Editorial: March 19, 2021

What’s New Is Old Again

The annual meeting of the American Kennel Club was held last Tuesday, at which the annual election of the next class of directors was voted on by the delegates. There were 372 delegates voting, so 187 votes were needed to be elected. There were six delegates running for the four available seats. The nominating committee, selected by the seated directors, nominated the four seated directors from the Class of 2021 as their choice to be re-elected for the Class of 2025. The four seated directors were Rita Biddle, delegate from the Ingham County Kennel Club; Dominic Carota, delegate from the Pharaoh Hound Club of America; Thomas Davies, delegate from the Springfield Kennel Club, and Thomas Powers, delegate from the Kennel Club of Beverly Hills. The other delegates nominated from the floor were Pat Cruz, delegate from the Heart of the Plains Kennel Club and a former director trying to be re-elected after sitting out one year due to term limits, and Gregory Paveza, delegate from the Elm City Kennel Club, trying again to be elected for the first time. The four seated directors won re-election on the first ballot with the following votes: Biddle, 247; Carota, 282; Davies, 229; Powers, 208; Cruz, 207, and Paveza, 141 (needed 187). Following the election, Tom Davies was selected as board chairman and Dominic Carota vice chairman. 

 

What’s Old Is New Again

Thanks to the speeded-up vaccine distribution by the government and the advent of spring compliments of Mother Nature, there are more and more dog shows being held around the country. While show dates and venues are different from the past, and opening and closing dates different as well, exhibitors are finding their way around these obstacles and getting their dogs entered. April will see at least 24 states holding events. A huge increase that will no doubt see more of our judges who have been idle, many by choice, during this past year. As mentioned in our last issue of Dog News, two of our most important and looked-forward-to events, the Westminster Kennel Club and the Morris & Essex Kennel Club shows, are moving ahead with their planned events. But word from across the pond is not so encouraging, as there is talk of the July Crufts Dog Show being cancelled. Problems facing the Crufts committee: the limited amount of dogs that would be able to be entered and that part of the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham is being used as a hospital site during this COVID-19 outbreak in England.