In this issues3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/americankennelclub/...tees, and on our jam-packed committee meeting days, have to give up their lunch time to attend. As with all other members

Editorialby Dan Smyth, Esq.

AKC Adds New “Urban Dog” Title by Mary R. Burch, PhDAKC introduces Urban Dog CGC and enhances theCGC program’s training options.

WOOFtale: A Conversation with ChrisWalker by Don JamesThe new AKC website is creating a new footprint in socialmedia and generating a lot of buzz.

Downton AKC by Dan Smyth, EsqIt’s time to change our cultural approach and welcomeoutsiders into our sport.

Knowing Our Client Base by Monica StonerKnowing who our customers are, keeping them engaged,and changing the way we do business.

Novice-Only Obedience Events by Gail LaBerge and Larry WilsonThe successful experience of three clubs with Novice OnlyObedience events is shared.

Blind Dog Pointing by Don BrownConscientious breeder recounts the tale of a blind dog whodoes what comes naturally.

How We Got Here by Vivian MoranHow are delegates chosen by clubs and who pays the bills?

Strange Bedfellowsby Don James and Karen BurgessAn unlikely partnership is forged between dog cluband animal control.

Getting to Know You…Kimberly Washingtonby Sylvia ThomasIntroduction to one of our newest members and afresh perspective.

Attracting Newcomers to the Joy ofConformationby Ted HollanderIntroducing the benefits of our sport to a new generationand promoting the Novice class with a different twist.

The Obedience Advisory Committee,75 Years Oldby Robert AmenThe work of the OAC started in the mid 1930’s continuestoday.

Canine Good Citizen Meetups: BoostAwareness, Goodwill, and Media Buzzby Mara BovsunMeetups are an opportunity to meet face-to-face, shareenthusiasm for dogs, and attract new people to AKC.

Time for a Strategic Planby Nick PisiasThe development of a mission and a strategic plan arecritical steps to take the AKC into an uncertain future.

Highlights of Newly Recognized Breedsby Deidre Gannon, Esq.Meet the four newest breeds to join the Herding, Workingand Hound Groups.

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The Delegates’ Newsletter

Volume 28, No. 2 June 2015

In this issue…

Page 2

Perspectives WRITERS’ GUIDELINES

Thank you for your interest in contributing to Perspectives.Following are guidelines we ask our contributors to follow.They simplify our jobs as editors and yours as writers andhelp us produce a quality publication while enabling us toget Perspectives out on time.•Write for your audience. Perspectives is prepared byand for AKC Delegates who represent a wide variety ofmember clubs through the country. Our readers arevery knowledgeable dog people.

• Be certain that any facts in your article are accurate.Double-check them. Clearly state when a statement is yourown opinion.

• Whenever possible and appropriate, try to includeinput/quotes from others who are experts on yourtopic. Always attribute any quote to its original source.

• Articles should be submitted typewritten or elec-tronically, via e-mail. Solicited articles should be sent tothe committee member who requested the article. Unso-licited articles should be submitted to the Issue Coordina-tor for the upcoming issue OR the Editor.

•We suggest articles be approximately 500 to1500 words in length.

• Do not rely solely on spelling and grammar check, asthey do not proof word usage. After preparing yourarticle, read it once more before submitting it. Usea dictionary to check word meaning and spelling.

• Send in your article electronically, as early as pos-sible. Submissions will be due by the 15th of the monthfollowing each Delegates Meeting. If your article arrivesafter the issue deadline, it will likely not be used in thecurrent issue and may be returned to you or held untilthe next issue.

• A submission to Perspectives may not be reproduced inother publications without the written permission ofthe author and the Perspectives Editor.

• Any product in the name of a committee must be ap-proved for release by the committee prior to publicationin Perspectives.

Again — thank you for your interest. Without you, therewould not be a Perspectives.

EDITORIAL BOARD

Perspectives is a publication for, and written by, the Delegates, withan occasional article solicited by Editorial Board members ONLYfrom acknowledged experts in their field. It is a forum for the exchange

of ideas, for argument, for news. Through this medium, we hope to become better informed and, thereby, better equipped tofulfill our responsibilities as Delegates. Your contributions are welcome, and necessary, in making this publication a useful en-terprise. Please assist the Editorial Board by submitting material via e-mail. We reserve the right to reasonably edit all copysubmitted. Opinions expressed in Perspectives are not necessarily representative of the views of the Editor, the PerspectivesEditorial Board, or of the American Kennel Club.

Sylvia Arrowwood, Charleston Kennel Club

Dick Blair, Huntingdon Valley Kennel Club

Crecia Closson, Lakes Region Kennel Club

Diedre E Gannon, German Pinscher Club of America

Don James, Leonberger Club of America

Dr. Gerry Meisels, St. Petersburg Dog Fanciers Association

Dr. Geno Sisneros, American Pomeranian Club

Daniel J. Smyth, Esquire, (Chair) BurlingtonCountyKennel Club

Monica Henderson Stoner, Saluki Club of America

Sylvia Thomas (Secretary), Kennel Club of Riverside

Sherry E. Wallis, (Editor) Akita Club of America

Lynn Worth-Smith, Vizsla Club of America

PerspectivesThe Delegates’ Newsletter

The coordinator for the September 2015 issue of Perspectives will be Sylvia Arrowwood.Please email articles directly to her at [email protected]

with a copy to Sherry Wallis at [email protected] by July 15, 2015.

mailto:[email protected]


• 1 •PERSPECTIVES June 2015

Despite the cheeriness and openness of ourmeetings and the great spirit of camaraderie

among the Perspectives Editorial Committee, therehave been some black clouds floating over the com-mittee for the last year or so. As most of you areaware, we lost our dedicated editor, CarolWilliamson, last year, and her presence at our meet-ings is greatly missed. Not to be deterred, SherryWallis stepped up and is now our current editor. Un-fortunately, at Easter time, she became ill herselfwhich has caused her to regroup and take sometime to get well. Fortunately, our secretary, SylviaThomas, jumped in and with the help of a very co-operative committee, produced the issue you areabout to read.This issue was coordinated by Don James, who

despite being a relatively new member of thecommittee has shown enthusiasm and dedicationin gathering all the articles from delegates andcommittee members, proofing for errors and di-recting them to Sylvia for editing and formattingthrough the AKC staff.I have been chair and assistant chair of the com-

mittee on and off for about 15 years or so, butknow that my skills are in trial work, not as amember of the fourth estate. (Few lawyers under-stand word limitations or what editing is allabout). During that time I have always marveledat the stamina and dedication of the members ofthis often under-recognized committee. This istruly a working committee and it takes a dedi-cated person to pursue contributing writers, andeven more, to remain persistent enough to keepafter them until it is done and submitted. Once anissue goes to press, the process repeats almostimmediately.I don’t think most people know that this com-

mittee meets during the lunch hour. Most of ourmembers are members of other standing commit-tees, and on our jam-packed committee meetingdays, have to give up their lunch time to attend.As with all other members of the “press,” we

have deadlines which are pressing, and everytwo years or so, one of us gets to coordinate anissue, a dif ficult task in coordinating the commit-tee wide solicitation, submission and collection ofarticles.

I say with great pride, that this is a great groupof people who do this for you, the delegates.There is seldom contention in this committee. Ifyou observe noise from our meeting it most likelyis laughter, thanks to the spontaneous comedyroutines of Dick Blair. These are all hard workingpeople who know the job they volunteered to do,and do it with a smile.I want to thank Monica Stoner and Diedre Gan-

non, Esq. for jumping in to help Don proof the col-lected articles, and we all appreciate the calmleadership of Sylvia Thomas, interim editor, whothrew out the life preservers when we ran intotrouble.This issue is filled with a range of topics that we

feel you will find interesting. Dr. Mary Burch ex-plores the urban dog CGC and Mara Bovsun dis-cusses the meetup groups that we are trying tobring into the fold. Bob Amen gives us a historyof the Obedience Advisory Committee on its 75thbirthday and several Delegates take on the needto discuss changing our culture and philosophiesto fit the times. Lastly, who these days isn’t tryingto talk to Chris Walker? Well Don James got himto sit down and discuss the effects of the AKC so-cial media initiatives.Enjoy this issue — a lot of work went into it, and

I would hope that next time you run into one ofthese dedicated Perspectives members, you’ll letthem know that their efforts do make a differ-ence.Sherry get better, we need you back.

Daniel J. Smyth, Esq.,Burlington County Kennel Club, Chair

Edito

rial

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR


On a beautiful sunny day in Florida, vis-itors to CityPlace, a premier shop-

ping and dining destination in PalmBeach County, might have seen MartiHohmann and her Border Collie, Lark,taking a walk. Lark sat and waited untilit was time to cross the street safely. Shewas unflappable in the presence of trol-leys, teenagers on skateboards, and citynoises, and she waited patiently while Hohmannsat at a dog-friendly outdoor café and had lunch.But this wasn’t just any walk. Lark was among the

first dogs in the country to take the AKC’s newUrban Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test, and shetook all of the test items in stride. “Lark goes justabout everywhere with me,” Hohmann said. “We'vebeen having great adventures since she was apuppy, and for her, today’s test was just anotherone. Regular exposure and training results in dogswho handle urban settings like this one with ease.” Hohmann and Lark, along with other dogs and

their owners from the Obedience Training Club ofPalm Beach County, were the first in the country totake the new Urban CGC test.

Vera, a retired racing Greyhound ownedby Mary Macchia, was also among thefirst to earn her AKC Urban CGC title.“West Palm Beach is a dog-friendlytown,” said Macchia. “People are ex-traordinarily kind to four-legged citydwellers and there are beautiful open-

air spaces where dogs can shop, hangout, listen to music, or grab a bite to eat

with you. It’s so important for our dogs to be well-trained so they are welcome in these places.”Catherine Anne Cassidy echoed Macchia’s em-

phasis on having well-behaved dogs to ensure thatthey are welcome in public places. As Cassidy and

her urban-proof Miniature Longhaired Dachshund,Sophie, started to step into a dog friendly cab, Cas-sidy said, “As long as your dog appears calm andunder control, people welcome you and your poochand even appear glad to see dogs around. Dogsseem to lighten everyone’s load.” With the introduction of AKC Urban CGC, the

AKC's CGC program now provides a variety oftraining options. Beginning with AKC S.T.A.R.Puppy, progressing to Canine Good Citizen, AKCCommunity Canine and now AKC Urban CGC, theCGC program trains dogs through all stages of lifeand in all settings to be well behaved in society. “AKC Urban CGC focuses on skills dogs need in

urban settings,” Director of the Canine Good Citi-zen program Mary Burch, PhD, said. “City dogsneed some skills that are specific to the urban set-ting. Waiting on leash to cross a street, ignoringfood left on a sidewalk, behaving appropriately inthe lobby of a dog friendly building and riding anelevator are all practical everyday skills that are

CGC

AKC ADDS NEW “URBAN DOG” TITLETO POPULAR CANINE GOOD CITIZEN® PROGRAMMARY R. BURCH, PHD, AKC Canine Good Citizen Director


BURCH, cont’d

needed by the millions of dogs who live in urbansettings.”

AKC Urban CGC skills include:• Exits/enters doorways (of dog friendly build-

ings) with no pulling• Walks through a crowd on a busy urban side-

walk• Reacts appropriately to city distractions (horns,

sirens, etc.)• Waits on leash, crosses street under control• Ignores food and food containers on sidewalk• Person approaches on sidewalk and pets dog• Three-minute down-stay in lobby of dog friendly

building• Safely negotiates stairs and elevators • Housetrained• Enters, exits, rides dog friendly transportation

(car, subway, cab)

Eligible dogs for the AKC Urban CGC title musthave a CGC certificate or title on record at AKCand must have an AKC number (AKC registrationnumber, PAL number, or AKC Canine Partnersnumber). Dogs passing the AKC Urban Dog testwill earn the “CGCU” title.Instructors can learn more about the program

and begin training their students on AKC UrbanCGC skills by visiting the AKC Urban CGC page at:

(http://www.akc.org/ dog-owners/training/urban-ca-nine-good-citizen). AKC Urban CGC testing, administered by ap-

proved AKC CGC Evaluators nationwide, began inApril 2015.

CGC

Thank you ��to the June 2015 Perspectives Coordinator,

Don James, and the Interim Editor,Sylvia Thomas. Their hard work

made this issue possible.

http://www.akc.org/dog-owners/training/urban-canine-good-citizen

http://www.akc.org/dog-owners/training/urban-canine-good-citizen


As Delegates, one thing we constantly hear is thatAKC has to change. I think we all know that.

Certainly, we are reminded of this every year whenBoard candidates speak to the Delegate body. Unfor-tunately, there are precious few ideas put forth thatwill actually accomplish the change we talk about.We know the definition of lunacy is continuing to dothe same thing over and over and expecting that theoutcome will somehow be different. If we don’t em-brace a new modality, that’s exactly what we’ll beguilty of. I like to draw analogies to help in making apoint. In 1997, Netflix began its on-demand stream-ing service. At the time, wildly popular Blockbusterwas given the opportunity to involve itself as a directcompetitor to this tiny upstart. Their executiveslooked over the proposal and decided against it. Any-one remember the last time they rented a moviefrom Blockbuster?Toward that end, what plans might AKC have to

accomplish a significant change in direction?During the March Delegates meeting, I had the

opportunity to spend some time with AKC VicePresident of Marketing and Communications, ChrisWalker. Chris was hired in 2013 as AKC’s head ofsocial media. In his 2+ year tenure, Chris has donewonders for AKC’s social media profile, includingmarked upgrades with resultant increases in trafficto Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. He is one ofthe bright young minds AKC has hired to bring usup to speed in this all important arena.Chris and I discussed a wide range of topics rang-

ing from the Website to some exciting new initia-tives planned by AKC. Certainly much of the con-versation at the March meeting centered on therollout of the new AKC Website. For everyDelegate who believes the site is a bold step signal-ing a new direction in AKC’s social media footprint,you’ll find another who believes the new site is astep backwards from the previous iteration. So, itseemed appropriate that we began with a discus-sion about the new site.AKC has access to metrics that provide a tremen-

dous amount of information about visitors to thesite as well as access to studies which show designaesthetics that are preferred by a majority of web

users. Much of the new website design was basedon these forensics. For example, we (AKC) knowthat in March of 2013, the AKC website was draw-ing 1 million hits per month. Today, that numberhas grown to almost 4 million hits, and hasincreased 40% since the new website rollout. Of thetotal number of hits recorded on the website, 88% ofthem are coming from people outside the fancy.Given this information, when it came time to drawup the plans for the new site, AKC had to make adecision whether to continue to concentrate on peo-ple like us, the ones already committed to the fancy,or people who are not, as yet, “hooked.” Since 88%of our web activity came from the latter group, thedecision to concentrate in that area makes sense. Itcertainly doesn’t mean AKC has decided to ignoreus. It means we’re going to need to share that webpresence with the people who might eventuallybecome us.The new website provides individual breed pages

designed with both show and pet owners in mind.Visitors are given the opportunity to post picturesof their favorite canine companions. It should be nosurprise that many people begin their purebredbreed research at akc.org. So, each breed sectioncontains thumbnails about that breed and providesthe fancy and pet owners an opportunity to post pic-tures of their dogs. I think that’s an important stepin establishing new ways to attract participants toour sport. Sometimes it’s a simple action like thisthat could become a catalyst for increased involve-ment in a particular breed. We cannot overlook theimportance of allowing show and pet people toshare in providing content. While each page doesprovide an overview of that breed, the idea is todrive folks who have an interest in a breed to thatbreed’s parent club website.Chris and I spent time talking about the future,

enhancing the brand to ensure AKC’s first 126years will be followed by another 126 years of suc-cess. The new website will act as the lynchpin forwhat is called “Brand Stretching,” moving the AKCout of its traditional role as the leading dog registryin the country and into new markets using differentstrategies all driven by the website.

WOOFtale: A TALK WITH AKC VICE PRESIDENT OFMARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS, CHRIS WALKERDON JAMES, Leonberger Club of America

WOO

Ftal

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JAMES, cont’d

One of those innovations is called the AKCMarketplace, an example of leveraging a partnershipbetween AKCand its clubs.Marketplaceallows clubs whoare not bigenough the sup-port their ownwebsite to estab-lish pages on theAKC site thatwill act as a sur-rogate to anactual web pres-ence. For a verysmall annual fee,these clubs will be able to present a professional web-site under the AKC umbrella.The AKCWebsite will be the home base around

which new digital add-ons can be made available toAKC customers. These ideas are far outside the enve-lope that has typically been occupied by the AKC. Themajor focus behind these new initiatives is to haveAKC be seen as the people who are here to help youbuild a better (and safer) relationship with your dog.

You might have wondered what the title of this arti-cle is all about. Well, WOOFtale is a product whichwill be manufactured for sale by AKC. That’s right, aphysical product manufactured for sale by AKC. Inlayman’s terms, the device acts as a GPS

system for your dog.It’s a small deviceworn on a collar thatallows you to locateyour dog 24/7, butalso allows you to cre-ate a safety perimeterthat provides auto-matic notification ifyour dog moves out-side that perimeter. Itallows you to sharethat dog’s location to

all social media significantly increasing the chancesof a safe ending to an unsafe situation. It also gives

you the abilityto share yourdog’s activitieswith all of yoursocial net-works. You canschedule offleash time,meetups ornotify friendsof fun canineactivities.Ever heard

of the Fit-Bit?For those unfa-

miliar with the Fit-Bit phenomenon, people now wearbracelets around their wrists to keep track of all theirdaily activity; steps taken, calories burned, mileswalked are all part of the platform. WOOFtale is likea Fit-Bit for your buddy, allowing you to track hiswalks, monitor calories burned, just like the humanFit-Bit device. Many people use their Fit-Bits to gen-erate competition with their friends. There’s cer-tainly nothing that says you can’t do the same thingwith your dogs. WOOFtale also provides its ownersaccess to a range of professional training videos, tipsand how-to articles to help you in the training of yourdog.This is one example of AKC attempting to attract

new consumers and maintain the interest of thefancy. There are manyother ideas on thehorizon. It’s an excit-ing time to be work-ing with the AKC.There will be othernew products andopportunities for allof us to improve ourrelationship with ourbest friends whileenhancing the AKC’simage as “The Dog’sChampion.”

WOO

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WOOFtale Dog Diary WOOFtale Live MapWOOFtale Home screen

AKC Marketplace


Next season will be the last season for DowntonAbby, the nostalgic British television series

which shows us what life was like for the rich andprivileged in a society where protocol and statusmeant much for both the upstairs and the down-stairs. The time for this show's end has come inthat as the years go by on the show, societalchanges are taking place, and life is anything butstagnant. Values become different and more impor-tantly, society changes. The old ways are eitherabandoned or simply becomeoutdated. Memorable mo-ments on episodes camewhen Lord Grantham balkedat having a “radio” in the man-sion, a “telephone” in the but-ler’s pantry, or sadly whenIsis, his aged and long-timecompanion dog passed away.Society changes constantly,

and perhaps we don't notice it, but it does so just abit, everyday. Advances in technology have cata-pulted our worlds to places that we never knew ex-isted. Our communication systems have becomeinstant and our personal affairs and financial securitycan be invaded by someone living halfway aroundthe world, without either you or them leaving home.The millennial generation has matured into our

next generation of adults. They will soon be the par-ents of an even more advanced generation with val-ues unknown when Downton Abby was in its heydayor when Queen Victoria had her dogs shown at West-minster. We are a 2015 corporation operating under Victo-

rian traditions. Much like the Crawleys, we areshocked when our old time values are rejected by ageneration that has everything at their fingertips,and is persuaded by societal norms that are differentthan those of a 100 years ago.For the most part, millennials are a “green” group.

They recycle, they communicate with all of theirfriends at one time with a tap on their screens, andthey are healthy, informed, and socially aware.The AKC has been slow to accept many changes

in society. The failure to see these cultural changescoming is much to blame for our declining registra-tions, decline in breeding kennels, and decreasing

interest in the sport of dogs.Rather than being resistant, we need to accept

these views as part of the current thought process,and work within that process to change our sport,not only in its operation, but in the eyes of the up-coming general public who will soon be holding thepurse strings.I recently had a 28-year-old MBA graduate in my

office who, when I mentioned I was going to the AKCDelegates’ meeting, said “What is the AKC?

Is that like the ASPCA?”How is that question possiblein a world of Internet, Google,Bing, Facebook, Twitter, Insta-gram, and whatever else willemerge tomorrow? Like the Crawleys, for too

many years we’ve allowed so-cial ideological changes to goby as we sat firmly on our de-

termination that we were right, and we were notgoing to give in to the attacks of animal rights (AR)people. Well, are we not being as extreme in our de-termination as the AR’s are in theirs? While standingour ground, we should have evaluated our positions.Instead, we fought to maintain our long time tradi-tional approaches in a world that was advancing tech-nologically. Many chose to ignore the centrifugalforces of the AR spin and societal changes that werepulling our established world off course.Finally, we have accepted social media, and it ap-

pears the work of the AKC staff in that direction is fi-nally making headway. Better late than never, but wehave a lot of catching up to do.The issue goes far beyond social media and ad

work. It is not just marketing. It is a complete over-haul and examination of how each and every one ofus evaluates our role as members of the AKC. Howdo I update my positions that 30 years ago worked,and no longer seem to be primary in a world whereother registries, animal rights people, and the HSUShave jumped in to give criticism and alternatives? Aremy standards in dealing with interested parties inneed of modification? Should I be more inclusive insharing my knowledge with those who have not beenexposed? Should I encourage the newbie and not sitback in silent scorn? Am I welcoming interest? Am I

Opin

ion

DOWNTON AKCDANIEL J. SMYTH, ESQUIRE, Burlington County Kennel Club

For too many years we’veallowed social ideologicalchanges to go by as we sat

firmly on our determinationthat we were right…


SMYTH, cont’d

being considerate as to other views of what I do? AmI working hard to dispel the negative views that havebeen implanted? Do I want my organization to sur-vive?In 2015 America, we are ex-

posed to twisting, manipulationand public disrespect of evenour highest political leaders. Itwasn't that way in 1916, as oursociety than condemned mis-truths and punished sedition. Ahundred years later, our dailylives are faced with publicmedia that conflicts in presentation, political leadersthat fight and condemn rather than build, and wordparsing that can make the simplest statement appearwrong.As our societal culture is filled with many of these

challenges, so go our lives as members of the AKC.Times have changed. It appears our organization hasfinally taken the hint and begun a strategy to change

its cultural approach to our sport. However, it doesn'tstop there. We all need to step back and analyze ourtraditional approach to the organization, and modify

it to bring in the outsiderswho have been looking in,but were afraid to approach.Once you make contact, it’stime to listen and learn fromthem, what they are lookingfor in our sport. Then,maybe we can turn this de-cline in interest around. Itdoesn't start with New York

or Raleigh. It starts with you and me. A smile, a kindword, the acceptance that someone is new and doesnot understand…an invitation. We need to changeour thoughts and cultural approach, or, like the estateproperty where Downton Abby is filmed, we will fallinto disrepair and need to hide behind fake walls andproduction props until we are soon terminated as nolonger being relevant.

Opin

ion

It appears our organization hasfinally taken the hint and beguna strategy to change its cultural

approach to our sport.

One of the first rules of success in business isknowing what we are selling and to whom. No

matter how much we’d like to think of our world ofpurebred dogs as a gentleman’s hobby, deep downinside we know it’s a business. We are selling pure-bred dogs to people who want them for a variety ofreasons.Some people want dogs to compete with, using their

knowledge and experience to garner many wins.Some people want to pit their perception of a breedagainst another breeder’s, under the watchful eye ofan experienced judge. Some people just want to havea dog they can be assured will look and act a certainway. All of these people are our clients and potentially,the future of our sport.Some of them may never have owned a dog before,

or at least not a purebred dog. Some have nevertracked down a breeder, put themselves on a waitinglist, or even thought of becoming a part of our worldof dogs. If we’re going to keep this world healthy, wewill need to involve as many of these people as possi-

ble in conformation, obedience, tracking, agility, andall AKC events.If we insist on only allowing our precious puppies

to go to established fellow exhibitors, if we don’t thinkanyone who has not been in our breed for more thanten years isn’t good enough to have one of ourdogs...well, that’s the prerogative of each individualbreeder. But as we have learned these last few awfulmonths, our time is limited. None of us are gettingyounger. And, even those with the benefit of youth arenot immune to fate! If we want purebred dogs to con-tinue, we have to move past ‘the way we’ve alwaysdone it.’For those who invest their time in organizing and

putting on events, the client base is even larger andwe are even more aware of how that base is shrinkingWe know we not only need more people enteringdogs, we also need more people taking time out oftheir busy weekend to drop by our shows. We needto get them to these events, hoping they’ll want tocome back with their own dogs, and we need to keep

Dele

gate

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KNOWING OUR CLIENT BASEMONICA STONER, Saluki Club of America


STONER, cont’d

them there.All of this is preaching to the choir. How are we

going to accomplish our goals? Since we’re seeingour client base shrink, our events disappearing, ‘busi-ness as usual’ is not going to get the job done. Tomake this happen we have to do more than work out-side the box, we have to blow that box out of thewater! It’s going to take all of us to get it done. Weneed to put our efforts behind every event, not justthe fancy carpeted ones. As individuals we need towelcome anyone new to purebred dogs, whetherthey’re interested in our breed or not. As competitors,win-lose-draw we need to think before we speak inpublic. Bitter nasty words can be heard by the wrong

people, who just might decide they have better placesto be on the weekend.We also need to understand communication has

changed drastically. Newspapers are shrinking, tele-vision news reports are faster, letter writing is a lostart, and life in general is moving forward at a seriousrate. Social media in all its confusion has become crit-ical to keeping the public informed. We need to learnhow to keep our product out there in front of potentialclients.Sounds kind of cold, doesn’t it? Product, client base.

We can love our dogs and our sport while still treatingit like a business. The future depends on us!

Dele

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Should your club offer Novice Only ObedienceTrials? The answer is Yes!

Obedience Clubs are working hard to increase en-tries at their trials and to bring in new exhibitors tothe sport. Several years ago, a few AKC Clubs de-cided to offer a Novice Only Trial to see if it wouldbring in Novice A exhibitors while increasing entriesin the Novice Classes.We asked three clubs that have offered Novice Obe-

dience Only Trials to comment on their trials.1Port Chester Obedience Club (PCOC) offered

their first trial three years ago. PCOC held two tri-als and limited their entry to 30 the first year. Theyfilled quickly and turned away a great many ex-hibitors. Since that time they have increased theirentry limit, and have had entries of 63 in 2013 and40 in 2014. They offer Novice A and B, BeginnerNovice A and B and Pre-Novice.

2Atlanta Obedience Club (AOC) offered its firstNovice Only Trial almost two years ago. AOC runsthe trial on Friday night before its two -day obedi-ence trial on Saturday and Sunday. The club offersall of the Novice classes and have found it to bevery successful. It offers three Novice Only Trialsa year. Many handlers are appreciative of the op-portunity to earn a title in one weekend as Novice

is also offered on Saturday and Sunday.

3Doberman Pinscher Club of the Tappan Zeehas offered Novice Only Trials for the past twoyears. Larry Wilson was the judge for their recentJanuary trial, and found that, while the scoreswere in the 184-194 ranges, the percentage ofthose qualifying was 63%. This club had twoyoung 4-H club members who were stewards, andwho were mentored by an experienced obedienceperson.

All three clubs reported that the exhibitors “loved”the Novice Only Trial concept. Many exhibitors havecommented they felt less pressure at a Novice OnlyTrial without the Open/Utility exhibitors present.This comment came from both the “new” exhibitorand the “seasoned” exhibitor. For whatever reason,those attending the PCOC and AOC trials felt theNovice Only Trials were more laid back. Things toconsider and ask when planning a Novice Only Trial:

Will the trial be in conjunction with anothertrial, such as AOC does by having the NoviceTrial on a Friday night, or will it be a standalone trial over a two-day weekend?

Which Novice classes would you offer?

A

B

Good

Idea

NOVICE-ONLY OBEDIENCE TRIALS, GOOD IDEA!GAIL LABERGE, Atlanta Obedience Club, Inc.

LARRY WILSON, Philadelphia Dog Training Club, Inc.


LABERGE/WILSON, cont’d

Do you want to limit entries?

Do you want to consider using a provisionaljudge as it assists you with cost and the judgewith an assignment?

Do you want to give each of the Novice Aexhibitors a small gift, such as the AKCObedience regulation book?

Can you have experienced obedience

exhibitors available and willing to answer thequestions of Novice A exhibitors?

Novice Only Trials are a great way to support thosecoming into the sport, to entice those who have beenout of the sport for a while to come back, and to pro-vide a relaxed atmosphere for all exhibitors.We encourage your club to offer a Novice Only

Trial. The benefits are positive for both the club andthe exhibitor.

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Idea

In May of 2014 I received a call no breeder wantsto receive, from Pat Hudson, rescue coordinator

for the Conestoga Vizsla Club (CVC). She askedme if I recognized the name of a dog called SugarMagnolia? It took me awhile…but, “Shuga” was apuppy from 7 litters ago, bred in 2005.The owner needed to place this dog, had my con-

tact information in storage, and turned to CVC res-cue for help. Theunfortunate circum-stance of a marriagegoing bad, living in anRV with two Rhode-sian Ridgebacks and aVizsla, a governmentjob that required avast amount of travel,and her dogwatcher/walker hav-ing moved, left theowner with no choice but to divest herself of herdogs. Of course, Shuga could come home to me.A couple of days after the Memorial Day week-

end, Shuga arrived at Cedar Grove Plantation. I no-ticed her tentativeness in inspecting the groundswhen she was let out of the car and asked if therewas anything wrong with her? “Nothing other thanshe bumps into things,” was the owner’s answer.She was headed towards the pigeon cote and Iasked if she was ever on birds? “No,” was the an-swer. Ha, definitely a Dobrocat-bred dog because

even upwind, as she went by the pigeons shewhirled and stood a very nice point.It quickly became evident to me this dog was

blind: the cloudiness in her eyes, the bumping intofurniture until she learned the lay of the house, andjust her caution in movement. Her body had severallumps, and the bottom of her chest was covered inseveral large, unsightly comedones that I suspect

came from hours oflying in her crate onher chest with nopadding. All of this wasconfirmed by my vet-erinarian. We sched-uled her for surgery toremove her lumps andcomedones and see ifany were cancerous.Thank goodness theywere not.

All of my dogs (2 males and 2 females) acceptedShuga with no problem and she them. My youngfemale, Enya, somehow “knowingly” took herunder her wing and stayed close to her as if toshow her the ropes around the place; truly heart-warming to watch. At first, Shuga was crated while I was gang run-

ning my other dogs for daily exercise from the 4-wheeler. This was not at all to Shuga’s liking. She’d‘wet’ her crate to let me know her displeasure…haha. She was then kenneled while the others were

BLIND DOG POINTINGDON BROWN, Vizsla Club of America

Invited by LYNN WORTH-SMITH, Vizsla Club of America

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run. Also, not to Shug’s liking.So, what the heck, she wasgiven a choice. She’d go to theedge of the field behind thehouse, stop, go no farther andreturn to the house and waitfor us to return. When we did,she would give everyone aroyal welcome home.This continued throughout

the summer until one beautiful, early Septemberevening after work when I ran the dogs to the lakefor a swim. The 4-wheeler was bumped up againstthe dock, watching to my right, the dogs were en-joying a refreshing swim in the lake. I heard some-thing on my left. Shuga!! She had used her nose tofollow us through the fields, the woods and the roadto the lake. There she was, enjoying a swim too! I soon learned, for my own piece of mind, the best

way to run her with the other dogs was to put a GPScollar on her. The more she ran, the bolder she gotin challenging cover. There were times I lost her, butshe always found her way home before I found her.Questions were asked. What would she do if she

found her own birds? The answer came in March of2015. I was in the field talking with one of the planta-tion employees when I heard a bird get up. When Iinvestigated, I saw my young bitch, Enya, standing.

Approaching her, walking infront, another bird got up androcketed off. As I praised Enyafor standing through all this, Iturned around and thirty yardsaway was Shuga, obviously onpoint. I started the iPhonevideo recording and capturedthe whole scene of the pointand covey rise. Honestly, it

brought tears of joy to my eyes.Two days later, Shuga was coming up the drive-

way where there is a bank sloping down to thedriveway. At the top of that bank and in the warmseason grasses, we have a ground feeder. From fif-teen yards away, upwind, Shuga stopped andpointed up the bank. My young male and young fe-male scaled the bank and a nice twelve to fifteenbird covey of quail lifted off the ground. Shuga nowknows what her nose is for, and the purpose ofbeing in the field.This marks my 53rd year with Vizslas. I have only

had to take two dogs back in 42 years of breeding. Ishould have taken one more back, but was too latebefore the owner killed that dog. Like the first one Itook back, Shuga will probably pass with me. Livingwith a blind dog is not easy, but it is educational anddamned rewarding.

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It quickly became evident tome this dog was blind: thecloudiness in her eyes, the

bumping into furniture untilshe learned the lay of the house,and just her caution in movement.

No, this isn't a story about planes, trains and auto-mobiles, or shuttle buses, cabs and flight delays.

It is a look at how Member Clubs determine who be-comes their AKC Delegate. There is no set rule forhow a club chooses its delegate. A Board may ap-point or elect a delegate. In other clubs, the member-ship elects their delegates. Delegates may be votingmembers of their respective Boards; others act in anadvisory capacity.I asked a handful of delegates how they got here. In

addition to getting specific answers, I also received alot of anecdotal comments. There was really no simpleanswer. The delegates I contacted had some very

strong ideas of what it meant to be a delegate. But I di-gress. I received replies from delegates representingparent clubs, all breed clubs and obedience or trainingclubs. Half of the delegates are elected by the mem-bership, some for yearly terms, some two, three or fiveyears. The other half are appointed by their Board,most for a specific number of years. I did find two peo-ple who more or less volunteered to be their club's del-egate because there was no one else doing the job. This may answer the simpler question of how clubs

choose their delegate, but the unsolicited commentssaid much more about how or why many of us gothere. There were some common threads. The com-

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HOW WE GOT HEREVIVIAN MORAN, Cardigan Welsh Corgi Club of America, Inc.


ment, “I just want to give back to the sport I love” res-onates. Most have been on Boards; some directedtraining programs; others have been involved with thelegislative side of our sport. All of them do more thanjust come to quarterly meetings. As Carl Ashby,United States Kerry Blue Terrier Club delegate put it,“Our involvement with Clubs was driven by a willing-ness to serve coupled with a belief that if you partici-pate in a sport you want to be involved with how itevolves and serving as a Delegate is a way to do that.”That delegate turnover is detrimental to both the

club being represented and the AKC Delegate bodywas a recurring comment. A delegate needs to commitfor a minimum of 5 years and clubs need to back theirdelegate during that time. “I think the Delegate bodyturnover is a disservice to AKC,” said Linda Flynn, del-egate South Shore Kennel Club. “By the time a dele-gate is seated and starts to connect, he’sreplaced. Often, it is political rather than practical.”Sylvia Arrowwood, delegate Charleston Kennel Club,continued, “I personally think that delegates should notbe changed by clubs every time there is a new presi-dent…a delegate has to serve a minimum of five yearsto even know what is going on and who is who before

being totally or at least very knowledgeable.”Delegates mentioned their responsibility to their

club as well as to AKC. Kathi Brown, delegate LadiesDog Club (LDC), said, “There is a written expectationthat our delegate attend both the AKC Delegate Meet-ings and our LDC meetings at which the delegate is re-sponsible for a report.” As delegate for the CardiganWelsh Corgi Club of America, Inc., I am required togenerate a report for each Board meeting (the Dele-gate is a voting member of the Board) and write a re-port for our club's quarterly newsletter.Finally, the issue of who pays the delegate's expenses

came up. Some clubs go above and beyond, paying allexpenses and incidentals for their delegate to attendquarterly meetings. Some clubs pay nothing at all, lead-ing to the question posed by some, “is the person whocan afford to be a delegate really the best candidate?”The mid-ground between these extremes is the clubthat pays airfare and hotel while the delegate picks upall other expenses.Each delegate’s circumstances may be different, but

one trait is obvious among those who responded — astrong sense of responsibility to their club and theAKC.

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In 2013, Chinese Crested Delegate Marilyn Cur-rey made public an idea she’d been working on

since she was elected. That seed of an idea has nowbecome the highly successful AKC ReUnite Disas-ter Relief Trailer initiative. To date, almost $866,000has been raised, 19 trailers have been deliveredand 10 more are currently under construction.One of those 10 trailers currently under construc-

tion is ticketed to be delivered to the City of Van-couver in Southwest Washington. That trailer waspaid for with a donation made by the Greater ClarkCounty Kennel Club. Greater Clark County KCDelegate Karen Burgess and Don James, VicePresident of the Greater Clark County KC and Del-

egate for the Leonberger Club of America made apresentation to Tom Sharp and Dallas Harsa ofAKC ReUnite during the recent March Delegatemeeting in Newark, New Jersey.That’s when the story takes a decidedly interest-

ing turn. Karen initiated a conversation with PaulScarpelli, Clark County’s Director of Animal Protec-tion and Control. At the first meeting, Karen and Ihad with Paul, we each realized we had a mar-velous chance to leverage the trailer delivery into alarger partnership between the Greater ClarkCounty KC and the people who work every day inAnimal Control. We discussed many opportunitiesthat would result in AKC and Clark County Animal

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: THE PARTNERSHIP BETWEENCLARK COUNTY ANIMAL CONTROL AND GREATER CLARKCOUNTY KENNEL CLUBKAREN BURGESS, Greater Clark County Kennel Club

DON JAMES, Leonberger Club of America

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Control working witheach other to achievegoals common to bothorganizations. One example would be

kennel inspection. ClarkCounty has only 4 fulltime animal control offi-cers. While kennel in-spections are consideredto be an important partof that job, with the de-creased staffing manygovernment agencieshave experienced, therewas more work to go around than people to do it.Why not forge a partnership between the AKC’slocal kennel inspection personnel and the 4 folkswho do the same job for Clark County?Clark County Animal Control also sponsors many

license and spay/neuter clinics throughout the Van-couver area. They sometimes have trouble freeingup their control officers to staff the booth. Karenand I both saw no reason why our kennel club mem-bers could not jump in and lend a hand by volun-

teering to staff some of theseclinics. And, of course, theAKC Pet Disaster ReliefTrailer would be on prominentdisplay during these sessions.These are just a couple of

the ideas that we’ve discussedduring a subsequent meetingwith Paul and his staff. It mayseem strange that an AKCKennel Club and the local ani-mal control personnel wouldhave a common set of goals. Ican tell you that they do. InPaul, we have a young, dy-

namic leader who understands and respects therights of purebred dog owners and breeders (infact, one of his officers is a Rottweiler breeder). Itwas quite exciting during our meetings when werealized we’re all working toward the same goal.Karen and I are thrilled with the opportunities wesee in this new partnership. We hope for a produc-tive partnership that benefits the general commu-nity, dog owners, and breeders.To Be Continued…

BURGESS/JAMES, cont’d

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There’s something about a lovely spring daywhich we have in California, hon-

est we do! Today is one of them. Sunis shining. There’s a bit of a breeze. Itwould be a lovely day to sit outside, re-flect on an array of topics and/or sim-ply take one of our dogs to the parkfor a socialization, training or “just bea dog” kind of experience. Spring isalso a time for renewal and what bet-ter time than spring to welcome a newdelegate! This month, I had an oppor-tunity to have one of those “personal”email exchanges with someone who ispractically a “neighbor!” She’s the

newest delegate for the Staffordshire Bull TerrierClub of America and is from Los Ange-les, CA. Kimberly Washington, newly-seated delegate, was kind enough torespond to my inquiries and requestfor an interview.

How did you become involved with dogs?She indicated that back in 1993

which most of us remember as beingjust a few short years ago, she decidedto move out of the nest and into herown apartment and wanted a pet. Shediscovered she was allergic to cats sodogs became the preferred choice. At

GETTING TO KNOW YOU…KIMBERLY WASHINGTONDelegate, Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of America

SYLVIA THOMAS, Kennel Club of Riverside

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Karen Burgess, GCCKC Delegate and Don James, LeonbergerClub of America Delegate, present a check for the purchase of aDisaster Relief Trailer to Tom Sharp and Dallas Harsa, AKC Reunite


the time she happened to work with Amy Rodrigues-Booth (how fortunate was that!). Amy gaveKimberly a copy of the AKC Book of Dogs. From it,Kimberly made her choice and acquired her firstStaffordshire Bull Terrier in January of 1994.

Why did you select Staffordshire Bull Terriers?Kimberly confided that she selected the breed

based on its compatibility with people, its size andmaintenance requirements. Staffords are known tobe people dogs who prefer sitting on the couch relax-ing instead of romping in the yard with other dogs.

Who has most influenced you either regarding yourbreed, breeding, showing, judging etc. and why?From the very beginning, Kimberly said she had

the pleasure of meeting many influential people notonly in the breed, but in the sport of conformation,from well-known breeders and top professional han-dlers, to outstanding terrier judges. While therewere too many to mention personally, from each per-son, she said she gained knowledge about our beauti-ful sport. From the beginning these individualsencouraged her to show her dog and provided herwith education on the structure of the breed. Whileshe became more involved with the club as an offi-cer, she also started to work on judging and feels as ifbecoming an AKC Delegate is another step towardgreater involvement.

Are you involved in conformation, obedience, or otherperformance events?Kimberly has been involved with conformation

events since 1994 with her first Stafford.

Do you actively exhibit and/or breed your dogs?Over the past 20 years, Kimberly has breeder-

owner handled several Staffords and has assistedfriends to earn championship titles on their dogs.

Do you judge? If so, what breeds or groups do you have?In 2014, Kimberly became a licensed judge for

Staffordshire Bull Terriers.

When did you become a delegate? What was yourinterest in becoming a delegate?Appointed in January 2015 as the Staffordshire

Bull Terrier Club delegate, Kimberly attended her

first AKC Delegate meeting in March. She acceptedthe seat because she wanted to make sure her cluband the Stafford were represented as well as learn-ing the inner workings of AKC. Kimberly said, “Weoften hear of changes, but we really have no ideahow much thought and effort go into this. I learnedfirsthand at this past meeting ☺!”

Tell us a little about the club you represent? Large?Small? What’s on the minds of your members? Howdo club members feel or view the AKC?“I represent the parent club for my breed. In my

eye, we are a small parent club with approximately250 members. A National entry of 100 is amazingand outstanding. My members are hoping moreeducation on our breed is presented to the masses.They want the world to know we are not the danger-ous dog they make us out to be. We are truly the all-purpose dog.”Kimberly went on to say that her club members

generally respect AKC. They would like to seejudges re-evaluated throughout their terms. “Withmost licenses you are reviewed or take a refreshercourse. Like drivers’ licenses, you are tested tomake sure you can still drive as you get up in age. Iknow at 48 my eyes are not what they use to be!”She also mentioned the need for parent club inputon potential new judges for the breed.

What do you think is the most pressing issue facingour sport? Why?After some reflection, Kimberly indicated one of the

primary issues facing our sport is the lack of entries.She remembers that when she first started showing,Southern California was the place to come for majorsin almost any breed. Staffords always had healthyentries, but now, it’s only possible to get a major inStaffords if there is a “breed specialist” brought in tojudge. She reflected that this might be due in part tothe economy and the cost of gas coupled with theprice of entries, but she feels all of this presents achallenging situation for exhibitors.

Given the many fronts and issues AKC is facing (anti-dog legislation, declining registrations, reduced rev-enue, competition with other registries), do you haveany ideas about what it should do?

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According to Kimberly, we don’t seem to be doingwhat we should be doing to interest more people inthe sport of dogs?

When it comes to dogs, what one thing is still on your“bucket list?”Turns out, Kimberly has a number of things on

her list, but then again, she’s only 48 and I have nodoubt she’ll do these in nothing flat and will have tocome up with more things for her list!• Judging Overseas – this will be May of next year �• Owner/breeder/handler of a Top Stafford• AKC Terrier Group Judge• AKC Delegate Committee Member

What can you tell us about yourself that we wouldn’talready know?“Well, I’m a mother of two children who were born

in the sport and at this point still love attending dogshows. I hope they carry on my kennel when theyget older. And, I work for an Investment AdvisoryFirm as a Compliance Paralegal.”I know you join me in thanking Kimberly for allow-

ing us the opportunity to find out more about her.When you see Kimberly at the June meeting, pleaseintroduce yourself to her!

THOMAS, cont’d

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Iwas recently dismayed when a highly-respectedold timer with an illustrious career as a handler

and judge told me that he thought that the bestdays of dog shows were behind us. We had beendiscussing “the good old days” and lamenting thefact that entries at all breed conformation showshad been declining. While I had certainly enjoyedthe “good old days,” and while I may be unhappywith some of the changes, there have indeed beenmany improvements. I’m not ready to write off theproductive and rewarding aspects of conformationshows. Most of us applaud the AKC’s efforts to in-crease entries and encourage breeders and ownerswith the 4-6 month classes and the National OwnerHandler Series. However, these initiatives aremerely giving more opportunities to the existingfancy that result in more entries and revenue forthe show giving Clubs and the AKC, but do not nec-essarily result in more dogs or “new” people. What can we do to supplement the AKC’s public

relations efforts and encourage new owners ofpurebred dogs to become active exhibitors andeventually active breeders? Consider first theyoung families that buy a pup for companionship.

Based on my experience, many of these familieswith young children are heavily into typical youthactivity programs, soccer, hockey, Little Leaguebaseball, and ballet, to name a few as well as end-less video watching on TV, the Internet, cellphones, I-Pads, etc.Why are these families so engrossed in these

activities to the point that many parents spend allof their free time transporting the kids to andfrom these activities, leaving little time for them-selves? Parents see these programs as an oppor-tunity for their kids to increase their physicalcapacity, learn discipline, develop a competitivespirit, understand teamwork, and in the case ofmany families, a totally unrealistic belief that their“super athletic” child will start on a path toDivision 1 college sports, possibly with a scholar-ship. Some even see a future in professionalsports though the chances of that are miniscule.Now I do not mean to downplay the benefits ofthese activities. Our own boys spent many won-derful winters playing ice hockey, and I coachedin a youth hockey program for many years. Butthere are other activities of equal, if not more,

ATTRACTING NEWCOMERS TO THE JOY OFCONFORMATIONTED HOLLANDER, EASTERN DOG CLUB

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value for these families.Many parents would prefer an activity in which

they can participate with their children, on theirown schedule, an activity where the family is con-nected, not disrupted. For those of us in NewEngland, skiing is but one example. Then again,many youngsters are simply not cutout to be ath-letes, and some are just too introverted to do wellin team sports. Some, though they may cover itup in attempt to please mom and dad, do not evenlike the activities into which their parents pushthem. There is an enormous potential markethere for our sport, and I believe the breeders cantake the lead role.I am a hobby breeder and owner handler of

Airedale Terriers. I havesold quite a few puppies toyoung families in the abovementioned target group.While I always discuss theissue of conformation show-ing with a prospectivebuyer, I must admit, I haven’t really pushed it. I’msure that most breeders do a much better job ofpromoting conformation showing. I know in myown breed some do it with a degree of success. The AKC gives us nice packets to give to those

who purchase puppies from us. However, I thinka lot more can be done here. A specific handouttouting the benefits of conformation showing,along with a DVD, possibly interactive, illustrat-ing youngsters in the Junior Showmanship classhaving a good time showing their dogs. A fewframes of young exhibitors who have gone fur-ther in the sport could be included. Perhaps theAKC could even go beyond that, offering somesort of incentive to the breeder for every newexhibitor they bring in, for example free registra-tion for a future litter.The benefits of our sport for youngsters and for

their parents are indeed many. In some cases thesame as offered by the aforementioned youthsports programs. In some cases they are evengreater:• It teaches responsibility for the care and training

of the dog

• It provides an appreciation for competition andsportsmanship in the show ring

• It teaches discipline complying with the rules ofthe show events, meeting the schedules of prepa-ration and participation

• It provides an aspect of social happiness for manyfamilies the mere enjoyment of a family pet is aconstant reward

• It can be an individual activity or a family activitylike skiing

• Most of the activity takes place at home, withtime spent at dog shows only as desired, unlikemany youth sports programs with mandatoryweekly practices and mandatory weekend gamescompletely disrupting family life.Assuming we can indeed encourage more young

families to get on board, howdo we keep them in the game?I have heard that the majorityof new participants get dis-couraged and bail out after sixshows or thereabouts. Why?Well, we hear “It’s all politi-

cal!” “I don’t have a chance against the profession-als.” “The judges are not qualified,” and so on, andso on. Unfortunately, this nonsense is oftenspread around by some of our kennel blind col-leagues who have been around a long time andshould know better, but constantly complain whenthey lose, to anyone who will listen. It is up to allof us to put a stop to this. I have a suggestion that might help counter this

negativity.Promote the Novice Class, perhaps with slightly

different entry criteria, and gear it to the noviceexhibitor rather than to the novice entry. The keyhere would be a mandatory requirement that thejudge, after handing out any ribbons in this class,would speak with each exhibitor personally, can-didly discuss strengths and faults of both the dogand the handler, including handling technique,grooming, etc., explaining to them what they cando to improve while providing an encouraging“pat on the back.” The amount of time added to ajudging assignment would be minimal. Therewould, of course, be a limit on the number of

HOLLANDER, cont’d

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I’m not ready to write offthe productive and rewardingaspects of conformation shows.


shows, six perhaps, in which an individual dogcould be entered in this class. During this time, itgoes without saying that we should all encouragethe newcomer to keep going, to join our clubs,and to enjoy the social aspects of the game as

well as the competition. In fact we should alsoencourage all buyers of our pups, even those withno interest in competition, to join our clubs tomeet and enjoy the company of other owners ofpurebred dogs.

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Obedience as a sport began in the mid-1930’s,largely through the efforts of Mrs. Helene

Whitehouse Walker, a breeder of Standard Poo-dles and owner of Carillon Kennels. In the firstformal obedience test, the dogs were required towalk at their handler’s side off leash, retrieve adumbbell on the flat and over an obstacle, comewhen called, and remain in a sit and down po-sition with their handlers out of site. Allof these exercises exist today in obe-dience competition, but as part ofa broader group of classes, andlevels of competition.The sport took hold quickly

and as it grew the need forrefinement of regulationsbecame apparent. According toJim Dearinger, former AKC VPof Obedience, in an article hewrote for the 1984 AKC SourceBook, the first set of Regulationsand Standards for Obedience Test FieldTrials was authored by Mrs. Walker. It wassubmitted to the AKC Board of Directors onDecember 7, 1935, and approved on March 10,1936. The regulations were contained on eightpages. (Today, the obedience regulations cover119 pages!) Interestingly, in Novice obedience,the dog was required to do all of the exerciseswe do today, including the one-minute sit andthree-minute down, and the heel off leash; butthe dog was not required to stand for examina-tion. In the Open class, the dog had to sit for

three minutes and lay down for five minutes,with the handler out of sight, which remains arequirement today, even though it is a controver-sial one. In Utility, the dog was also required topass a tracking test with half of the points in theclass allocated to that exercise. (Trackingbecame a separate sport in 1947.)

In 1939, as the scope of the sport continuedto expand, the AKC convened its first

Obedience Advisory Committee(OAC). Although its origins aresketchy, an announcementappeared in the June, 1939 edi-tion of Popular Dogs magazinethat, “an advisory committeehas been formed for the pur-pose of considering improve-ments in the conduct of obedi-ence tests and other matters in

connection with such trials, andsuggestions and recommendations

to the AKC Board of Directors.” TheOAC’s first meeting was held on May 2, 1939

at the AKC offices, and the resulting reportswere positive.A number of OACs have since been convened

over the years. After the 1939 OAC, the next oneto meet was organized in 1946. A primary objec-tive was the standardization of judging and scor-ing. A secondary goal was to change some of theexercises. The committee revised the Utilityscent discrimination exercise and replaced the“Speak on Command” exercise with the Signal

THE OBEDIENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE, 75 YEARS OLDBOB AMEN, Port Chester Obedience Training Club

Invited by SYLVIA ARROWWOOD, Charleston Kennel Club

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exercise, which remains a part of the Utilityclass. OACs convened in 1949, 1966, 1980, 1992,1999, 2003, and 2007. The 2007 OAC was com-prised of a mix of obedience trainers, exhibitors,judges, and AKC Field Reps. Its work tookalmost two years before some of the recom-mended changes began to be implemented. The2007 OAC was launched in November of 2006.Its recommendations went to the AKC Board ofDirectors on August 14, 2007.Earlier this year, AKC set up the 2014 OAC,

composed of seven well-respected obediencejudges representing a cross-section of the coun-try. AKC staff, led by Pam Manaton, AKCDirector of Obedience, Rally and Tracking,organized the committee structure, after review-ing the composition of past committees. “Thereare two members that were on previous advisorycommittees and we repeated them to have con-sistency between the different OACs. Two mem-bers are Companion Events AKC LifetimeAchievement Award winners and one member isa member of the Golden Retriever Club ofAmerica’s Obedience Hall of Fame,” Pamreported. She added, “They were also chosenbecause they have diverse breeds that rangefrom small to large (dogs), are active club mem-bers from all areas of the country, judges andexhibitors.” One of the committee members,Lynn Eggers, has spent 53 years training dogs,51 years competing, and 46 years judging obedi-ence competition.The Companion Events Department then estab-

lished a process that included a period, fromMarch 5 through March 31, 2014, during whichthe Fancy could submit recommendations andideas for change and improvement in obedience.The OAC first met on June 21 and 22, 2014 atAKC’s North Carolina offices, “to discuss thefuture of the sport and to review the more than1,229 suggestions submitted by the Fancy.”Because of the volume of recommendations, thecommittee met again in August to complete theirreview. The submissions then went back to AKCstaff, where they were organized into subjectareas to make it easier for the Fancy to submit

their comments online.On September 29, 2014, a notice went out that

the recommendations were “being published forthe Fancy to review and provide feedback overthe next three weeks through October 22nd.”Respondents were asked to rate each item in a“voting document” format. Over 3,600 e-mailswere sent to clubs, judges, and exhibitors askingthem to participate. More than 2,470 peopleresponded to the survey, submitting a total of27,100 comments.Following the October 22nd deadline, the next

few weeks were spent reviewing the responsesfrom the Fancy. The 80 final recommendationswere then discussed by the delegates’Companion Events Committee at their December2014 meeting in Orlando.Finally, AKC staff put together a final set of

recommendations for approval by the AKC Boardof Directors. Implementation of the changesapproved by the Board will depend on their com-plexity and timing, for example, whether theyrequire complex programming by the IT staff.(Some recommendations from the 2007 OACprocess did not go into effect until 2010.)The obedience community is anxious to see

the final product. As an obedience trainer, com-petitor, judge, and delegate, I am too!

Note: My thanks to Jim Crowley, AKC ExecutiveSecretary, and his staf f for their help in assistingwith research for this article.

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The room was hushed and all eyes were onWhiskey, an 8-month-old Shiba Inu, as his

owner, Michael De La Rosa, pointed to the groundand said, “Down!”The dog had refused this item during his Canine

Good Citizen test, but since down was the onlything he missed, his evaluator gave him the optionto try again at the end of the two-hour testing ses-sion.As Michael left the ring after his test, trainer and

evaluator Dorice Stancher, of Canines Can Do inNew Jersey, came up to him and said, “Let’s workthe down.”In about 15 minutes, De La Rosa was ready to

face the evaluator again. Whiskey looked at him,then looked at the ground, then slowly, slowlystretched out his front paws and posed, looking fora second like the Sphinx in Egypt. The room burstinto wild cheers, as the new CGC graduate rolledonto his back and demanded a belly roll.Whiskey was among the first to participate in a

pilot program designed bring the Canine GoodCitizen test to dog owners who might not haveeasy access to evaluations or awareness of why theCGC matters.Our experiment with the four Meetups held

since December 2014 was overwhelmingly posi-tive. More than 50 teams passed CGC and CGCA,and there was a huge amount of goodwill gener-ated. Every review written on the Meetup pagewas glowing, and we have kept in touch with sev-eral participants who have expressed interest inadvancing to agility, therapy work, and othersports.The Meetups generated sophisticated, high-level

media attention, most notably a three-quarter pagearticle in the New York Post, the city’s mostwidely-read tabloid(http://nypost.com/2015/03/15/why-your-dog-should-get-officially-certified-as-a-good-citizen/).The program had four central goals:• Raise awareness of CGC in communities withlimited access to tests or advanced training;

• Create goodwill, and positive buzz, through one-on-one contact with dog owners;

• Achieve press coverage, and

• Establish a template for clubs and trainers inother communities to spread the word aboutCGC.

So Many Dogs…We chose to run a series of events in New York

City, where, despite an estimated quarter of a mil-lion dogs in Manhattan alone, there are few train-ers and just a handful of opportunities foradvanced work, such as rally and agility.Meetup.com, an online social media site that

brings groups of people together for parties andevents, provides an ideal way to reach out to met-ropolitan-area dog lovers who have little knowl-edge and involvement with AKC or any kind of dogsports. Anabella Mowbray, marketing manager,

had been explor-ing Meetup.comfor severalmonths, assessingit for other pro-grams. She recog-nized its potentialfor CGC.Meetup.com ishuge, with morethan 21 millionmembers partici-pating in nearly200,000 groups inover 182 countries.There are groups

for everything fromswing dancing to origami to people who love tospeak French. If you can imagine it, there’s likely aMeetup for it.Mowbray has first-hand experience with these

gatherings, as an active member of NYC’s BostonTerrier Meetup. It’s a branch of a national networkof 50 groups with more than 12,000 members infive countries and 45 states. Every month or so,Mowbray and her dog, Monster, have the opportu-nity to spend an afternoon socializing with as manyas 45 or 50 members of her favorite breed andtheir two-legged fans. To adapt the idea to CGC, Mowbray established

CGC

Mee

tups

CANINE GOOD CITIZEN MEETUPS: BOOST AWARENESS,GOODWILL, AND MEDIA BUZZMARA BOVSUN, AKC Publications Features Editor

Anabella and Monster


Come, Sit, Stay! AKC’s Canine Good Citizen DogTraining Meetup(www.meetup.com/AKC-CGC-Training/events/215899622/). Wescheduled the first session forThursday, December 4, 2014, 5 to 7p.m., at the Animal Haven shelter indowntown Manhattan. The shelterrents its exercise room, a 2,000-square-foot rectangle with rubber-ized flooring, for a modest hourlyfee. It easily accommodated twoformal evaluator rings and anotherarea set aside for training or addi-tional testing if needed.Many dog-related Meetups are

pretty informal, low-key social gath-erings with little more than chairs, a sign-in sheet,and some light refreshments. AKC’s Meetuprequires much more. CGC forms, station signs,clipboards, 20-foot leads, ribbons and rosettes, arethe basic materials. Beyond that, it was critical thateverything be up to the high standards expectedof the AKC. That meant finding top-notch evalua-tors who would reflect well on the organizationand represented the community.Sarah Fraser and Brian Burton, of Instinct Dog

Training, fit our criteria. Based in Harlem, theyoften work with dogs with issues, many of whomwere taken from the city’s municipal shelter. Ibecame aware of Instinct at a rally trial on LongIsland a few years ago. Fraser and Burton drovenearly 50 miles out from the city with several stu-dents and swept the top awards. Their experience, interest, and background

made them ideal evaluator choices. They had alsomet CGC Director Mary Burch when she was inNYC in November to attend an AKC CommunityCanine test held in Grand Central Terminal. Doris Stancher is a past recipient of the AKC

S.T.A.R. Puppy and Canine Good Citizen DogWriters Association of America Award. She was athird trainer/evaluator, who participated to helpteams like Michael and Whiskey and introducednew CGC grads to the elements of CommunityCanine.

Once all the pieces were in place, it was just amatter of waiting to see who signed up.For the first two sessions, the Meetuppage and personal contacts drew smallgroups with highly diverse backgrounds,from a beautiful Pomeranian, Gia Marie,who participates in fashion shows forshelter charities, to Leonberger showdogs, Hollywood and Magneto, toBrooklyn native pit bull, Hemingway.For the third session, we reached out

to local breed-specific social clubs toboost attendance. Not affiliated with theAKC, these clubs consist of people whosimply love a breed or type of dog. Theywelcome everyone—from show dogs toshelter rescues.

One club, the Doberman Gang of NYC,responded with a resounding “Yes!” The problem,said club founder Christine MacNeil, was the tim-ing. She’s a full-time architect and most of her

more than 60 club members have full-time jobsand commitments that make it impossible toattend a meeting at 5 p.m. on a weeknight.(Animal Haven closes at 7 p.m., making it impos-sible to schedule our meeting for a later hour. We made a deal. If she could get me 15 or more

CGC-ready Doberman Pinschers, she could setthe date. So on Saturday afternoon, February 21,the room at Animal Haven was packed with large,sleek black and tan and red dogs, and one “hon-orary Dobe,” a Golden Retriever whose ownercould not make it during the week. It was an

BOVSUN, cont’d

CGC

Mee

tups

Michael and Whiskey

The Doberman Gang

www.meetup.com/AKC-CGC-Training/events/215899622/

www.meetup.com/AKC-CGC-Training/events/215899622/


impressive sight,seeing all these bigbeautiful creaturesclimb up the narrowstairway to get tothe testing room.MacNeill had

more than a monthto get ready andshe organized train-ing sessions withher club, specifi-cally working onthe CGC items in

different locations. As a result, the dogs whoshowed up were extremely well-prepared, and thevast majority passed CGC and some moved on toCGCA. In the future, working with a group like the

Doberman Gang appears to be the best way toreach CGC candidates. In the weeks before thetest, we were able to answer questions on accept-able collars and equipment through the Meetuppage itself. Stancher even used the site to coachsome people who had small challenges, such asdiscouraging a friendly dog from jumping up.

What This Means to YouMeetup.com allows you to introduce yourself

and your programs to dog people you otherwisemight never get to know. The sessions them-

selves allow you toshare your expertiseand enthusiasm face-to-face, while themessaging and photo-sharing function onthe page itself helpsbuild community. Alltold, it’s a powerfulway to bring new peo-

ple into the AKC family.If you would like to learn more about setting up

a Meetup group, for CGC or other AKC-relatedprograms, contact Mara Bovsun at [email protected].

BOVSUN, cont’d

CGC

Mee

tups



I was very disappointed to hear at the MarchDelegate Caucus the prospective members of theAKC Board stating that there was no need for astrategic plan. I would argue, at a time whenthe core business of AKC has been on a 10-year

decline, that a new vision and strategic plan for thefuture of AKC is essential. Historically, the onlyprofit making product sold by AKC was dog regis-trations. Dog registrations continue to decline. Thisyear was the first in many that we didn't see adecline, only a very smallpositive change. But the per-centage of puppies beingregistered declined again, aswell as puppy registrations.However, there are some

other trends that should beof bigger concern.Conformation entriesshowed an increase, but more importantly the num-ber of dogs that make up these entries declined by25%. That means that the number of participants inconformation continues to decline. At the All-BreedClub committee meeting in March, there was muchdiscussion about declining membership in clubsand the aging of clubs. Interestingly, the datashows that clubs need new members, but that theprimary focus of getting new members is centeredaround the conformation show.So what is the general dog-owning public telling

the AKC? Surveys show that the public "respects"AKC, but they don't find AKC relevant. What else isthe public saying? Look at the dogs you see in dogparks, or dogs entering the many new organizeddog events like nose work or barn hunt. I took aquick glance at nose work events in my area, thePacific Northwest, and 80 to 90% of the dogsentered in these events are identified as purebreddogs. For the last three summers I have done a lurecoursing demonstration at a three-day dog camp onthe Oregon coast, where owners and dogs partici-pated in all types of fun activities. Ninety percent ofthe 50 dogs attending the camp were purebreds. Iwould bet that few were AKC registered. That is,because the vast majority participating in theseevents do not show their dogs, although some par-ticipate in obedience, rally and agility, but not

always AKC performance events or trials. Thegrowth of these events says the public wants to beinvolved in activities that are fun for them, fun forthe dogs, and places where they can feel successfulas a dog owner.My all-breed club, with a 50+ year history of hold-

ing annual conformation shows, has not had adecline in club membership. Ten years ago webecame one of the few all breed clubs to alsobecome a lure coursing club. We hold five trials a

year and have attracted a num-ber of new members (manyunder the age of forty). Someof these members also arehelping with our conformationshow and some have started tocompete in the show ring. Wehave many members with dualchampion dogs. The addition

of the coursing ability tests four years ago has alsohelped attract new people to our club and to ourevents (since the beginning we included all breedsand mixes at our coursing practices so the popular-ity of the CAT is no surprise to us). We have newmembers who are looking into other events to addto our club. So there are ways to grow clubs if youcast a wider net to include owners of all dogs andprovide events they are seeking.But what should the AKC do as a collective

organization? Here is where a strategic plan for thefuture is essential. This plan must be developed bythe fancy at large, not by a selected insider group.In my other life as an oceanographer, I twice hadthe privilege to be the Interim Director of theScientific Ocean Drilling Program in WashingtonDC (then the largest internationally funded pro-gram doing oceanographic research on the planet).Prior to that, I chaired the top oceanographic plan-ning committee and coordinated a committee struc-ture involving 250 scientists from the internationalcommunity serving on 12 different committees.This science program will be celebrating its 50thanniversary in 2018. The success of this programresulted from the fact that the scientific communitywas empowered to be responsible for developingthe scientific vision of the program and the strate-gic plan. If an international group of earth scientists

AKC PERSPECTUS — TIME FOR A STRATEGIC PLANNICKLAS G. PISIAS, Chintimini Kennel Club

Opin

ion

…at a time when the corebusiness of AKC has been on a10-year decline…a new vision

and strategic plan for the futureof AKC is essential…


On January 1, 2015, the AKC admitted four newbreeds to the growing list of those recognized.

The Working and Hound Groups increased by oneeach with the Herding Group adding two newmembers. Over the last ten years, many newbreeds have been recognized and they each gothrough the same process. New owner handlersmight have minimal experience showing in confor-mation. While the dogs may have been shown atsome relatively small Rare Breed shows or special-ties, most do not take advantage of their time in theMiscellaneous classes. Thus, not only are the dogsand handlers new, most judges have not even seenthe breed before, or, if they have, only a few dis-parate examples.Even though each breed has a detailed written

standard, there are certain characteristics thatmake them stand out from others in their Group.The following are the highlights of the fournewest breeds.

BERGAMASCO: Herding GroupThe Bergamasco is an ancient herding dog that

is believed to have originated in Persia. Followingtheir nomadic shepherds and flocks, some settledin the Italian Alps and became known as theBergamasco.

He is a heavy boned dog with a large head andthick tail that hangs down to the hock and curvesslightly upward at the end. The most unique char-acteristic of the breed is the coat, consisting ofthree types of hair: the undercoat, which is short,dense and oily; goat hair that is long, straight andrough; and the outer coat, that is wooly. As thedifferent types of hair weave together on variousparts of the Bergamasco’s body, the intermin-gling of the hairs forms flocks. These flocks arenot similar to the cording seen on other breeds.The flocks are “felt-like” and wider at the basethan the tips. They are large and irregular inshape. The location and degree of flocking varieson different parts of the body as the types of hairare not evenly distributed. Another unique characteristic of the breed is

their movement. Built for difficult, mountainousterrain, they are compact, possess a low center ofgravity with feet that move close to the ground.They are not built for speed and should move in aslow, calm trot either beside or slightly behindthe handler.

BOERBOEL: Working GroupThe Boerboel is a general farm

dog from South Africa that datesback to the 17th century. He is alarge mastiff type dog withexceptional strength, agility, andcourage. They are an extremelydominant breed that requiresearly socialization and training.As stated in the AKC Standard,“Boerboels that are shown incompetition should be trained toallow examination.”The skin is thick, loose, and

HIGHLIGHTS OF NEWLY RECOGNIZED BREEDSDEIDRE E. GANNON, Esquire, German Pinscher Club of America

New

Bre

eds

can come together to develop a community ownedvision for the future, then it's possible for the AKCgroup to prepare a strategic plan. My request of the

AKC Board is to empower the delegate body todevelop a vision for the AKC and move AKC into amore certain future.

PISIAS, cont’d

Opin

ion


well pigmented. Black pigmentation should beseen on lips, palate, skin and hair around theeyes, nose leather, paw pads, toenails, anus, andthe skin and hair around the genitals. Tails aretraditionally docked between the third or fourthcaudal vertebrae, but the dogs may be shownwith a natural tail that will reach the hock, butwill curve upwards slightly when moving orexcited. They are allowed to have an undershotbite up to 1/4 of an inch.

CIRNECO DELL’ETNA: Hound Group

The Cirneco, which is sometimes misnamedthe Sicilian Greyhound, is used primarily for rab-bit hunting in Sicily, though they are equallyadept at hunting other small mammals and fowl.They are found all over the island, but particu-larly in the area surrounding Mount Etna, wherethe dogs hunt on volcanic terrain. They are aremarkably hardy breed that is virtually free ofhereditary diseases.Unlike many breeds that are known to hunt by

sight or scent, the Cirneco hunts by sight, scentand hearing. They are a slender, elegant dog witha strong, independent nature while being gentleand affectionate. They are inquisitive and intelli-gent. They have and will excel at multiple activi-ties. They are elegant and have a sprightly gaitthat is sure to catch the eye of the judges.

SPANISH WATER DOG: Herding Group

The Spanish Water Dog is an ancient rusticbreed adapted to the wetlands and coastal moun-tains of the Spanish shores. They have a strongherding instinct and will sometimes try to herdanything that moves including children, whichshould be discouraged as they will nip at disobe-dient charges. They also respond quickly to sud-den sounds and movement.The coat is wooly in texture and will curl. Cords

will form as the coat grows longer. They are arustic breed that, for aesthetic reasons, is notgroomed or clipped. The body and head shouldbe covered with hair between 1 inch and 5 inches.In their native land, they are usually sheared oncea year with the sheep.Tails are traditionally docked between the sec-

ond and fourth vertebrae, but may be shown witha full tail. Some are naturally bobtailed which canrange from almost no tail to almost a full tail.They are a high energy dog that excels at multi-ple activities. An intelligent breed, they requiremental stimulation as well as physical activity.They should not be timid or shy, but are naturallysuspicious of strangers.

GANNON, cont’d

New

Bre

eds

Back to Table of Contents

February12 Board Meeting13 Board Meeting

March9 Delegate Committe Meetings10 Delegate/Board Meetings11 Board Meeting

April20 Board Meeting21 Board Meeting

June 7 Delegate Committee Meetings8 Delegate/Board Meetings9 Board Meeting

JANUARY 2015 S M T W T F S

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

FEBRUARY 2015 S M T W T F S

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

MARCH 2015 S M T W T F S

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

APRIL 2015 S M T W T F S

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

MAY 2015 S M T W T F S

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

JUNE 2015 S M T W T F S

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

July20 Board Meeting21 Board Meeting

September10 Board Meeting11 Delegate Committee Meetings12 Delegate Meeting

October19 Board Meeting20 Board Meeting

December9 Board Meeting10 Delegate Committee Meetings11 Delegate Meeting

JULY 2015 S M T W T F S

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

AUGUST 2015 S M T W T F S

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

SEPTEMBER 2015 S M T W T F S

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

OCTOBER 2015 S M T W T F S

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

NOVEMBER 2015 S M T W T F S

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

DECEMBER 2015 S M T W T F S

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

January NO MEETING

May NO MEETING

August NO MEETING

November NO MEETING

CURRENT BOARD & DELEGATE MEETINGS

2015All meetings, except December, are in the NYC/NJ area.The December meeting is in Orlando, FL.

Documents

In this issues3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/americankennelclub/...tees, and on our jam-packed committee meeting days, have to give up their lunch time to attend. As with all other members