O.E.S. Breed Council

MINUTES OF THE MEETING
Held
Sunday 4th April 2004

The meeting was opened by the Chairman at 12.45.

Those present.
Chairman, Vice chairman, Treasurer, Secretary, Assistant Secretary
K.C.L.C. Breed rep. East Anglian Lancastrian Midland North Western
OES Scotland OES Wales South Western

Apologies. Northern Ireland.

Minutes of meeting held on 12th October 2003.
These had been received and read by the members.
The chairman read a letter from the O E S Club of Wales pointing out that no apology had been received from the Secretary of the South Western as requested by the Scottish club. It was agreed that this be added to the minutes of the last meeting under matters arising.
Acceptance of the minutes
Proposed by Scotland Seconded by the Lancastrian Passed by the meeting.

Matters Arising.
Mr Owen highlighted a typographical error referring to his position as 'Bread' Liaison Rep. The Secretary told the meeting that the letter from Mrs Sculthorp on behalf of the delegates at the Breed council seminar had been dealt with. After discussions with the officers at the time, and the Kennel club, he had been able to confirm that the Kennel club now had the correct forms in their possession. All of those affected had been updated by the Secretary.

Correspondence.
The Secretary explained that he had forwarded copies of all correspondence which he felt the clubs should see prior to the meeting.
All routine items had been dealt with and the list of these was read to the meeting.

Docking. The K C had sent a copy of their docking policy which was read to the meeting. The meeting felt it lacked any useful substance.
The letter from the Kennel Club giving the new tail clause for the breed standard raised the question of the ownership of the breed standard. Some members expressed the view that we should return to the original standard which used the points system. Mr Owen told the meeting since 1923 other countries had referred to our breed standard but had amended it for their own use.
Mr Owen also raised the possibility of taking questions to the K C regional meetings these are listed in the Kennel Gazette. The Midland club thought it short notice for the nearest one but one of the others was possible.

Breeder's scheme.
Details of this had arrived too late to have any input to the documentation this year. The Secretary had collected copies of the scheme at Crufts and the only required check was for eyes. This did not state how frequently they should be checked and no requirement for hip scoring was included. The Secretary will send copies of the document to clubs so that they can decide what they want included. Provided this is agreed at the next meeting it can be forwarded to the K C for inclusion in the next reprint.
The Lancastrian raised the issue of vaccinations following an item in the dog press about the over vaccinations of dogs. Several members felt this was the case and some did not vaccinate every year. The Scottish representative urged caution as there are cases of parvovirus etc and young and old dogs are at the greatest risk. Blood testing was an alternative but is still quite expensive.

Judging Lists.

" A3. The Lancastrian said progress had been made with the last changes and felt no further changed was required at this time.
Proposed by the Lancastrian, and seconded by Scotland that the current criteria remains unchanged. This was passed by the meeting.

2. Judges sub committee. The Secretary having received an application form from a judge wishing to be considered for the A3 list, asked the meeting how they wished to deal with future applications. It was agreed that applications from judges should be sent to the member club who holds their initial application. New judges should contact the nearest breed club who is a member of the breed council. The Secretary agreed to produce a policy statement which will be sent to member clubs, posted on the web site and issued to the press. Mr Owen pointed out that the current issue of the Kennel Gazette states that Breed Councils must show how the criteria and judges lists are produced. The statement will be included with the annual returns.

3. Judging list application forms. This item need not be discussed in the light of the decision made in item 2.

Breed Council Constitution.
The Chairman thanked the members for all their hard work in producing constructive suggestions for the proposed new constitution. He had received numerous replies from the member clubs and had produced another draft which tried to take into consideration the points raised. The rules that are mandatory are referenced in red. The chairman then proceeded to read through the revised draft.
" Some discussion took place on the issue of members joining and the need to give notice of their intention.
" The Treasurer said that she charged the full subscription regardless of when a club joined.
" The Lancastrian thought clubs only joined at the start of the year in time for the AGM. The South Western felt clubs should be allowed to join at any time. Clubs would normally decide to join as a result of a vote at their AGM. This vote may not coincide with the first meeting of the year.
" The election of Officers. It was felt that the Chairman and Vice Chair should retire in the same year as should the Secretary and assistant Secretary. The Treasurer will retire in the same year as the Secretary (2005).
" The Lancastrian felt the facility to co-opt a replacement Officer in the events of a resignation should be included. This should be by a vote of the members at the first available meeting. The Scottish Rep supported the clause as originally presented. This would allow Council business to continue uninterrupted but the position should be ratified at the next meeting.
" The meeting also felt that the term Executive should be removed and the term Officers reinstated.
" The Chairman may ask the meeting to vote on the removal of a member who disrupts any meeting.
" The proposal for the Chairman to be given a casting vote was agreed.
As a result of the discussion the Chairman will produce another draft which will be sent to member clubs for their committee's consideration. It is hoped that a final draft can be agreed at the next meeting. This will give time to get Kennel Club approval before a vote at the next AGM. The Chairman thanked the meeting for their constructive input.
The Vice Chairman proposed a vote of thanks to the Chairman for his work on the constitution. This was supported by the meeting.

Champions Class.
The Breed Liaison rep reported that the matter had been raised at the last meeting by another breed and he had added our support it. The request had been sent to the Kennel Club but they had rejected it. He then read out the reasons.
The Meeting felt the reasons were not valid and that the matter must be pursued. The Secretary agreed to write to as many Breed Councils as possible to put pressure on the K C to think again. It was also the general view that unless something is done entries will continue to fall and this will result in more shows loosing their C C's.

Health Matters.
The Secretary asked the meeting to chase up their club members over the return of the health forms. They should be returned before the end of April.
The Scottish club are taking part in an American DNA testing scheme. They will forward details to member clubs for their information. Members wished to know what information would be available from the research.
A general discussion on DNA testing followed and the Lancastrian stated that the K C required clubs to raise over £2000 for initial research. However this would only be the start and more funds would need to be raised.

Items Reserved.
None.

A.O.B.
The Lancastrian Club proposed that a Breed Liaison Officer Update should be included as a standing item on the Council meeting agenda. This was agreed by the meeting.

Mr Owen asked if it was possible for an attendance list to be given to him before the meeting as he is unable to produce the badges without one. This can be done if clubs e-mail the Secretary in the week prior to the meeting.

As a result of traffic problems earlier in the day members included their mobile telephone numbers in the membership book. The Secretary will produce a list of these numbers so delegates can contact the meeting if they are delayed.

It was also suggested that E-mail addresses should be included on the judges lists. Judging sub committees should consider this.

The Breed Liaison rep raised the question of C C allocation, and the fact that the K C was asking for input from Clubs and councils. The treasurer told the meeting that Leeds will be loosing C C's next year. The Lancastrian have records of entries at all the major shows and agreed to send the information the Mr Owen who will produce a map showing the location of shows and the level of entries. Members agreed to send any information they held to Mr Owen. The meeting was concerned at the loss of shows and felt as much as possible should be done to reverse the situation.

The Web site is now up and running and received 187 visits in the last week of February and 330 in March. The Lancastrian commented on the Scottish site and the animation used in it. The Scottish rep told the meeting that most items were covered by copyright and permission would be needed to use any.
The Chairman expressed a vote of thanks to Mr Hudson, Secretary, for his development and maintenance of the web site. The meeting supported this.

The Secretary confirmed that he had contacted the Breed Notes representatives regarding updates on Council business.

The Midland Club took the opportunity to express how much they had enjoyed the meeting. This was warmly received by all members who agreed with the sentiment.

Date of next meeting.
This was agreed for the 24th of October 2004. The chairman left the meeting to confirm the availability of the room.
The Chairman confirmed the next meeting date and the meeting closed at 15.40.

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