AKC Delegate: Holly Stump

Contact: delegate@amstaff.org

January 16th 2011

 

Dear STCA Membership,
I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some of my thoughts as I begin my third term as the AKC delegate for the STCA. In this role I am empowered to represent the wishes and opinions of our club to the AKC. Keeping this in mind, it is your responsibility to communicate your thoughts and ideas to the STCA board and/or myself on materials and issues related to the AKC. In doing so your input can be discussed and taken into account as the club officers formulate their directives to me relating to matters before the delegate body. This past September I was voted in by the delegate body as a member of the delegates standing committee on health and I have already begun to contribute toward meeting their objectives. The AKC will have a very full plate this year trying to come up with new ways to generate revenue as registrations continue to decline drastically. Peak registrations in 1992 topped out at 1.5 million dogs. Today we face a 60% decline bringing the number down to about 600,000. Our breed is down 12% in just the past 3 years to 1085 registrations. Things at AKC cannot remain status quo with this loss. Veterinary scholarships, the government relations department, contributions of over 1 million dollars annually to the Canine Health Foundation, the 6 million dollar budget of the inspections / compliance department which helps to ensure care and condition standards are met while inspecting kennels for proper record keeping and DNA parent verification will all be subjects to cuts. The junior scholarship program and ACE recognition program would also be in jeopardy. The events department has historically run at a loss, which can no longer continue since there are no excess funds to cover the expenses. Programs will need to be cut and events will cost clubs and therefore exhibitors more money unless new initiatives are taken to increase revenue from alternative sources. Please keep all of this in mind as programs and ideas are introduced. The changes may not be the sort of things you would otherwise propose; yet they may be necessary in order to survive. On the same note if breeders within the fancy registered all of their puppies things would not look quite as bleak. Right now only about 50% of "our" puppies are getting registered. In 2011, the AKC staff and board will again look at the task of realigning the groups. The Breeder of Merit program will continue to be developed and refined, a 4-6 month puppy class will be explored and an owner handler/division culminating with Best in Show may be instituted. Our club will most likely work toward carting being recognized as a parent club endorsed title to be recognized by the AKC. The STCA has not been able to participate in the first two stand alone meet the breed events in NYC because we have not had the necessary volunteers, in part because our National Specialty dates have been very close to overlapping. I hope that we might be able to find a way to participate this year. Please consider volunteering if it is at all possible for you. I think it is a public relations opportunity we simply cannot afford to miss. Along these same lines, the meet the breeds that runs in conjunction with the Eukanuba Championship show will need a fresh set of volunteers since the venue moves from Long Beach, CA to Orlando, Fl this year (December 17th & 18th). Again, I would like to make myself available to you by phone (508)843-6358 and by e-mail (hollystump@hickoryhillkennel.com). I am looking forward to continuing to promote the interests of our club within the AKC by working another term as the clubs delegate. Many of you have now returned a signed waiver to receive full delegate reports from me by e-mail. If you have not yet done this and would like to do so, please download one from the delegate page of the STCA web site or contact Monica or myself to have one mailed to you. I am cautiously optimistic that the web site will be running more smoothly this year in which case I will be submitting materials frequently to keep that current as well.

Holly S. Stump