Views from a Delegate

Never take a red-eye flight!

First of all, you have to wait until the end of the day, most likely after midnight, and you are sleepy. Have you tried to sleep on a plane when the person next to you takes up two seats and one of them is yours?!

When I arrived at the airport in Newark after what seemed like forever, I took the tram to the place where the hotel shuttles pick up people. I called the Doubletree in Newark, which is near a prison! They said the shuttle runs every 30 minutes, which was fine. I waited and I waited and I waited, and then I saw the Doubletree shuttle. Lots of young kids were also waiting in line and the shuttle driver said to me, “Are you going to the Doubletree?” Where did he think I was going … to the prison?!

The good thing is they had my room ready, so I was able to rest and get some sleep … for a while. A group of us, most of which are members of the EBC (Elite Breakfast Club), went out to dinner and had a great time. The weather was cold and at times very windy. The restaurants around the hotel are mostly Portuguese or Mexican, and the one we went to was good but noisy, but of course we added to the noise. Fun time was had by all. 

There were complaints about the Doubletree. One was from people who drove to the meeting: They had no place to park at the hotel and some had to park in the parking lot of the hotel next door and walk to the Doubletree. The TV at times did not work. There were complaints about the food in the restaurants. Chicken is the State Bird of Lunch as long as I have been a delegate since 2007.

Oh, well, I will stop complaining, as I got to meet lots of nice delegates and that made it all worthwhile.

On Monday, which is Committee Meetings day, our Dog Show Committee, of which I am a member, met in the morning. We had nine items on our agenda, one of which involved superintendents and show secretaries. This was first introduced to the delegate body (after being sent to the Board, which sent it to us, where it should have been sent the first time) by Bob Eisele of the Suffolk County Kennel Club in which he proposed that the show secretaries should be approved to be the on-site secretary for at least 12 all-breed and group shows.

Many small clubs are having problems finding a show superintendent in isolated areas of the country. At the December Dog Show Rules Committee meting, I was asked to head the subcommittee to come up with some ideas to help these clubs. Our committee had four Zoom meetings and worked very hard to come up with a proposal. In the meantime, we found out that AKC staff was doing the same thing. Why our subcommittee was not told of this I do not know, and in fact it does not matter, as we came up with some of the same ideas. We discussed it with Bobby Christensen, president of the DSSA, who surveyed the other superintendents.  

Show Trial Manual

Add a definition of Show Secretary and On-Site Show Secretary to the Show Trial Manual along with the responsibilities associated with each.

Include the AKC Approved On-Site Show Secretaries’ Program in the Manual.

Add to the Program for On-Site Show Secretaries:

An AKC field rep must meet with the club in person or via electronic media at least one month prior to a club’s having its first approved show utilizing on On-Site Show Secretary.  The purpose would be to approve the equipment and the set up. This review would include equipment for both Conformation and Companion Events, if applicable.  A report would be sent back to staff. 

An On-Site Show Secretary must be knowledgeable in the various regulations and policies governing All Breed and Group shows as well as those governing Companion events.

Results – an app must be developed to enable On-Site Show Secretaries to submit results electronically for all breed and group shows within 6 months following the introduction of this program.  The app would also have the same capability for Show Secretaries of specialty shows.

The limit of 500 entries per show is paramount to the success of this program and must be strictly adhered to.

All Show Secretaries and On-Site Show Secretaries will be subject to the same restrictions applied to Superintendents and Show Secretaries per Chapter 9, Sec. 12 paragraph 7 and Chapter 11, Sec. 12 of the Rules Applying to Dog Shows.

Rule Change - We recommend amending the proposed rule change as follows.

This has gone to our DSRC and also to the AKC staff for presentation to the AKC Board at their next meeting.

There was also a presentation by Tim Thomas regarding Chapter 16, Section 2, Championships points for Group placements. The committee voted yes to send to Board for their comments and then sent to the delegate body for a vote. At the Coordinating Committee, Gail LaBerge stated that there was a suggestion to allow three-legged dogs into obedience and rally.  Rally judges can now judge Beginner Novice. There are a lot of clubs dropping obedience, and also there is a shortage of new judges coming along.

AKC President Dennis Sprung presented some year-end results from 2021. Registration was more than 325,000 litters – the first  time in 13 years and more than 800,000 individual dogs, most since 2008. Importantly, the number of unique breeders climbed 15 percent, making 2021 the seventh consecutive year of increase.

Shows and entries recovered very strongly as the year progressed; total entries over 3,200,000, up 73 percent from 2020. Conformation was up by 627, Agility 397, FCAT 82 and Scent plus 80.  Second highest year in terms of number of events: 22,413.

Ted Phillips gave the financial report, with income from Registration and Event Fees, $74.7M; Advertising, Sponsorship and Royalties was $16.5M; Product and Service was $12.8M. Some of the expenses: Professional fees was over $13.4M; Staff, $33.8M.

The Portuguese Podengo Pequeno Club of American was voted as a member club.

The new slate of AKC Board of Directors was automatically elected, as there were no other candidates for the three positions on the board. Those were Ann Wallin (Atlanta KC), Harold “Red” Tatro III (Fort Worth KC) and Christopher L. Sweetwood (Trap Falls KC). This is for the Class of 2026. Voted and passed was a vote on the amendment to Section 111, 1 of the Delegate Standing Rule on Committees which amends the Committee’s name and include Scent Work.   

At the Delegate Meeting, there was a touching video about Ron Menaker, former chairman of the board and a dear friend of mine. Dennis Sprung spoke of his memories of Ron and his history and the great, humanitarian things he did for so many people. Chairman of the Board Tom Davies also spoke of Ron and the many things he had done. Dennis and Tom both got very emotional when speaking, and there were many in the audience who also were weeping, including me.

Speaking of Ron Menaker, I do not know of anyone who did not like Ron. He was one of a kind in my lifetime, and was always there for you. If you needed a good doctor and were having problems finding one, especially in an emergency situation, he would find one for you. I remember when the late Tom Conway, former judge and great friend of mine, was very ill and needed to find a great hospital to help him with lots of good doctors. Ron called me and said that he had arranged for Tom to be transferred from his hospital in Riverside, California, to the best hospital in San Diego.

Unfortunately, Tom was not able to be transferred and he passed away, but Ron was there at every point of the way and the journey for my dear friend. He and Ron and Frank Sabella are all up in the best part of Heaven, talking and having fun, and one day I shall join them. Rest in peace and know you were loved, dear Ron.