HRC Judges/Handlers seminar

[goosebruce]

Policy is set by the BOD at the national meetings, and the EC. Anything edict the EC comes up with CAN be overcome by a majority vote of the BOD (for example, the EC removed the region 11 field rep several years ago, and a vote from the BOD overturned that desescion during the national meeting). We are a unique entity in the fact we do make our own rules and policies.

As far being prepared for growth, growth is part the reason behind some policies such as this. We're expanding at an unprecendented rate. Figgers for travel and shipping are now out the window, with rising prices and greater distances. We, the BOD asked for a budget, no demanded one. Then we asked for ways to secure hrc thru possible hard finiacal times. These things don't come without a price. Every seminar thats paid for so it'll be easier for half a dozen guys, is a seminar that can't happen in a new state or club or provience. So the easy clean cut answer is, limit seminars close to each other, and plan far enough in advance that those that need to, can attend one. Its the desecion Id make, and I'm sure anyone would looking at the entire picture. Does it suck if you want a seminar easy in your backyard like you've had in the past... sure. Call back and say you'll foot the bill, I bet the powers to be are GLAD for you to do it. Somewhere when you talk about expenses, someone has to be the bad guy. If we had an EC that was squandering money elsewhere, you'd have a very vaild complaint. But my take on the current EC is they might not be making desescions very quickly, but they are at least being good stewarts of our monies. We have a budget now, and they are making every effort to follow it, and thats enormous enough task to make some other things get confused or maybe even not enough thought put into it. Thats my take on what has happened here, and maybe explains what you where told. We're growing by incredible numbers, while making ourselves fiscally safe, and keeping what we are supposed to be doing at the forefront. I'd say our leaders have done an OUTSTANDING job of having us posied where we need to be.

If you don't get what you want, have your representaive bring it up in June to the BOD and have it voted on. YOu don't get that right anywhere else. Thats more vision from our founders than anything else Ive ever been involved in, for sure.

Meeka, thank you for your comments. I'm not sure I'd support a policy of people other than reps giving seminars (unless they where able to attend the field rep seminar about giving seminars), but I do think it should be given consderation in special circumstances. My disapointment didn't come from being told NO, it came from it not even given any thought. Nobody meant any disrespect when the subject came up, and knowing the man himself, I don't think he would have took any. But most of the time if that was even considered, it wouldn't be in amible situation like that, ergo I guess I can see just simply saying 'its not done'. No skin off my nose of course, but I do think I could have helped some people very much if we had done that.

I love hrc. I like to think Im the #1 cheerleader for hrc. If I had a room full of people who where willing to give up a day to hear my verison of what hrc is, and what we're doing, Id consider it not only a great opportinty, but a priviledge. travis

[Meeka]

So get more folks qualified to do the seminars. Seems like a no brainer - little or no travel, no hotels or meals, plenty of well qualified folks. . . . only other expenses are books, which are probably going online anyway, and maybe a projector, which anybody with half interest an sense could round up on their own from somebody or rent. Heck you could knock out a field rep and about 10 judges by doing it Friday morning on a test day.

Maybe the folks in charge are concentrating on being good stewards and haven't gotten to this issue. Seems like they could appoint someone to look at it and get input from folks that count - judges and club reps, and come up with a pretty good plan. Probably CUT seminar expenses in the process. Am I dreamin?

BTW, I have a hard time seeing a $5,000 annual seminar expense for HRC as being a problem anyway. Is the $5K figure accurate and what percentage of the budget is that anyway?

[msbigdawg1234]

One of the biggest expense is ALOT of clubs are going ouit and RENTING room for the event and they are averaging $150-200 on top of the fuel and reps expense and only get 5-10 people is not worth it. Now clubs could help the matter alot by doing some foot work and finding rooms that dont cost.....they are out there and no hard to find .....if ya dont ask ya dont get..............BUT still i am sure if a club or region wants an extra seminar and will foot the bill and the rep agrees to it HRC would have no problem with it.

[goosebruce]

5000 bucks is 50 bucks a club. How many clubs would spend an extra 50 bucks to double the number of seminars, vrs how many would just plan ahead and go to one? I can tell ya, the clubs that would write a check for 50 bucks to double the seminars are the ones that are remote, and doubling the seminars still wouldnt be enough for them. Of all the stuff Ive ever heard complained about (and its a ton) Ive never heard anyone complain before right now about not being able to host a judges and handlers seminar, unless they decided they wanted one within a couple months of the time the thought went thru their head. travis

[msbigdawg1234]

i am not complaining.... i know somone that had a free hotel in memphis for the national meeting but did not want to drive........

[goosebruce]

didnt mean ya'll where. just meant I dont think its been a big problem is all bro. travis

[msbigdawg1234]

it hasn't just too a smsll few that do not want to drive....

[chance]

Policy is set by the United Kennel Club. It is the breed registry for HRC and has exclusive rights towards awarding titles. Policy involves anything the affects the registry. Judges were licensed by UKC until recent times. They have given that right to HRC, with the following of appropriate guidelines. Those guidelines are set by UKC.The rulebook has gray shaded areas that indicate running rules. These can be changed by vote of the clubs or BOD, in the absence of the required club votes. Anything that is not shaded gray rest soley in the authority of UKC, i.e. policy. Rule changes, not policy changes, are made by HRC. The licensing of judges falls under the authority of UKC.
The expense of the judges/handlers seminar is born by the Foundation. The EC, along with the stewards of the Foundation, make the decisions concerning outflows of monies from the Foundation. Having one seminar per year in each Region gives judges at least three opportunities to attend and meet the requirements of remaining a licensed judge. Since most regions do not cover large geographical areas, this should not be a huge burden.
Two years ago, there were some concerns that the EC was spending too much money. There was an outcry for checks and balances, and an accounting of expenses. The BOD challenged our present EC with developing and balancing a budget. Along with this one can expect a "tightening" of the purse strings.

[Meeka]

That's good info Glenn, thanks.

Why is the Foundation responsible for payment of seminars? I must confess I had no idea that all that was separate and how it was all setup.

And yes, Travis and et all, I AM BITCHING!!!!!!!

I haven't done much lately. Especially here. And I think I am right, even if no-one else cares.

One reason is that I, unlike y'all, have to have multiple seminars . . . and i don't like it and don't like having to drive to memphis, for example, which in my truck this summer would have cost around $300.00 and cost about 3 days and whatever I had to eat and drank, which would have been substantial. I cain't justify it for pro-bono dog judging. I want it to be in my backyard ( at least somewhere I can realistically drive to the morning before the seminar and back home afterwards.

i would gladly, happily drive, possibly at my own expense and have, to judge somewhere, but for some reason this seems different.

Frankly, I expect that. So there.

[wesley hamm]

Meeka,

why do you have to have multiple seminars? If your talking about utilizing a seminar instead of apprenticing another test then I'll have to add you'll gain more experience judging that test then you will attending another seminar. Didn't WMHRC just have a seminar not but a year or two ago? were you there? if so then why are you worried about attending another one already?

We only have to attend a seminar every 3 years. Those who look at it as "pro bono" work probably will always have a problem with something when it comes to a seminar. Those who look at it as their personal way of giving back to all those who attended seminars before them so that they could judge our dogs don't tend to worry about the little things quite as much. IMHO

I will drive as far as I have too in order to make a seminar because when Travis calls and ask me to come judge his dog then I can do it, and I know he will do the same so that when I call him to come judge my dog He will return the favor......that's how this whole dog game works

there I said it


wesley

[goosebruce]

The foundation was set up as hrc grew. There can only be so much money go thru hrc inc., and only 35% of that can be donations, the rest has to be dues and fees. As we grew, and added our WONDERFUL corprate sponsors, we quickly eclisped the 35% of donations. So the foundation was set up under a different tax code, so we never had to turn any bucks away! Some things are paid directly out of foundation funds, and some monies are simply funneled in hrc inc., but basically the foundation was a way we could take corprate sponsors on and keep our organization on the right side of tax laws. Again showing some great insight from our founders and past leaders, and our current leaders seem to keep up with the times.

take a second to think about the very NEED of the foundations. Donations where more than 35% of our income. In fact, I belive the figure for the foundation is allowed is over 70%. That means MORE of our income comes from our corprate sponsors, than comes from us. Thats Avery. Thats Tritronics. Thats Purina. Thats Gunners Up & Zink calls & now Bayer medical. They are paying MORE for us to play, than we are. So even if they don't deserve your business (sometimes people have other brand preferences, for instance I prefer another brand of winger...), they certainly deserve our respect and apprication. Kills me to no end to see people publiclly berate companies we take monies from every hunt test weekend. if one of these companies products aren't your bag, just say you prefer something else. The guys writing the checks from these companies are very aware of things said on the net, the banners from competing compaines snuck into hunt tests, and the out right insult of it all. Without our sponsors, HRC would be VERY more expensive, and you'd get a lot less out of it. Thinking driving to a seminar is a problem? How about driving to a seminar and PAYING for it? Ya think the national meeting is expensive to send a rep or proxy from your club, imagine not having a meeting because nobody paid for it, but it doesnt matter cause you didnt have any say in anything anyhow. Our national sponsors spend at minimum 25 grand a year to say national sponsor... thats 75k right there. We have 5000 to 6000 members at 25 bucks a head (and the magazine subscription is like 17 bucks of that, so 6000 X 8 is 48k), and run 14,000 dogs a year (hrc fees are 1.50 a dog, correct?) so thats another 21 grand... my math is not perfect, but its clear national sponsors spend MORE than we do... add in the other sponsors (I belive bayer has come on at national level), gunners up, zink, rob steiner, etc... and its clear we're given more than we pay. Can't speak for anyone else, but Ive never been involved in anything I got more than I paid for, every single day, weekend after weekend, year after year.

We now have a national sponsor committee. We now have a national sponsor chair, who is activiley pursusing fortune 500 compaines. Compaines like John Deer and Budwiser. As we grow, its an easier sell for him. As we as hrc members don't recognize the gifts we're giving, and appreicate our sponsors, its a harder job for him. Belive me when I tell you, people read these forms. A lot of times its the very people you call and ask for free stuff from, the ones that have already written a check on top of that.

Im not saying be a sheep, go along with everything. Im saying don't bite the hands that feed ya. We aint got it bad, by no means. In fact, we got it pretty much going on.travis

[msbigdawg1234]

Well said Travis ...I am with ya....

[Meeka]

Wesley, Yes, I was at that seminar and also at one in West Monroe a few years back, don't remember the date of it as I write this. But the West Miss seminar can only be counted once or something or another, I was told by Claudene and others up there. As a result, a judge moving up has to have multiple seminars in some cases, or apprentice an extra time. Having an odd number of apprenticehips is a little squirrely, cause . . . well, nevermind.

It all got started with me cause As a started judge I apprenticed Seasoned twice at Pontchartrain (I thank them for giving me that opportunity) and had recently attended our seminar and thought I was ready to be licensed Seasoned . . . and to judge Seasoned at our test, but was told, back in the early summer, that I had to apprentice a third time or get another seminar; you have to get a third apprenticeship or additional seminar every time you get licensed at a higher level. You didn't know that, huh?

[wesley hamm]

Wesley, Yes, I was at that seminar and also at one in West Monroe a few years back, don't remember the date of it as I write this. But the West Miss seminar can only be counted once or something or another, I was told by Claudene and others up there. As a result, a judge moving up has to have multiple seminars in some cases, or apprentice an extra time. Having an odd number of apprenticehips is a little squirrely, cause . . . well, nevermind.

It all got started with me cause As a started judge I apprenticed Seasoned twice at Pontchartrain (I thank them for giving me that opportunity) and had recently attended our seminar and thought I was ready to be licensed Seasoned . . . and to judge Seasoned at our test, but was told, back in the early summer, that I had to apprentice a third time or get another seminar; you have to get a third apprenticeship or additional seminar every time you get licensed at a higher level. You didn't know that, huh?

yea I had a pretty good peg on exactly why you "needed" to attend a seminar. What is wrong with apprenticing another time in seasoned?

[msbigdawg1234]

You are going to apprentice at West MS Sept 13-14 under Trey....that way you get ur license and 1 of ur double A's out of the way.....thats if ya are still coming