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BCSA
Board of Directors |
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It’s
2006, and I have been serving on the Board of Directors for four years
now, first as Recording Secretary, and currently as President. And
amazingly, I guess I’m ready for another round! Being President is a big
commitment, because it entails not only promising to give up two years of
your life reading daily email, settling disputes, and dealing with the
day-to-day minutia of running the club, it also means you are signed up
for two more years after that as Past President! So, it was with no small
consideration that I offered to run again and “extend my contract” for
another four years.
A reintroduction for those who aren’t familiar with my background: I grew up showing dogs, and have been in the “dog game” for almost thirty years. As a child, I showed in 4-H and AKC, in Junior Showmanship, Conformation and Obedience—pretty much the only games in town for dog enthusiasts back then. Since that time, my passion grew to agility when it was introduced, and more recently, herding. I have two old rescued Border Collies, both of whom are sweet and biddable and love to do things with me. But, their stock dog ability was less than stellar; so when I went searching for a new pup three years ago, I wanted one from good working lines.
I got her, “Idgie,” a bitch out of a Welsh import and a strong Canadian bitch. She is a petite, smooth-coated powerhouse, fast, keen, driven, and well, very quirky and challenging too. She is just two years old now, and I think it’ll be a while before she settles in and we can work well as a team, though we have a good start. A year later, I bought Maggie, another little smooth from strong U.S. stock lines, this one a red-headed tri. Maggie is the best dog I’ve ever owned, only a yearling; she’s already a very useful ranch dog and the one I count on when I need to sort sheep and trim hooves, and a very stylish worker as well. Maggie is also such a great house dog that she has the privilege of sleeping on my pillow at night.
When I bought these two, my plan was to “do it all” with them, and I’d been waiting years to have another Conformation prospect to show after owning two rescues. But, admittedly, herding with such gifted dogs has gotten the better of me, and I’ve hardly pursued Agility, Obedience, or the breed ring at all with them thus far. Seeing the contrast in their abilities against my rescues has made it crystal clear in my mind how valuable well-bred working dogs are, and how important it is to showcase and preserve this core aspect of our breed. While my rescues like to herd and try hard at it, their natural ability is just not the same—sometimes they let the sheep go, they don’t always pay 100% attention to their jobs, they lack strong eye and must work close-in, they get their flanks confused, aren’t fast enough to catch a bolter, and they just generally “don’t have it.”
So, I suppose you could say this leaves me in the category of someone who isn’t interested in owning a Border Collie that wasn’t bred for good stock work. Though I don’t care if other people like other kinds of Border Collies; my heart is stuck on the original model that does the job of seven farm hands for no pay other than a daily meal. I believe this Border Collie is the one for which our club was assigned the job of AKC guardian and steward, and that this is where we should focus our attention and resources.
There are a lot of “other” herding breeds, and even other Border Collies, that make ok farm dogs. These are dogs that can move a few sheep around a small arena, loose-eyed dogs that need a lot of commanding from their handler, dogs that can trot around and do small chores, gripping and barking along the way because they lack power. Those dogs are perfect for the modest family farm, easy keepers that can help out now and then. But, there is only one dog that can gather thousands of sheep on thousands of acres, that will cover a bolting animal before his handler can utter a word, which never lets his attention wander for a nanosecond in a long day’s work, and rarely needs to make damaging mouth contact with livestock or make stressful noise to accomplish the job. This is a pretty amazing breed, and sometimes seems to me more like machine than animal, though one that’s never more satisfied than when in gear.
Our bylaws describe a commitment to preserving, protecting, and promoting this renaissance breed; providing fellowship and competition opportunities for those who appreciate it; and educating the public, breeders, puppy buyers and fanciers on health, rescue, breeding, training and care of Border Collies. I believe our club has been successful at creating bedrock on these issues the last few years, a foundation on which to grow our young parent club into a strong oak tree on which the breed’s community can depend. We are stable, backed by an incredibly resourceful organization called the American Kennel Club; we are steadfastly democratic, financially solvent, headed in the right direction, and here to stay. I believe that none of the other U.S. Border Collie organizations can promise a future with less turbulence than we can, at this point.
We have a flourishing and even profitable national specialty each year, which features the can-do abilities of our dogs in all venues. We opened the stud book permanently to all of the world’s working registries to ensure continued access to the widest variety of good working stock. We are expanding the number of regional clubs to further our local education efforts and make more specialties available around the country. We have twenty-nine committees working on education, rescue, breeder referral, fundraising, judges’ education, health, and more. And we have a fabulous website that makes all of this available to members as well as the general public.
I can only claim a small responsibility for some of the achievements of the club in recent years, since the work to get here has been done by many and continues to be that way. But I wish to serve you for another two years as President to guide the club in this continued trend of growth, peace, and just getting the job done. Thank you for your support over the last two years, and I hope I can serve the club well in the next.
Page Updated 05.17.2008