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BCSA
Board of Directors |
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This is a critical time for
AKC. Registrations continue to decline, and with them, revenues. Much of
AKC's spending seems excessive, and their finances are not transparent.
In many breeds and even all breed clubs, there is little new blood. The
very existence of pure-bred dogs is under attack by "animal rights"
activists. AKC needs to reform, and, ultimately, it is the Member Clubs
through their Delegates that have the power to force AKC to change.
In many breeds, the lack of new blood is approaching a critical problem. While it has not reached that point with Border Collies, it is very important for BCSA to encourage new people to become active both in the breed generally and as members. It is also important to retain existing members. I believe that the existence of regional clubs is quite important for the former, while good communications, such as the BCSA email list and the Borderlines, are critical for the latter.
My first pure-bred dogs were a Sheltie and later a Collie when I was a teenager (getting my parents to import a border collie from the UK was beyond my powers of persuasion). When I was in my early-20's, I got a Hungarian import Komondor, Jago. I am a firm believer in importing (and exporting) dogs to improve existing bloodlines and to preserve original breed characteristics.
I first became involved with AKC shows exhibiting Jago mostly in obedience. Jago eventually became the first Komondor CDX and UD. Jago's picture going over the Utility bar jump was on the cover of the AKC Gazette and appears in the AKC Complete Dog Book. I eventually showed Jago in conformation and finished US, Mexican, and International (FCI) championships. After Jago, I completed obedience titles and finished championships on a number of Pulis and Komondors. I also did some herding with Pulis (I had sheep at my house in Northern California and had a friend with sheep in Phoenix).
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I was a founding member of the Malibu KC, was on the Board, and did the club's constitution and by-laws.
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I was President of the Komondor Club of America, where I worked on getting the club to licensed status (Member Club status was not automatic for parent clubs at that time). I did the KCA's incorporation and served on the Board at various times.
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I was the KCA's AKC Gazette Columnist for about 5 years. I also wrote one of the first feature articles on Agility for the Gazette.
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I was specialty chairman for the Puli Club of Northern California.
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I was on the National Specialty committee for the Komondor Club of America (trophies and grounds).
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I have stewarded a number of times for the Border Collie Club of Greater Los Angeles's specialty.
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When I lived in South Florida (a long time ago), I was an assistant obedience trainer for the Ft. Lauderdale Kennel Club.
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I am currently a member of the BCSA, Border Collie Club of Arizona, Malibu Kennel Club, Superstition Kennel Club, Komondor Club of America, Puli Club of America, and Klub fur Ungarische Hirtenhunde (Germany).
Along the way, I became a conformation judge, first judging in Hungary and Belgium and later becoming an AKC judge. I'm currently approved to do the Herding Group and a few other breeds. In 2004, I judged the BCCGLA specialty in Los Angeles and the BCSA day-after-the-national specialty at Purina Farms, and I am scheduled to judge the latter again this October.
I've been actively involved with judges education, including for BCSA, and I've done both mentoring and seminars for Border Collies, Komondors, and Pulis. For WDJAA's 2008 Institute, I developed a Border Collie presentation that incorporated video footage from "30 Years of One Man and His Dog." I believe that good judges education is critical to preserving the original characteristics of the border collie and to prevent it from being turned into a generic show dog.
Professionally, I am a full-time computer scientist/software consultant (mostly for companies in Silicon Valley), and I have done that for many years. Before that, I worked for various computer companies and was at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where I also taught for UC, Davis.
Page Updated 01.12.2011