— Join Us for AKC Responsible Dog Ownership Days This September —
Planning is under way for our 8th annual AKC Responsible Dog Ownership Days, sponsored by Invisible Fence® Brand and ADT. We invite you to join us in celebrating responsible owners everywhere this September by hosting an event in your area. Nearly 600 clubs and other dog-related organizations hosted an AKC RDO Day in 2009 and we expect even more to participate this year. Our flagship event will be held in Raleigh, North Carolina on September 25, 2010.
These entertaining and interactive local events range from small efforts to large-scale fairs, including everything from demonstrations of AKC Rally®, Agility, Obedience and Herding; appearances by Law Enforcement K-9s and Military Working Dogs; Meet the Breeds; and AKC Canine Good Citizen® testing; to educational Q&A sessions; Safety Around Dogs presentations; and games and activities for kids. The first 500 clubs to sign up will receive a free kit filled with educational materials and other handouts for your event.
The importance of AKC RDO Days is twofold: not only are we building a groundswell of support for responsible dog ownership, but we’re also discouraging restrictive dog legislation – all this while providing both new and long-time dog owners with basics on training, grooming, microchipping, dog events, and more. The event establishes your club as a resource in your community for local legislators. The AKC often touts “deed, not breed” in its dealings with legislators and most bad “deeds” can be prevented by the kind of education and information disseminated at AKC RDO Days events.
This year AKC Canine Partners enrollees will play a key role in RDO Days. Although mixed breeds have always been welcome at these events, now that all dogs are competing in AKC Companion Events, your club could potentially draw an entirely new audience to your event by including mixed breeds in your dog sport demos, which may attract new membership to your training club! The AKC Canine Partners brochure will be included in the AKC RDO Days resource kits along with enrollment forms, allowing you to reach out to more dog lovers than ever before this year.
Take advantage of social media to promote your AKC RDO Day event as well. Event invites and reminders on Facebook are a great way to promote your event and get the word out to club members, friends and others in your area. We encourage you to share your AKC RDO Days ideas, event recaps and any media coverage with us by posting on AKC’s Facebook page or messaging us on Twitter at @akcdoglovers. Send us pictures and videos from your event and we’ll post them on AKC’s Flickr and YouTube pages. If your club is posting regularly about your event on any social media site, let us know and we will follow you!
Much is happening this year – allowing us to promote responsible dog ownership as never before! We urge you to get involved – sign-up only takes a few minutes at https://www.akc.org/clubs/rdod/ and you’ll join hundreds of other clubs dedicated to the AKC’s important responsible dog ownership message.
Sincerely,
Ron Menaker
Chairman