Regional business of several kinds

Happy Thursday everyone,

There are several things afoot that you need to be aware of. The General Board meeting is coming in just over a month and that means busy…

1. If you or any member of your club is planning on attending the National Championship in Davenport, IA, IT IS IMPERATIVE that you get a delegate letter sent in. According to all the rules, that letter must be RECEIVED by Sara Wallick by October 5, 2009. As you will see below, there are several issues confronting us that your participation is vital to. The instructions and forms are available at http://www.germanshepherddog.com/members/forms/index.htm. If your club cannot send a delegate, but is willing to trust someone outside the club who is going to the meeting, consider making them a club member, and submit a revised club membership form along with your delegate letter. I’ll probably catch some flak for that suggestion, as it does violate the spirit if not the letter of the law.



2. The only trophy left on the nationals web site is for high scoring Pacific Northwest dog.I have convinced my wife to sponsor the trophy in the name of her business, K9FUNdamentals. I would have suggested the Regional Fund sponsor it, but that requires a full vote, and I wanted that hole plugged fast – it is embarrassing that ours was the last region to get our trophy sponsored. If you have a problem with this, please contact me privately.



3. At an Executive Board conference call on Sept. 28, a variety of items were discussed. Among them…
   
   • Please be sure that, if you schedule an SV judge, you allow LOTS of time to get the paperwork done. The hangup is not Stephanie Dunion – she gets stuff turned around pretty quick. It’s on the SV end. In addition, be very careful to ensure that any FCI judge you might wish to use also is properly documented. There was a recent case with an SV judge attempting to over-book a trip to the states by doing the excess trials under an FCI license that now appears to be invalid. Check with Nathaniel Roque, our new DOJ, if there is a question.
   
   
   • No bids have been submitted for the Working Dog Championships in 2010, and only one bid has been received for the Nationals next fall; that is from a club that has never even hosted a Regional, as far as they (WC/NE committee) can tell. Experienced clubs are needed to host these events; if none come forward, there is talk of the National Organization picking a location and running everything from the top. I’m not sure how that works, but it’s probably similar to the way the Sieger show is run.
     
   
   
4. A number of bylaws changes were discussed, and I will get you the final proposed changes as soon as they are complete. I can fill you in on the gist of a couple of them, however. Keep in mind these are PROPOSEDbylaws changes – they’ll get voted on at the GBM:
   
   
   • Article IV, Section 2 would be amended to prohibit any USA member from being a member of any competing German Shepherd organization in the US. Several other sections of the bylaws require modification to fit with this change. The clear and intentional ramification of this is that you cannot be a member of USA and a member of either WDA or GSDCA at the same time. I am fully aware that this will be a real problem for a number of folks, and even at least one club in our region. I plan on taking my cue on this vote from the clubs and individual members in the region, so I look forward to hearing from you on this. Please help out all of us, though, and refrain from sending hot-tempered responses to everyone on this mailing list. If you want to send them to me, that’s fine.
     
   
   
   • A couple of other changes, definitely for the better in my opinion – a forming club can go straight to full status (no affiliation trial) if they’ve been an AWDF-member club for 4 years and hosted trials;
     
   • the annual trial requirement would be changed to say “any USA-sponsored event” – i.e., a helper seminar and classification, etc.;
     
   • Club dues would be due June 1 everywhere for every club – after 60 days you drop to affiliate status;
     
   • the Executive Board will shrink by 1 or 2 members.

I submitted my own club (Big Sky) for the GEC Regional award, and I have one other club that I am browbeating into submitting a nomination. The deadline was extended, so if your club can use $250…

Thanks for sitting thru a long email. I hope training is going well for everyone and that at the very least, you’re enjoying each others’ company.

Yours in the sport,
Warren Jones
PNW RD