit to AKC Care and Conditions Policies which includes inspections by the AKC and inspections of their health paperwork. AKC has trained inspectors who have spent time with Eddie Dzuik to learn how to interrogate and determine what is correct for the 28 DNA tests and the approximately 20 other health tests. The other thing to think about with inspections is that all these breeders have to have a disaster plan which a lot of breeders haven t thought about and have to be prepared for. Since we already have Breeder of Merit, why do we have to have this? If you look at the 250,000 liters that were bred in 2014, 18% 5

6 came from Breeders of Merit of people who have been identified through the AKC Marketing System as Breeder of Merit candidates. Then there are the commercial breeders that are identified in two ways. One, they have a licensed USDA number or they are producing more than 7 litters annually and they are not a Breeder of Merit. They are not a fancier by definition. That group in 2014 produced 13% of our litters. That leaves 69% of these other breeders. These are people who may show dogs occasionally but they have not risen to the level of being qualified to be Breeders of Merit. Many of them may only have bred one litter or are just starting to breed. Because they are not members of clubs AKC does not have a lot of engagement with them and they produce the vast majority of our litters. How do we engage, encourage and recognize this group of breeders? They are not classified as commercial since their volume is so low. AKC wants to recognize the ones that go down a more responsible path. There have been 400 who have signed up in the last six or eight weeks. Of these 57% are in the casual market. They do have some commercial breeders who have signed up. This is not a commercial breeder outreach, but if a commercial breeder makes that same commitment, the inspectors will check to see they are in conformity. Thirty-three percent of sign-ups are Breeders of Merit or Breeder of Merit candidates. Almost 100 of the breeders who have signed up have been inspected. Everyone started somewhere and we need to pull these people in the right direction. Applicants must attend annually an AKC approved breeder seminar. Free education is placed on AKC.org. Both of Claudia Orlandi s books are on there as courses. You do not have to pay but, if you wish, you can pay $25.00 and take a test to get a certificate. If you log into the site, AKC will know you went there and took a class. Ninety-four people in the past six weeks have paid $25.00 and taken the test. The test is almost 300 questions. The language is identical in Breeder of Merit and Bred with Heart. The health testing requirements were put together by staff. If what your club sees on their page does not correspond with your club s health requirements and you feel there is an error, contact Mari Beth O Neill. Staff is not going to decide this test is more important than that test. If your club has ten requirements they are going to list ten. Parent clubs are going to control what the health testing requirements are. Another point of misinformation is that it is not AKC Staff s job to tell a breeder which dog they should or should not breed. Parent Clubs have the obligation to manage and develop their standards and their breed. We have an obligation to communicate this to puppy buyers. We want to educate people who are searching for a purebred puppy and what to expect from a breeder. John Nielsen moved that the Parent Club Health Testing Requirements and Recommendations as submitted by parent club letters from their Board of Directors will be the ultimate standard. The motion was seconded by Helen Prince and passed. Mark Dunn will take this verbiage back to the Board. Joellen Gregory, Otterhound Club of America, expressed a concern that as club Boards change, the new Board may have a different opinion. How often is this going to change? Larry Sorenson stated the club has elected their Board to represent them. If the club needs to make a change due to new discoveries or new testing, a new letter can be sent to AKC. Kenny Saenz, Chihuahua Club of America, noted these sound like good programs, but they are unregistered programs. Anyone can claim membership. What is AKC doing to familiarize the American public with these programs or are these programs designed just for us? Mark Dunn explained they are doing the legal work to secure this and they have the ability to tell people not to use them. They can send out a cease and desist if they want to. On the consumer side, first they want to talk to breeders and make sure they understand the program. But next, they want to educate consumers. They are working on improving the web site and improving their ability to reach out to dog lovers. The new Market Place will play a role in this where consumers can google the AKC web site and see the health testing requirements and understand what Breeder of Merit is and what role Bred with Heart has. Judges Approval, Charlie Garvin: As a part of the Judging Approval process the AKC Board endorsed the concept of going forward with the AKC Canine College. Ten months ago they developed a prototype that showed a simulated judging experience that was shared with the Board and was very well received. However, there are some manpower issues on the AKC Staff and some employees left who were involved with the project. The Board has reconfirmed that this is a priority and they will be moving forward. AKC has posted a position to hire an Education Project Coordinator who will have as one of their jobs to focus on this project. There will be other things this person will be doing and included in the job description is coordinating with parent clubs. One of the concepts they would like to develop is to have an on-line library that will let people go to one place on the AKC web site that is easy to 6

7 find where you can get the education that links to parent club educational efforts that brings it all together. If you think about how much education is involved in what AKC does, they want to be the fount of all knowledge about dogs. Whether it is learning about how to be the best breeder, learning how to judge a specific breed, or learning how to be a steward for the National Owner Handled Series, they want to make it easy to learn what you want to know. If you are interested in the Education Project Coordinator position, look on the AKC web site for job opportunities and, if you know of someone who might be good for this job, encourage your friends to do so. Pet Disaster Trailer Program, Pat Laurens: Two years ago at this meeting AKC Reunite officially launched the AKC Pet Disaster Relief Trailer Project. As of last week, they have raised $1,031, Thirty trailers have been delivered. Pat has a map of where the delivered trailers are, where the 9 trailers that are almost ready to be delivered are, and where the 21 groups are working together to obtain more trailers. It has been a fantastic effort and Pat thanked every club and every individual who has made this successful. She has one request and that is the need to get into the corporate world. There was a letter sent out by Ruth and Sidney Marx asking that if you had any ideas of some corporate connection or some business connection that might be a contact to participate in this program, this would be wonderful! As of this date they have had zero responses. Katie Campbell, Basenji Club of America, worked with an Invisible Fence Company for their National Specialty who gave matching funds for a trailer for their event. She has been working with local specialty clubs and if they Pony up $ they will match this. There may be an angel donor and they will match these funds. Pat asked Katie to send a prototype of this to Tom Sharpe as this might be something that would prove useful in other areas. Kenny Saenz agreed it is a great idea to contact the corporate world but asked what incentive they would have to participate as a sponsor. Pat explained they will get their logo on a trailer and receive good PR through this. With each trailer there is a PR moment that goes in the newspapers, local TV, etc. Kenny suggested that a packet be devised that would go out to the people who are actively soliciting for trailer donations so that information is at hand to give to potential sponsors. A lot of companies have Community Outreach in their budgets so you might not get a donation until this is worked into their budget for next year. Outreach to Parent Clubs in Sporting and Hound Groups, Connie Butherus and John Nielsen: John stated the participation in this experiment is very discouraging. There seems to be considerably less interest on the part of the breed clubs. Connie added what they are trying to accomplish is to point out to parent clubs that there is a world of activities in which their breeds can participate other than conformation. They are being encouraged to revamp the brochure that goes out to the registrants and to have a section that lists the various activities in which they can be involved. Doing a survey of the brochures that exist at this point was very disappointing in terms of content. Contact information was outdated. This is the first step, but Connie has only received two responses to date. On Site Show Secretaries at Specialty Shows: Postponed until the December Meeting since Karen Burgess is not here. Certificate of Merit Proposal 4 to 6 Month Class and Awarding of CH Points; Pat Laurans: Peter Piusz read Pat Lauran s comments regarding the Certificate of Merit proposal. She feels there is value to the proposal and that it ultimately should be passed since it brings in new exhibitors at the puppy level. Jim Crowley has indicated there has been a decline of 37% over the past ten years. Pat believes increasing the number of exhibitors at the puppy level is very important because, hopefully, many of them will continue on in the sport. She does, however, have a big problem with and dog or bitch achieving a title without ever having defeated another dog of their own breed. As the proposal is written, a dog or bitch could compete at 15 shows with no competition and get the CM Title. In 2014, 72% of the puppy classes were singleton entries. This makes it evident that it could be probable that many dogs and bitches under the proposal as it is now written could get the title with no competition in their own breed. At the Delegate Meeting Pat plans to suggest that the vote be tabled and that the Board and Staff re-visit the topic and look at this section. She hopes that they would consider that only 8 points be allowed to be earned as a singleton entry. If the proposal to table is not successful she plans to ask that the question be divided so that we vote on the sections independently. After last night s meeting with Ron, Dennis and Carl Pat has adjusted this. There seems to be three issues. The first issue is the name of the title, Certificate of Merit. There is already a CM Title in another area. At our Nationals we do Awards of Merit. There was a suggestion that this be changed to a Certificate 7

8 of Achievement and Carl Ashby indicated he did not have a problem with this. He is the person on the Board who has been the most vocal about this project. Being able to get this certificate by paying the entry fee at 15 shows and spending the money to travel to 15 shows represents quite an investment. Pat has reduced the number of shows where she thinks a puppy would have to have competition. Pat s third issue is that this becomes a suffix. In all of the other allowed suffixes the dogs has to have achieved something and this is a way to identify that there has been a good effort made. How do we feel about this? She is asking for a discussion on these three points. Carl has suggested Pat just go after an amendment at the meeting and if there is enough support just getting it done. Would a Certificate of Achievement be equal or maybe even preferable? Karen Spey, American Pointer Club, moved that the title name be called a Certificate of Achievement. The motion was seconded by Larry Sorenson and passed. Peter feels what we are proposing is changing this into something else and it needs to go back to the Board. He moved that the Parent Club Committee recommends that this be sent back to the Board with our suggestions for further study. The motion was seconded by Connie Butherus and passed. As a committee we have identified that we are comfortable with the title Certificate of Achievement. If, after checking, there is another title called CA, Carl Ashbey suggested this could be called a COA title. Pat hopes the Board will consider the comments made at today's meeting. She started out thinking the program is valuable. We are losing puppies in competition and it is hoped this would bring them back to the shows. With the prevailing feeling, if we took a vote on this tomorrow it would be defeated. This will hopefully preserve it. Karen Spey, American Pointer Club, stated that, as printed, this still includes 1 point towards a championship and this is the biggest problem with the proposal. Pat explained this has been officially withdrawn. This will be excluded at tomorrow s meeting. Carl Ashbey explained that this point schedule already exists in FSS breeds. The third issue is the suffix title that would go in the catalog with the dog s name versus a Certificate of Achievement. Mike Houchard, Conyers Kennel Club, would prefer that this not be a suffix. There are currently too many suffixes recognized. Carl stated we are trying to accomplish two things. One is to attract new people and give them a reason to compete. The other is for new people to be mentored by people already in the fancy. Only 7% of dogs finish their championship while they are puppies. Archives Project, Helen Prince: There were seven who volunteered to be on this committee. There were about 25 clubs that responded including the clubs of committee members. The two questions asked were: 1) How to go about collecting club materials, trophies and other things from club members and 2) How to store and reserve these materials. Committee members were asked to provide input from their own clubs and a request went out on the AKC Delegate-L for input from other Delegates. Suggestions included sending out requests via club magazines and/or newsletters and on club websites on a regular basis that your club is seeking this kind of material. Request that regional clubs send information on a regular basis..keep an inventory of items and where they are stored. For files and minutes use a cloud system. The complete committee report will be posted on the Parent Club Delegate- L and the committee will continue working on this. Modification re: Allowing Existing Clubs to Become Licensed to Hold Companion Events; Pat Laurans: There has been a modification that will allow existing clubs to become licensed to hold Companion Events. This is a process that is going to allow this to happen faster. Peter Piusz read what has been said in terms of this. This is being done through a Mentored Event Program. Under this program licensed or member AKC clubs will provide the Companion Events Department with a current membership list and officer list identifying the experience of the members within the club pertaining to the sport in which they would like to add licensing. If the membership in the club experience is sufficiently determined by the Companion Events Department the club will be approved to hold licensed trials on a mentored basis without having to hold a Sanctioned A event first. They will place a referral on the clubs internal AKC record if the club is on a mentored status with this sport being added. Mike Liosis added what they want to do is encourage clubs to add events that they are eligible for and rather than going through the usual process of holding a Sanctioned A Match to qualify, what the Mentored Program does is allow a club to hold a Companion Event which is a Mentored Licensed Event. Rather than holding an A Match where the competitors do not receive any credit for anything, by holding a Mentored Licensed Event the club is using it to qualify for continued licensing of that event and the folks participating get credit for anything they do at them. For the record, 8

9 they have been doing this with a few clubs over the past few years with no problems. Pat expressed that this is a wonderful move that will help our clubs. Breed Historical Reference; Peter Piusz: Peter announced the AKC published this statement: Questions have arisen regarding modification into the history of particular breeds of purebred dogs. The AKC will make no changes to breed historical references in its records unless there is a formal documented and substantiated request made by the applicable AKC parent club. Any decision regarding the changes to historical breed references will be handled on a case by case basis when the request is received from the parent club. This statement was written to assuage the concern of some breed clubs given the FCI s decision to change the historical breed reference of Tibetan breeds, the Chinese breeds, based on a request by the Chinese Kennel Club. They wanted to make it clear that we would not be following suit. Any changes would have to be determined by the parent clubs. There is no process to review the historical breed references at this time. The historical reference is based on its country of origin. For example, a Finnish Spitz can have its history and country of origin changed to say Amsterdam but still be called a Finnish Spitz if the club so chooses. Future Parent Club Conferences, Pat Laurans: Due to time constraints this topic will be placed on the next agenda. AKC Marketplace- Discussion of Changes as AKC Marketplace Replaces On-Line Classified, Peter Piusz: When we were talking about the AKC on-line Breeder Classifieds we asked them to change the rankings of puppies, the classification of what you follow if you are selling puppies, from 3 to 5. Before acting on that, the Market Place came out where you have Breeders of Merit and everybody else. There were no other distinctions. The Board has decided that now they will have Breeders of Merit, Breeders with Heart, members of AKC clubs and all others. What that means from a parent club point of view is your parent club qualifications, whatever you want to say about yourself as a member of the club or anything else, is on-line. Basically what it is going to show is pictures of the puppies and the text when they click on it. Obviously we have to see how this works. Free Grooming Requirements at Parent Club National Specialties Letter BMDC, Pat Laurans and Sara Karl: Up to this point we have all been required to provide 25% free grooming space at our National Specialties and in some instances it has been very costly. The Bernese Mountain Dog Club wrote a letter to Pat that was passed on to Alan Slay and his department. As a result, there has been a change that was sent to the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of America. Pat asked if this worked for their club and they said absolutely. Peter read what was going to happen for all the parent clubs. In July 2012, the Board passed a grooming space policy in response to numerous complaints from exhibitors regarding a lack of free grooming space, particularly at national specialties. The policy states a club is required to provide a reasonable amount of free grooming/crating space of equal desirability. Operations determined a reasonable to be 25% of the total grooming space must be free. In addition, a club is required to submit a grooming space plan for approval by the Event Operations Department. Since the passage of this policy there have been very few complaints from exhibitors. Based on his experience in administrating the policy it s the departments belief that requiring the clubs to submit a grooming space plan is unnecessary. It is the department s intent to recommend a change of policy to the Board in October. Clubs are doing a good job of balancing their financial needs while being considerate of their exhibitors needs. Clubs will be responsible for determining the amount of free grooming that is reasonable for their exhibitor base. If Event Operations becomes aware of a club being unreasonable in their implementation of this policy we will directly address the matter with the club. This will be on a case by case basis. This will be going to the Board and will apply to all-breed clubs as well. It is not going to require that you pay $12, as the Bernese Mountain Dog Club had to do for 25% of the space. They are going to do it on a reasonable basis if the Board approves it. Pat thanked Sara Karl and the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of America for making this happen. Showing Spayed and Neutered Dogs, Peter Piusz and Pat Laurans: Passed to the next meeting. 9

10 On a motion by Anne Bowes, the meeting was adjourned at 11:28. Respectfully submitted, Karen Mays, Windward Hawaiian Dog Fanciers Association Secretary 10