Spring 2017  Saber Tails 21    

Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen Club of America

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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-

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