Companion Events Committee Meeting Newark, NJ Members present: Larry Wilson (Chairman), Bob Amen, Ruth Crumb, Kitty Sarvinas, Gail LaBerge (Secretary), Betty Winthers, and Barbara Mann. Also attending was Doug Ljungren, AKC Vice President of AKC Sports and Events, who joined the meeting at 2:23 PM. Absent: Jack Cadalso, Joyce Dandridge, Maureen Setter, Jim Ashton and Dr. Carmen Battaglia, AKC Board Liaison See Attachment I for guests. The Chairman called the meeting to order at 1:00 PM. The Chair asked the Committee Members to introduce themselves. The Chair asked for a motion to accept the minutes as presented. Motion by Betty Winthers and seconded by Barbara Mann. Motion Passed. Report of Sub Committee on All Breed Clubs dropping offering Obedience/Rally: Chair: Ruth Crumb, Members: Bob Amen, Jack Cadalso and Barbara Mann The Chairman stated that the Committee had created a one-page survey to send out, but that there were only 10 clubs that were eligible to receive the survey based on 2015 numbers. The sub-committee felt this was not a large enough number. Ruth has asked staff if statistics are available for 2016 and 2017 to date. A discussion was held on which clubs to send to and who in the clubs should receive the survey. Ruth stated that the All Breed committee has offered a member to help with a survey. She stated that 20% of All Breed clubs offer obedience at their events, and a number have other clubs that do obedience at their events. Gail LaBerge recommended that the survey be sent to the Secretary and to the Delegate if a member club. Bob Amen felt the survey should go to more than one officer. Barbara Mann felt only one person should receive the survey. Betty asked for some clarity on what would be in the survey. Barbara Mann stated that there are several things we need answers to from the survey. Those are how many All Breed clubs have dropped obedience, why they have dropped obedience, and, for those clubs that do, why they have another club doing obedience at their show. Motion by Gail LaBerge to have the sub-committee move forward with the survey, Seconded by Bob Amen. Motion Passed. The Chairman will go through the appropriate channel to ask that AKC post the survey online.
Page Two Agility update: Tabled to next meeting to allow Jack Cadelso to prevent his report. Statistics Update on Companion Events from AKC Staff: The committee had a discussion on the Statistics. The Chairman gave a report on the upcoming Companion Events Nationals in Perry, Georgia. It is the largest entries for all three events in the history of the Championships. o National Agility Championship: 1,397 entries o National Obedience Championship: 140 entries o Rally National Championship: 400 entries Trick Dog Class: The Chairman stated that he felt this new class would be very successful. The Chairman was concerned about who in a club receives the information on new events. Achiever Dog Program: Carl Ashby, AKC Board of Directors Member, gave data on the drop out rate in Conformation. It is hoped that the Achiever Dog Program will help decrease the drop out rate in the Sport. The program will encourage exhibitors to try other AKC events. The program will be launched by AKC Staff and will be tried for one year at which time a survey will be conducted to measure the success of the program. This information will then be shared with the AKC Board of Directors.
Page Three AKC Disaster Relief Trailer Report: Ruth Crumb reported that 57 trailers have been delivered to 26 states. There has been One Million, One Hundred Thousand plus in donations. There are seven trailers being built. Trailers are designated for Oregon, Southern New York, Brevard County, Florida and St. Louis, MO. Scent Work: The new event called Scent Work was discussed. Bob Amen stated his club already offers 14 hours of instruction on Nose Work. Scent work will be placed under Performance Events. Gail LaBerge stated that Doug Ljungren had worked for two and a half years on getting Scent Work up and running. She also commented on clubs applying to offer trials. Barbara Mann had questions on some of the distractions. Doug Ljungren stated that the light blinking would be in a corner of the building; it would not be the overhead lights blinking. Barbara Mann asked why Scent Work was put in to the Performance Events and not Companion Events. Doug Ljungren stated it was debatable on where to place Scent Work but decided to position this as a modern day performance event. Clubs may apply starting May 1 to be licensed to offer Scent Work, with the first trials to start after October 1, 2017. Group stays and sits: A lengthy discussion on Sits and Downs in Obedience was held. Several members of the committee had asked their Club members to give their thoughts on sits and downs. Barbara Mann presented a discussion print out from her Club s members. There were very few incidents on Sits and Downs between 2007-2009. Doug Ljungren stated that the enacting of the recommendations from the Obedience Advisory Committee one and a half years ago seems to have helped. Those recommendations were to allow Novice dogs to keep their leash on, four feet between dogs and that a dog can be disqualified outside the ring if it is showing aggression. Doug stated that while a problem doesn t happen often there is a perception that Sits and Downs has an issue. Doug stated that Sits and Downs were on Pam Manaton s schedule, AKC Director of Obedience, to revisit during 2017. Her intent is to create a small advisory committee after the National Obedience Championships to look at this issue and possibly make some recommendations on ways to mitigate the issue.
Page Four A discussion concerning Sits and Downs followed among the members of the CEC. Barbara Mann wanted a cross section of those in the Sport on the committee. Kitty Sarvinas felt that if your dog could not stay, then you should not be entered in the class. Gail LaBerge felt there was a perception problem among the Sport that needs to be addressed. Gail is open to recommendations on changes. Bob Amen commented on the petition asking AKC to change sits and downs, and he also feels it is a perception problem. Betty Winthers feels it is a control problem, not the stays themselves. She feels they should be modified, maybe the length of time for the stays. Ruth Crumb presented information going back to 2007 concerning stays. Ruth presented information that was given to the committee at that time showing that there were very few incidents. Ruth stated she is a traditionalist and would like to see the stays remain but is keeping an open mind. Larry Wilson felt we needed to keep an open mind and look for the best solution. He felt the advisory committee was an excellent idea. He feels we need to wait and see what the advisory committee recommends Numbers for forming New Obedience Club: At this time it takes 30 households, same as Conformation, to be able to form a new obedience club. The rest of Companion Events only requires 20. A discussion followed on reducing the number of required households to 20 in order to form a new obedience club. Gail LaBerge, Ruth Crumb, Bob Amen, Betty Winthers, Barbara Mann, Kitty Sarvinas, and Larry Wilson are all in favor of reducing the requirement to 20 households. The consensus is that we should do all we can to encourage new clubs and interest. A question was asked of Doug Ljungren concerning territory. No new club would be able to form in the territory of a current club. A question was asked concerning expanding a club s current territory. Doug Ljungren recommended contacting AKC Club Relations with questions on Club territory expansion. Ruth Crumb explained how her club was able to expand their territory. If you have a good reason for wanting to expand and the geography is correct, then contact AKC Club Relations to request an expansion of territory. Closing Time for Trials: The request from the CEC to the AKC Board of Directors to allow closing time for Obedience and Rally Trials to be 11:59 PM on the closing date was presented to the AKC Board of Directors in February. The change is expected to be approved at the April AKC Board Meeting. The effect date for the new closing time to start would be May 1, 2017.
Page Five New Business: Bob Amen brought up that the AKC Board of Directors is devoid of those who understand Companion or Performance Events. He feels we need to talk with Board Members about supporting the Sport of Companion Events. He stated he would like to see obedience continue at the Westminster Dog Shows and hopes we can work on increasing the entries at that event. Barbara Mann stated that she would like for us to encourage all the AKC Board Members to attend a Companion Event. Bob Amen asked the question: What if it was a policy that AKC Board Members must attend events that they are not involved in to understand all the AKC Sports. Doug Ljungren does ask the members of the AKC Board of Directors frequently to attend events other than Conformation. The Chairman stated he feels that members of the CEC should speak to the AKC Board of Director s Members and ask them to attend Companion Events. Doug Ljungren handed out an article that Linda Ayers Turner Knorr, Delegate for Greenville KC, had written for Showsight Magazine on the different AKC events. Linda had received short articles by those involved in Performance and Companion Events to include in her article. Ruth Crumb informed the Committee that Jack Ward had passed away at 100 years old. Motion to adjourn made by Bob Amen, Seconded by Betty Winthers. The CEC adjourned at 3:20 PM on a motion by Bob Amen, Seconded by Betty Winthers. Respectfully Submitted By, Gail LaBerge CEC Secretary
AKC Delegate Standing Companion Events Committee Newark, NJ SIGN IN SHEET ATTACHMENT I Name Wanda H. Allen Carl Ashby Charlotte Borghardt Willie Crawford William E Ellis Adele Keyfel Deb Kreider Flo Laicher Larry Libeu Debbie Owen Patricia A. Sample Richard Su Club Saratoga NY KC United States Kerry Blue Terrier Club, Inc. Greater Sierra Vista Kennel Club Newnan KC Plum Creek KC of Colorado Yakima Valley Kennel Club Lakes Region KC Putnam KC Santa Maria KC Louisville KC Anderson Obedience Training Club Keeshond Club of America