Say A Little Prayer

I wonder if I initially felt comfortable in the dog world because I am an Episcopalian.

We are also pretty rigid traditionalists who don’t like change.

We don’t like to sit in a different seat, on a different pew, and especially don’t like it when someone sits in ours. 

We are either early-service attendees or second-service attendees, and we dislike having to join the other.

And we consider Coffee Hour the eighth sacrament.

We Episcopalians are the first to acknowledge those tendencies, and we even make jokes about it. But the truth is that churches, at least traditional denominations, are in trouble. Churches, even before the COVID crisis, were starting to acknowledge declining enrollments, and since the start of the pandemic, it’s gotten worse. 

Maybe that’s because many churches, like mine, are viewed as too rigid and unable to embrace change. Maybe that’s because many churches are not viewed as welcoming.

Or maybe, to paraphrase author Carey Nieuwhof, churches have been passionate only about keeping the few people they have inside their walls, rather than being passionate about reaching the people outside their walls.

The same could be said of our clubs. 

We’ve all heard stories about, and even experienced, over the years, the closed ranks in our clubs, both all-breed and parent. About newbies who were discouraged and even hurt when they were shunned or spurned in their efforts to get involved in club activities, and, heaven forbid, offer new ideas.  About insulting and unwelcoming processes for membership, even for those with years of active participation in breeding and sports. 

We’ve all heard of, and even experienced, clubs whose reins (and purse strings) have been held for years by the same cabal. And while new members (and to be clear, they rarely are afforded “full” membership status immediately) are welcome to pitch in and do specific, assigned, menial tasks, their ingenuity and opinions are not welcome. When those folks get frustrated and leave, their resignations are offered as evidence that they lacked commitment to the club and the breed. “Good riddance,” the old guard sniffs.

And the kiss of death — dare to be a relatively new person to breed and have success with your dogs at shows. Be recognized for your dog being an exemplary representative of breed type, in stark contrast to many others in the ring (assuming those among the old guard are even breeding anymore), and prepare yourself for scorn and exile. Try to mentor others who wish to break into your breed, and you’ll be lucky if you are ever elevated beyond trash pick-up duty at your national.

Meanwhile, your club’s delegate to the AKC hasn’t bred a litter or shown in decades, attends the delegate meetings but fails to engage in much other than socializing while in attendance, and fails to provide a substantive report back to the club members. And so, your club’s interests essentially go unrepresented, and it has little influence over the future of the AKC.

Here’s where I’ll share a dirty little secret: That makes yours one of AKC’s favorite clubs. 

Specifically, yours with the delegate of 25-plus years, no longer meaningfully engaged in the sport or breeding, who enjoys the meetings as a chance to catch up with friends, who never asks questions, much less rocks the boat, who sings the praises of the AKC board and executive suite, whose loyalty is bought and paid for with a 25-year pin and lukewarm chicken lunch, for another 25.

That club recalcitrance ensures AKC recalcitrance.

Those officers and key members, firmly entrenched, unwilling to welcome new blood or entertain their new ideas, ensure that AKC stays the same: same board, same leadership, same emphasis on financial enrichment rather than mission fulfillment. 

AKC isn’t going to change until the delegate body changes. And the delegate body isn’t going to change until the clubs change. 

So what’s it going to be — is yours going to be a club that is only passionate about keeping the few people already on the inside? Or is yours going to be a club passionate about reaching people on the outside?

Here’s a thought: Start with a mandatory rotation of your club’s AKC delegate position. Don’t call it “term limits”; term limits freak people out. Just change out the club’s delegate every four years, at least. And better yet — give the responsibility to a newbie. It’s a great way for new folks to learn. 

And don’t stop there. Rotate officers, board members, committee chairs, show chairmen. Hold new-member drives. Find ways to engage in community outreach. There’s no end to the ways your club can find its passion for its mission once again. And find ways to force AKC to fulfill its.

Otherwise, we don’t have a prayer.