PROPOSAL
TO THE 2006
NATIONAL OPEN & NATIONAL AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP MEETINGS
Statement
of Intention:
As stated in the AKC’s Field
Trial Rules and Standard Procedure for Spaniels (amended in January
2006), the American Kennel club was formed principally for the
protection and advancement of purebred dogs. In the foreword of this
document it is stated “… and generally to do everything to advance the
study, breeding, exhibiting, running, and
maintenance of the purity of thoroughbred dogs.” It goes on to say
“Competition in conformation and performance events can best
demonstrate the progress that has been made in breeding for type and
quality, and/or practical use, stamina and obedience.”
The intention of this proposal
is to further the protection and the advancement of our field-bred
English Springer Spaniels first through the recognition of current
problems in club field trials and in the two National Championships and
second, to offer a workable solution to these issues.
Current Issues:
A.
Protection of the Dog
Dependent
on geographical location, some club field trials are being held in high
temperature conditions that will put the dogs into extreme distress in
a period of time shorter than required to display adequate performance
to a judge. Although some of this can be attributed to changes in long
term weather patterns or just a one-time freak occurrence of nature, we
have seen trials start earlier in the fall and go later into the
spring. Judges are complaining about judging survivors instead of
contenders, clubs have to put water tanks at the beginning and end of
courses and many handlers now have electrolytes, syrups and glucose
pastes at their fingertips.
B. Advancement of the Breed
Competition
in performance events, or what we call field trials, give the breeders
of our dogs the opportunity to make better, more qualified decisions
with regards to improving the hunting characteristics, trainability,
conformation, and a number of other important factors. Inherent to this
advancement is the viability of the field tests in allowing the dogs to
perform to their optimum level and to allow the judges the proper
information to make the correct decisions in their judgments:
1.
Dogs running in good spaniel cover in extreme temperatures are affected
negatively within a few minutes, should the dog encounter a difficult
retrieve, a long runner, trapped birds so gets additional contacts,
etc., its performance will move off into a meaningless survival mode.
For those of us that hunt these dogs, we know that they do not “sprint”
as they do in trials and very typically, the hunting seasons for the
birds spaniels are bred to hunt are in the cooler parts of the year.
2. To adequately judge
the
performance of our spaniels often times requires more than 2 contacts
per series and contacts that are in excess of 60-80 yards apart. To
“finish” a 60 dog Open and a 60 dog Amateur in two days can be done and
it has been done on a regular basis; however, the question is – did the
dogs get tested adequately to be judged properly?
3. Mostly a “spring”
concern,
but cover and bird quality can and has been poor in some field trials
thereby not allowing the dogs to perform to their optimum level.
C.
Organizational / Logistical Issues
1.
Costs have continued to rise above the
entry fee requiring intense fundraising and large charitable gifts.
2. Time must be allotted for
catalog preparation and communications to the qualified dogs’ handlers
and owners.
3. Entry size must be held
within
limits to allow the judges adequate time to judge the dogs that
represent the best performances of the past year. All sports require a
qualification system to bring the best to their Championships.
Proposal:
The authors
of this proposal
would ask the Parent Club, the local Clubs, the Delegates of the
National Championship meetings and each Participant in the English
Springer Spaniel Field Trials to consider, understand and adopt the
following rule changes in the National Championships to protect our
dogs and continue the advancement of the breed. The authors strongly
suggest the proposal be accepted as written as each component of the
proposal is important to the whole of the proposal and our dogs:
A. The
first National
Championship of each year cannot start earlier than November 30th. The
National Open Championship and the National Amateur Championship
Associations will determine the actual start dates and order of each
event.
Because of
outside influences
on each Championship such as hunting seasons, weather, geographical
location, etc., we did not propose a specific date or an order in which
the Championships would be held. We would expect the Associations to
work in a cooperative manner as the conditions warrant.
B.
Geographically, the National
Championships’ will need to be held in locations with typical weather
conditions conducive to the running of our dogs. Our local clubs and
the Interclubs will need to work together to host and support Nationals
that may not be any one club’s area. This proposal is not considering a
permanent location for the Championships’
although this is a valid concept that was implemented for many years
some time ago.
Although
not part of this
proposal, the authors would like consideration given to the reduction
or elimination of September field trials and to the increased use of
double dating within the Interclubs.
C.
Qualification points will be
determined from the previous year’s respective National qualifiers. The
point level of the 125th dog for the previous year will set the
qualifying point level for the next year’s National qualifiers. In
2005, the 125th high point dog in the Open and in the Amateur had 2
points, therefore a dog to be qualified in the next year’s National
Open and the National Amateur Championships will be required to have at
least two points.
The high
point dog awards will
be determined by total points earned in trials that qualify for entry
in the National(s) under the qualification deadline proposed in D.
below.
D.
Qualification deadline for
both Championships will be the July 1st preceding each year’s
Championships. All points accumulated after July 1st of a given year
will used for qualification in the Championships for the following
year. The point qualification period will be from July 1st to June 30th
of the next year. For example, qualification points will begin
accumulating July 1, 2006 with June 30, 2007 being the last qualifying
day for the 2007 National Championships.
The Open
dogs qualified for the
2006 National will be qualified (grandfathered) into the 2007 National
to complete the transition. This will not be necessary for the Amateur
dogs as the July 1st deadline was made effective in the 2005 meeting
and the 2005 qualifying dogs were grandfathered into the 2006 National
Amateur Championship.
E. The
entry deadline for each National Championship will be 45 days
before the start of each respective event.
F.
The entry fee will be
twenty-five dollars ($25) over the per entry cost of the average of the
last three (3) years’ National Open Championships and twenty-five
dollars ($25) over the per entry cost of the average of the last three
(3) years’ National Amateur Championships, respectively. The changes in
our financial accounting system 4 years ago have standardized our cost
structure and budgeting procedures such that we can now determine
actual costs. The 3 year average cost per entry in the National Open
was $203 and the 3 year average cost per entry in the National Amateur
was $196 so the entry fees would have been $228 & $221,
respectively, in 2006. The cost per entry of each National Championship
is the total income (not including fundraising dollars) less the total
expenses divided by the total number of entries. The Purina
contribution to the Nationals has been included in the total income.
By
acceptance of
this proposal
by the Parent Club, the local Clubs, the Delegates of the National
Championship meetings and each Participant in the English Springer
Spaniel Field Trials, the authors would further ask that these new
guidelines remain in place for some adequate period of time to prove
their effectiveness in addressing the many issues mentioned
above.
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