TWO DELEGATES FROM ONE CLUB???? When a Delegate is elected to the Board of Directors of the American Kennel Club where does his or her fiduciary obligation belong? To the Member club or to AKC? It is a determined legal fact that the obligation of the individual is to the Corporation and not to the Member Club itself. The problem arises of course when there is a conflict between the interests of the Member Club and the AKC. How should the individual vote? On paper he or she should vote in the best interest of the corporation, the AKC. That situation is further exasperated when the club threatens the Board Member/Delegate with the loss of his or her seat if they do not vote the club demands. All too often today is that sort of conflict on the upswing. The way to fix the problem in the eyes of these pages is to permit any club which “loses” its Delegate to the Board elect another Delegate to vote on the day-to-day issues which confront the Delegates themselves and to take away from the sitting Board Member the privilege to directly vote on matters which affect the Delegates generally. The Board Member should be restricted to voting only on matters that come before the Board and not the Delegate Body per se. This would of course require a major change in thinking and philosophy from the Delegates and the Clubs themselves but would enable the Board to act more independently and with less pressure from the Delegates. Additionally it would ensure the member Clubs that their Delegate is voting in the interest of the Club, which should be its paramount interest with which to begin. May be a hard concept for some to accept but ultimately to assure a “fair and impartial” Board vote which considers the needs of the corporation as its paramount obligation this is the only solution possible. And of course the likelihood of this kind of thinking was dealt a severe negative blow at the Bylaws Committee meeting when a discussion of the value of appointing non-delegates to the Board initiated by Gretchen Bernardi seemed to dissolve into the use of outside consultants by the Board instead. There appeared to be no resolution to Mrs. Bernardi’s input on the subject although the 10 Dog News
The
Editorial september 27, 2013
Committee suggested “that while outside consultants are valuable when needed there is no pressing need to appoint them to the Board at this time”!!!! What in the world do outside consultants have to do with the idea of appointing non-delegate members to the Board! Someone either deliberately missed the point of Mrs. Bernardi’s suggestion or sidewinded it totally. THE APHIS 250 It is reported that the 250 slots for the APHIS telephone call held on Thursday the 19th were all filled. Depending upon to whom one spoke it was either a massive bust or a great achievement. Probably somewhere between either extreme falls the truth of its success or failure. Credit AKC with taking a lead here for its constituents and breeders and the Legislative Offices headed by Sheila Goffe for setting the pace in these areas. If there has been one department at AKC which through thick and thin has performed with the fullest and highest of expectations it has been that one. The sale of dogs sight unseen on the Internet is something that must be regulated or attempted to be regulated for sure. An attempt is made in this new law, that is apparent. And while so many people want less interference from the federal government than more certainly this is a place where the USDA can and should exercise its muscle for sure. Not only should this provision about the sale of sight unseen dogs cause at least a glitch in Internet sales it should also affect the puppy farm sale and some of those unscrupulous East European dog sellers to America. AKC REUNITE Well a new name for an existing but expanded operation has come forth. AKC CAR has changed its name to what they consider to be less of a mouthful than the AKC CARanimal recovery organization and will now be known as AKC REUNITE. What with 18 years behind them and known as CAR with over 5 million pets enrolled in their services and revenues up over 10% this year over last the desire to do even better, especially with products and services offered directly to consumers was overwhelming. Together with the marketing agency they hired it was decided to soften its corporate look, connect with consumers, update its web site and improve its tag line and come up with a new identity AKC REUNITE, the way home for lost pets! The fund has in the past had the ability to generate revenue and to protect dogs and cats and other pets too. Now if they can succeed in collecting bad debts from some prior sales all would appear rosy although these pages must admit that after all this time AKC CAR has become a well known and accepted entity in its area of expertise. In this age of social media many name
changes seem to be de rigueur. The next thing to be changed as we understand it is the mixed breed category into that of the All-American dog! And it would seem that Reunite - oops AKC REUNITE - is to donate the foundation money for the newly announced AKC Pet Disaster Relief trailers for communities in need. A $250,000 seed has been supplied by REUNITE and each club--member and non-member-- is being asked to donate at least $1,000 to defray the cost of a fully stocked and delivered trailer, which costs $22,000. A Club’s logo will appear on the side of the trailer it sponsors and the larger the donation the larger the logo so that if a disaster hits your community one’s Club’s logo will be on the trailer telling the world how much you care for the pets in one’s community. And of course this can be networked into many clubs in one area working with local Emergency Management teams. And this is where the caveat must enter the picture-the ability to work with the local Emergency Management team must be established in advance of a potential disaster as there is nothing like the unschooled breaking into a Community’s planning without prior training, negotiations and the like. This is truly a joint venture idea which hopefully will be a two way street for all to be accomplished and successfully at that too. THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK Montgomery is soon upon us and these four days of dog shows culminate on Sunday with the great Montgomery Dog Show, which of course is limited to terriers only. It is with heavy heart most approach the weekend as one of the mainstays of our dog show world generally and the terrier world specifically is very ill. Walter F. Goodman, who in August turned 91, is quite sick. Montgomery without Walter seems an impossibility but anyone of us who new him is aware of how he would want the show to go on as though he were in our midst. And should the inevitable occur prior to the show Walter would be proud to know that despite his not being there we will act as though he is there for in spirit he certainly shall be with each and everyone of us in attendance.