[ SHOWGSD-L ] The club problems, as I see it

  • From: InquestGSD@xxxxxxx
  • To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 17:41:18 EST

I have to say thank you to you all for the amount of emails I've gotten  
today regarding the state of many of our specialty clubs.
 
Below I will state all the problems about starting a new club.  It has  
nothing to do with AKC, they will bend over backwards to have  more club$$$$.  
But 
having to face all the problems below makes it  very tempting to try to 
"rescue" a dying club, at the risk of contributing to  the problems and not 
coming 
up with any new and effective solutions.
 
This is my take on specialty clubs:
 
It is a sad state, when you find out that many clubs have to survive on  
monetary donations from the members to be able to pay their bills, renewals, 
and  
put on a show. 
 
It is a sad state when over and over you hear about clubs that have members  
in paper, people who pay their membership as a requirement, or a stepping 
stone,  towards their judging license, and don't attend meetings, or work for 
the  
club.
 
It is a sad state when you have so many clubs run by one or two people,  
because no one else wants to work, to the extent that out of area  exhibitors 
have 
to help with the shows.
 
What are we learning here?   What is the purpose of having a  breed club?
 
I have learned that for many years a specialty club was thought of as the  
group of conformation show people, who could not be bothered with any of the  
performance events....that perception is slowly changing, but it has cost us  
many people.
 
I always thought that breed clubs were to be heavily involved with public  
education, but I am finding out this is not the case. Many people are  asking 
me 
what a Meet the Breed board is, they have never seen or use one.   I will 
post later on that alone, so many people have asked for  this information.
 
I have learned that if you have a club member with money, this person will  
finance the club activities, and pretty much call the shots when it comes to  
activities, judges etc.....is this what we want?   
 
How about requiring members to attend a minimum of let's say 2 or 3  meetings 
per year to keep their memberships active, and participate in a match,  a 
show, an educational program?  Or is this too demanding? How can you say  this 
is 
too demanding and them complain about having no one to work at the  clubs?  
What if this clause was part of the membership application, that  way everyone 
would know what they are getting themselves into.  And be held  accountable.
 
What is the solution to all these problems?   Is our sport  aging?  Are we 
witnessing the end of dog clubs/dog shows as we know  them?  
 
We have discussed over and over the surge and growth you see in the  
performance events.
I spoke to many people just this last weekend, people who were active in  the 
breed ring (read conformation ring), who are now involved in the performance  
rings exclusively.  7 out of 10 cited money, or the lack of, for the  
changes.  The rest are enjoying the participation with their dogs, not  having 
to pay 
a handler.  These were GSD people, Corgi people, Sheltie  people, Rotti 
people.....you get the picture, don't you?
 
I am not light about this, I am honestly asking for input.   I would like to 
help other clubs stay alive.  But yelling at me, insulting  me, and trying to 
make me the bad guy is NOT the way to go about  it.  I'll just ignore you.  
But the problem still  exist.  I am not mad, I am sad that things are this way, 
and so many have  their heads stuck in the sand and can't or won't see what's 
happening. I have  always believed that the message is just as important as 
the delivery, is not as  much what you say but how you say it. 
 
We can get our heads together and find solutions to these problems, or you  
all can bang your heads together and be nasty at each other. 
 
For now, I am spent.
 
Ileana
 
 
 
 

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