Time for a change?

[Retrievers ONLINE]

All the recent discussion about how CKC Rule changes come about is a déjà vu for me but nonetheless of great interest. Now that I am south “Doing Dogs” instead of “Talking Dogs”, I struggled to fit this in BUT it is surely very important to me and to many other serious trialers and hunt testers!

I thought about a better way. What would you think if the world looked like this?

1. We have a National organization (CKC?) dominated by show and obedience but nonetheless committed to Field trials and hunt tests.
2. All event giving clubs must be members and follow procedures.
3. Participants don’t have to be members but to contribute must belong to a club.
4. A monthly magazine is published to offer expert insight into relevant topics for serious owners as opposed to cursory looks at pet issues.
5. A retriever council is appointed (elected?) composed of the recognized top participants in the game in Canada.
6. They communicate throughout the year and consider issues of interest and develop proposals for “game” improvement. They phone, e-mail and discuss amongst themselves AND OTHERS
7. At each National they convene a meeting in which all clubs have a rep and are presented with all proposals for the year. The club reps and others can ask questions, voice opinions and discuss issues proposed. This happens at the National Open and the National Amateur and Master National (Imagine a room full of 50 club reps that are committed to being present for these annual meetings!). Discussion continues at trials and thoughout the year!
8. At the end of the year final proposals are submitted to all member clubs and voted upon. The results are “rubber stamped” by the ”motherhood” in 1 meeting.
9. The new rules become effective based on the voted results or tabled based on the results.
10. Clubs and individuals continue the process the next year.

Is this a pipe dream?

NO WAY. This is exactly how the AKC and Retriever Advisory committee operates. I have seen it work, year after year.

The current CKC process is weak!
I SUGGEST THAT THE FASTEST WAY TO CHANGE IT IS FOR THE CURRENT REPS TO SIMPLY VOICE THEIR DISAPPROVAL OF THE PROCESS TO THE CKC. WE DO NOT HAVE TO GO THROUGH A LONG ARDOUS TASK OF ORGANIZING ALL CLUBS TO VOICE THEIR VIEWS. RETRIEVER COUNCIL REPS CAN SIMPLY DEMAND CHANGES TO THE PROCESS AND INSIST ON A MODEL LIKE THE ABOVE. IT COULD BE CHANGED IN A YEAR! DAMN THE EXCUSES OF MONEY AND TIME. IT'S ALL ABOUT WILL AND EFFORT!

Dennis

[krakadawn]

Dennis you are right on the mark-"The current CKC process is weak!"

The format you have referenced would be a huge step for us here in Canada but one that would present so many possibilities to refine and enhance our game-it has that element of 'by the people for the people and with the people'

We have some CKC reps here on the forum -hopefully they will respond to your post with their thoughts .

I see over 100 people have viewed your post yet no responses.One would have to ask why????
Are we Retriever people that apathetic about our game?
Is there a lack of understanding of why this post?
Are folks content with the status quo?
Perhaps we'll see some responses from our folks.

Jim

[Tim]

Dennis you are right on the mark-"The current CKC process is weak!"

The format you have referenced would be a huge step for us here in Canada but one that would present so many possibilities to refine and enhance our game-it has that element of 'by the people for the people and with the people'

We have some CKC reps here on the forum -hopefully they will respond to your post with their thoughts .

I see over 100 people have viewed your post yet no responses.One would have to ask why????
Are we Retriever people that apathetic about our game?
Is there a lack of understanding of why this post?
Are folks content with the status quo?
Perhaps we'll see some responses from our folks.

Jim

I was one of the readers, so I'll respond. I don't run CKC F/T or H/T just HRC , so I thought to comment on what Dennis said would be inappropriate since I haven't had any dealings with the CKC or the CKC regulations.
But... since I've chimed in now, I agree it makes sense that the individual interest groups ( HT,FT, OB, etc) would regulate themselves and the CKC would be the sanctioning organization that would "rubber-stamp" any changes forwarded by the various regulatory committees and alter the rulebook to reflect those changes when necessary.
This would be a good change but it would require alot of cooperation between all parties to make it happen, unfortunately when an organization is asked to give up control of something they are generally resistant to the changes.
JMHO

[Misty Marsh]

I think that this type of process would be a great step is giving those most involved in the sport have a "say" instaed of sitting back with a "O well" I can't do anything about it becuase I'm so far out of the loop attitude! It's alway's 1-2% making the decisions for the 98-99% of the people, and it's not fair. I have told my local club executive, who's alway's asking for help with trials, and fund raising that if they want more people to get involved and take ownership of thier club that they should consider letting the membership have a say/vote in the clubs direction, but as Tim mentioned releasing control is a scary thing to some, especially those who want to control the direction for thier personal agendas.

[luvmylabs]

It is a great idea in theory, but there seems to be a general apathy amongst a lot the clubs and the club members on this subject. Heather, in her thread, said she had little feedback from the clubs in her area. Was this because her email did not get down to the membership, or most of the membership didn't care enough to answer her email? I remember a few years ago when Dennis put that questionaire into Online. The answers were compiled and sent to the appropriate people. I later found out that few of the answers to that questionaire were taken notice of at all. As well, I thought?? I was told that less then half of the people even bothered to fill it out and send it in. Until the members themselves start to take an interest, it is going to be difficult to convince the CKC to change the way the process works.

Anne

[Tom Murray]

Hi Dennis
I think your article is very insightfull, and I wholeheartedly agree we do need the change. The ideas you propose are exactly what we need to do in order to protect and preserve our sport. The only problem I can foresee is the general apathy within the field trial community itself. We need to become more pro-active.
Marg

[Bryan.M]

I for one am not aware of the current rule changes,but am all for change.The solutions Dennis has made only make sense.Perhaps putting the people most involved in trials in charge would rejuvinate our game,and attract more new blood into this fine sport.I am new to the field trial game and have noticed the numbers of participants has been dwindling,especially in the west.The last thing I want to see is for either of my dogs placing in a trial as they were only one of four entrants.I guess it boils down to,It's all up to us.

Regards Bryan.