Spring 2017 Saber Tails 21
Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen Club of America
Cont’d from previous page
and ordinances. May 1st has been established as National
Purebred Dog Day. The AKC website has seen enormous
growth with 6 million unique visitors every month. AKC.
org is up 40% and the Marketplace is up 42%. AKC’s ap-
pearance was positive in nearly 20,00 media clips in the
first 3 quarters of 2016. Two Public Service Announce-
ments were developed: one showing the AKC as the best
guide for choosing the right breed and the other that AKC
breeders are the best source for responsibly bred pup-
pies. These videos were played.
President’s Report
Mr. Sprung congratulated the AKC staff for their efforts
in preparation for the 16th AKC National Championship.
Mr. Sprung has established many recognition programs
including the Medallion Program for Delegates, Judges,
Show Chairs and Breeders, the Lifetime Achievement
Awards in performance, companion and conformation,
the Outstanding Sportsmanship Award, and the AKC Vi-
sionary Award given for the first time today. Five Dele-
gates were recognized for their leadership.
Mr. Mike Basone, COO of LINK AKC:
Mr. Basone and his team presented the culmination of
2 years of development of pet-wearable technology, a
smart collar winning the Consumer Electronics Show Best
of Innovation Award for 2017. The beautifully designed
collar combines a GPS tracer, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a cel-
lular modem. A lost dog can be tracked over time via a
smart phone. An owner can establish a safe zone, and
the owner will be notified when the dog crosses the vir-
tual fence. Your dog’s activity can be tracked hourly, daily,
weekly and monthly. The collar measures ambient tem-
perature around your dog and sends you an alert when
the temperature goes over or under the value you estab-
lish for the health of your dog. There have been nearly
1 thousand pre-orders and some 30,000 others have ex-
pressed an interest in the collar. The collar costs $200.00
with a service charge of $9.95 on a per month charge,
$7.95 per month paid annually, and $6.95 per month if
paid biannually. For every purchase by a member of a
club, a $10.00 donation will be made to that club. A video
of the product was played. The website is linkakc.com
President’s Report, continued:
Mr. Sprung honored people in our sport who are no lon-
ger with us with a presentation of their photos. He then
continued with a financial report of $59.3 mil. in total
revenue and $54.2 mil. in expenses with an operating in-
come of $5 mil. Litter registrations have increased by 7%
while dog registrations have increased by 8%. The AKC is
up $4.3 mil. in revenue, nearly 8%. Contributions to the
AKC CHF, the Tick-Borne Disease program and the Therio-
genology Grant support equal $1 mil. in 2016, significant-
ly more than in 2015. The AKC portfolio has an unrealized
gained $4.9 mil., a 5.3% return.
Nomination Committee
Mr. J. Crowley, Executive Secretary, read the names of
those Delegates selected by the Nominating Commit-
tee and those additional Delegates running for the Board
by petition. There are 4 vacancies for the class of 2021:
Rita Biddle, Dominic Carota, Gregory Paveza, and Harvey
Wooding from the nominating committee and Thomas
Powers, Jeffrey Ball, Julian Prager, John Ronald and Daniel
Smyth by petition. Each candidate, in alphabetical order,
spoke for 3 minutes with no questions from the floor.
Mr. Jim Crowley, AKC Executive Secretary, read the names
of the 12 Delegates seated since the last meeting. The
minutes of the Sept. 12, 2016 meeting were approved as
published.
Amendments
An amendment to Chapter 6, Section 9 of the Rules Ap-
plying to Dog Shows would extend the closing time for
entries to no later than ll:59 pm. The count was 151 in fa-
vor and 94 opposed, and the amendment requiring 2/3rd
to pass was not adopted.
Mr. Crowley read the proposed amendment to Chapter 2,
Section 3 of the Rules Applying to Dog Shows to allow the
AKC to consider an appeal brought by a club who believes
their request to hold a show in another club’s territory has
been unreasonably denied. A Delegate rose to say that
he would like to see this amendment go back to the Rules
Committee to develop written criteria for the Board to use
when making a decision regarding an appeal.
Mr. Crowley read an amendment to Chapter 14, Section
14 of the Field Trial Rules and Standard Procedures for
Retrieves which would encourage new owners of young
dogs to train their dogs and to participate in AKC retriev-
er field trials. Two Delegates rose to comment on this
amendment. One expressed disfavor with this proposed
amendment while another provided background infor-
Cont’d next page