Saturday: June 16

2007 Interim Retriever Advisory Council Sub-Committee Minutes

Nelson Sills, Chairman of the Retriever Field Trial Advisory Committee brought the meeting to order at 1:15 PM welcoming everyone in attendance to the Interim Retriever Advisory Committee Meeting. He then introduced members of the sub-committee Bill Daley and John Goettl as well as Don Driggers and Charlie Hayes who assisted the sub-committee with the proposals. Mr. Sills then introduced the AKC contingent, Vice President Bill Speck, Director Doug Ljungren, Field Director Jerry Mann and Manager Performance Events Lisa Carroll.

Mr. Sills reported that two items for Retrievers that were addressed at the AKC Delegates meeting this past weekend in Las Vegas were likely to pass. The final vote by the AKC Delegate body in September with both new rules becoming effective October 1, 2007.

The first was a revision to Chapter 8, Section 12, "Any dog entered and present at a field trial may be withdrawn from Competition by its handler upon notification to the stake marshal without loss of the dog�s eligibility to compete in any other stake in which the dog was entered. The entry fee for the stake entered and withdrawn shall be forfeit." This revision would allow a handler to withdraw from a specific stake during the trial if the handler feels that running the test may injure or aggravate an existing physical/medical condition of the dog.

The second revision was in reference to Chapter 14, Section 5, "Only stakes which are run on game birds and on both land and water shall be permitted in licensed retriever field trials. Premium lists should specify the kind of game to be used in each stake and unless otherwise specified in the premium list, only pheasants and/or ducks may be used." This revision would eliminate pigeons as a permitted choice of birds for use in the minor stakes and make requirements for game birds uniform for all licensed field trial stakes.

The first item on the agenda was the subject of judging. The sub-committee, after much review of this subject, would like to adopt a new Section 5 of Chapter 5 adding apprenticeship requirements in order to improve the quality of judging. It was noted that the assigned judges must agree to have an apprentice prior to the stake. Questions were also posed in reference to grandfathering in of current judges and who is an "approved" judge.

Mr. Sills then moved on to the movement of retired guns. A lengthy discussion followed regarding the distance and direction of retirement and the intent of such proposal.

The next item on the agenda was poisoned bird blinds. Several concerns were raised regarding diversionary birds and should the dogs be allowed to retrieve these birds.

Canadian titled dogs were a hot topic as the recommendation appeared to address a very minimal number of dogs.

The last proposal to allow the dog with the handler to have adequate time to line up invoked a controversial discussion.

Mr. Sills then indicated that the interrupted marks which was on the agenda had already been discussed at length and felt no further discussion was necessary.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:55 PM.

Notice: The minutes will be mailed to all club Presidents and Secretaries along with Ballots and Requests for Delegate Credentials which must be returned to the AKC Performance Events Department, Attn: Lisa Carroll by October 31, 2007.

National Amateur Retriever Club - General Meeting

President Sherry Bleazard called the meeting to order. Roll call of delegates was taken by Secretary/Treasurer John Russell.

It was announced that the 2008 National Amateur Retriever Championship will be held in Stowe, Vermont. The judges for the 2008 National Amateur Retriever Championship will be:

Al Case (Mountain)
Bruce Ahlers (Central)
Steve Kompf (Pacific)

Click on image for caption and larger view. Photos and coverage by Robert Young (AKC Web Photographer).


Cocktail Party

Here are some photos from the cocktail party held Saturday night at the Historic Machine Shop in Evanston, Wyoming.