President's report to the
AWDF
April 1, 2005
Sport friends,
I would like to begin by welcoming fellow
judges Paavo Rapila and Richard Kornherr, as well as all working-dog enthusiasts,
to our 2005 American Working Dog Federation Championship. Special thanks
go out to the members of our hosting club, the Cumberland Valley Schutzhund
& Police club. Throughout the weekend, please remember to treat
all of the facilities that are included in our event with the utmost care
and respect.
I mentioned at last year's meeting that communication
between our member clubs needed to be improved in order to better serve
our organization. That being said, I spent this past year trying
to keep in touch with each club. I feel that by doing this I was
able to resolve some small issues before they became problems. I
want to thank everyone for being so open with me during the last year,
it really makes the job of president so much easier when everyone is contributing.
Since becoming a full member of the working
commission, I've been included in numerous e-mails regarding policy and
rules within the working commission. Being a member club gives us
a chance to help develop rules, to sit on committees and be kept abreast
of rules changes and/or updates within the international working community.
Last year I spoke of trying to develop the
RH program here in America. We now have a couple of RH1 dogs here
in America, and there certainly will be more to follow. In today's
climate, with
all of the anti-working-dog legislation being
introduced across our country, the positive PR our working animals will
receive from programs such as the RH is extremely important. I plan
to continue to explore new ideas that will help to create a positive image
of our working animals.
A question that kept coming up before our
last yearly meeting was, what can the AWDF do for me? Some of the
issues we have worked on this last year have been the anti-working-dog
legislations. Without the help and support of our membership, anti-working-dog
legislation would have seriously affected our members in New Jersey
and Illinois.
This board is currently taking steps to ensure
continued support of all working-dog events throughout our country.
More on this during our committee reports. We're making strides with our
PR work, and a video is being developed to help explain our working-dog
enthusiasm. New programs, such as the RH, have been introduced and
promoted. As mentioned above, I have had regular communication with
our European friends, that has included new rules updates, potential program
additions, and changes in policies. In turn I have passed this information
along to our delegates.
An area I hope we will continue to support
is the Handler Owned and Trained concept. Last year we were
able to send several of our members to compete in the USA's HOT tournament.
I would hope we can continue to create opportunities for our members who
raise and train dogs from the ground up, so to speak. I feel as if
this is where the majority of our membership comes from, so it would only
make sense to try to find ways to support our majority.
I would also like to thank those members who
were chosen to represent our organization at the FCI championship last
year. I know how hard they trained and prepared to represent us at this
event, only to have the trial canceled. Again, thank you all for
your hard work.
I believe we are begining to have a more united
effort between member clubs. This translates to several positives for our
organization. For example, our biggest member, United Schutzhund
Clubs of America, is formulating a plan to begin accepting all member clubs'
judges' performance titles. This is a very positive step for us,
as it opens the door for more opportunities for our membership in the area
of judging and trial participation.
USA also has developed a teaching-helper program
that will be open to all of our members. What I'm saying isn't about telling
you all about United Schutzhund Clubs of America; rather, it's about
how our members are gaining options by using USA and other member
organizations as resources for our working dogs.
Another instance of working toward a common
goal comes with design of a new helper-selection process for our championship.
We were able to select our choices from more than 20 qualified helpers.
This is quite a change from just a few years ago.
Still another plus for our organization is
that NAWATA, (Airedale club) has reapplied for membership.
In closing, I would like to thank everyone
for your support and wish the best of luck to all of the competitors.
Al Govednik
President AWDF
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