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by Carol D. Hawke . The acknowledged purpose of dog clubs is to oversee and promote the welfareof purebred dogs. The American Kennel club is often referred to as "a club of clubs." In the not-so-faraway past, the AKC was also likened on occasion to an exclusive country club.' More recently, AKC has worked diligently to reinvent it's image as a service organization with a friendly face projected toward the on-looking world. It's website is a commendable portrayal of that determined service visage. As the sole parent guiding this 'club of clubs', AKC owns the somber and dutiful responsibility to set an example of conduct beyond reproach for its' numerous offspring. In a long ago and very different era,that example may have implied an exclusive men's hunt club wherein the individual whims and prejudices of a few were encouraged to dictate. This is a new era evidencing a reborn 'parent,' we would hope to conclude. Yet, not all the children have chosen to walk within those improved footprints. The unfortunate and devastating results are the continued abusive and potentially illegal "clubbings" of many valuable individuals in dogs today. . The majority of this readership, if called upon, could quickly proffer current rank, officer-ships held, services rendered and many further worthy accounts of their time spent in dog clubs. However, our dog clubs themselves are only as representative of wise conduct numbers as those in leadership. A number in leadership refuse to relinquish a suffocating strangle hold on those clubs which they purportedly "single-handedly brought up from the very dust of the ground, molded with the sweat and blood of their own labor and..." I can go on, but why? You might find better stuff on any cable channel. These martyred lines quickly grow tiresome. Do you ever wonder if such individuals, who ignorantly strangle the life and enjoyment out of their own clubs as they grapple with all of their puny, white- knuckled, human might, actually choke their families in the same manner? Do they tyrannize children's' lives, social clubs, businesses and churches with identically selfish, controlling behaviors? . Why stand impotently by and allow such socially immature individuals to dominate your club unchallenged? Because it is tradition? Lame excuse, unacceptable! How about this pathetic offering: "We don't want to rock the boat and make anyone unhappy." Is this chosen apathy resulting from the simple fact that many of you are precariously perched on the inside- the safe side of the tiny tyrants domineering within these clubs and some how, you feel protected (or even privileged) to tremble silently beneath their favored shadows? . The most significant and yet most grievously truthful discovery that anyone in an assumed position of power will suddenly awaken to is this fact: nearly every human in any position of authority can and will be, replaced within an average of 24 hours. Ouch! That hurt! . Consider the history of the presidents of our own country! Inquire of the officers of your dog club or judge's organizations. Check with your employer. If we, as truthful individuals, can get past this facade; this stumbling block of egotism brought on by the deceitfully naked Emperor's clothing of assumed power and influence, we might actually begin to function creditably. Get over yourselves, people! . When you glance about you today, can you escape the glaring reality of the sudden loss of fellow fanciers who were more prominent than yourself and offer greater influence? The only worthy legacies they have deposited hereupon earth are certainly not the force of their cumulative ego's but rather the sheer power of their humility to serve honestly and with compassion! Those leaving behind such legacies have gifted our doggy world within estimably more than all the power-starved, pacifier-sucking milklings dictating amongst this modern generation of emotional toddlers. We all have moments and indeed, seasons -- let us say -- of emotional toddlerism. We have all been known to behave selfishly, reacting out of our own unmet needs and desires, fears and/or ignorance. For most, this is just a season of life we grow through termed "noviceitis." A few have decided to perpetuate such behaviors into a lifetime of misery for themselves and those around them. Please understand that I am not anti-club. I am anti-everything that reduces otherwise productive clubs into decomposing, exclusive social circles corrupted toward the singular purpose of ego-breeding and ego-feeding the ego-compromised. . Anyone attending the annual banquet of most dog clubs is subjected to the most common form of overt egotism which still flourishes year after year, unchallenged. Officers and board members are seated on a raised platform above the heads of the membership and invited guests. Certain prominent individuals are invited to join them. It has been suggested that such arrangements are necessary in order for the speakers to be made more visible. That's only partially true. This effort is primarily designed to bestow greater honor upon the officers than the membership. Something is desperately wrong with that picture! The officers were selected to serve that club. Therefore, this scenario appears somewhat backward. The club should be seated on the raised platform and the officers and board seated in the plebian section below. After all, it is established protocol that servants should never receive greater honor that those they serve. Okay, I admit, I am being just a little facetious! But if you truly wish to serve with a servant's heart and not the mindset of a deliberate egomaniac, try seating yourself in the audience at a regular table. If for no other reason, that act alone may instill within you a valid sense of your motivation for being there and accomplishing what you do. . Dog clubs have too commonly disintegrated into the political campaigns they tend to be modeled upon. You may state plaintively and with due provocation, "Be reasonable! After all, these people work long and hard to serve our club and therefore, we wish tor ecognize them." I earnestly reiterate in turn, "You cannot accomplish this goal by seating your elected servants in whatever comes closest to the nosebleed section once a year." The honor and true satisfaction that accommodate service do not stem from recognition but from the privilege of serving itself! Perhaps what comes closest to scraping the peel off the fruit is that many of the "servants" whom clubs have voted into various offices amount to little more than pawns. Pawns that may require regular ego-greasing and ego-buffing until the next opportunity to be yanked out of the crowd, propped upon the platform of peer approval and manipulated as desired. Yowsa! That hurt more than the firstcut! . Look deep inside your own hearts and deal with this stuff, people! You will either do it now or you will do it later, but all of us will do this personal accounting. Manipulative behaviors are ruling and ruining many of your lives and numbers of otherwise potentially productive dog clubs. By the same token, I am also fully aware and grateful to countless, hard-working, servant-hearted individuals who perform the down and dirty, nitty-gritty stuff that nobody yearns for, day in and out in our clubs. Recognition and reward are due. Perhaps the time has arrived in which to allow those who serve to determine what form of reward would most be appreciated in their lives. In every challenging situation there are always multiple choices available which inevitably include the best way to handle any given problem. There are also improper and unwise choices that may reflect politically manipulated mismanagement resulting in serious consequences. Keep in mind that every problem also has potential. The manner in which club leadership chooses to handle a difficulty clearly reflects the very stuff those handling it, are currently composed of. . I now replay for you two actual dog club situations and present their contrasting outcomes. The striking differences in results were the final reflection of wise and unwise leadership choices. The first story revolves around a woman whose livelihood consisted of pet retailing. She managed a family pet store in which many purebred puppies were purchased form sources we would likely term, "backyard breeders" and "puppy miller's. "This woman took a great fancy to a particular breed of dog and sought to purchase quality stock for herself as well as join a local breed club. This event occurred two and more decades past, mind you, and attitudes toward pet retailers were none too liberal even then. Many of us within this club found her request to join an utterly preposterous proposition. Although we held no personal resentment toward her, we would certainly not stand by and allow a virtual "enemy" into the camp! The local club wisely sought external advice from the parent club and was referred to a gentleman (gone from this world for some years now) by the name of Ernest Engberg . Mr. Engberg (opposing the overwhelming tide of popular opinion) urged the club officials to welcome this woman into membership. His viewpoint was that the club could only supervise and guide the applicant (we call it "mentoring" these days) from the INSIDE. He gently pointed out the obvious fact that if she was rejected, she would be forced to remain in a defensive posture outside the circle of acceptable conduct toward the breed which she dearly loved. Old Ernie's advice nearly divided the club, yet the man proved to be right on the money! His gracious words were inspired from a sound motivation. In short order, this woman sold her family business, sacrificing her financial security to obtain the approval of the dog club and the right to be called"one of us." She sought blue-collar labor and in the years to come, I personally witnessed a sacrifice that I have never yet known to be equaled in dogs for the love of that one breed and the acceptance from the peers of those clubs she was eventually admitted into. I have noted over these years how she has struggled and paid the dues we all pay, working diligently to remain within the ranks of a responsible dog breeder and exhibitor. A few weeks ago, I sat outside the breed ring with her at a local show and became fully aware of how prominent a position this woman has assumed within the breed and that club. . Had the club rejected her, what would have become of her and her part within the Fancy? Rejection cannot help but foster enemies. If the rejected own strong personalities, they become strong enemies. Has doggy society forgotten that one will always catch more flies with honey than vinegar? . As for myself, I have found it necessary at times, expedient in fact, to confront officers and boards of particular dog clubs when I became convinced of prejudicial conduct and mistreatment directed toward particular individuals. Because of the stand I have taken, I have sacrificed peer approval and the ability to be granted breed mentor status, among other things. Occasionally within certain clubs -- 'friendship' boards form and typically acquire one mindset, even the wrong mindset , against particular individuals and their ideas. . At one time I belonged to a dog club that had developed a peculiar reputation for only voting in applicants without established breeding or exhibiting experience within that breed. It became legendary that newcomers were urged to make haste in seeking membership prior to obtaining any breed recognition, where after, the petty jealousies within that board were said to raise an ugly head obliterating any capacity to utilize sound judgment. A few boards and committees have, indeed, fallen so far from grace as to be revealed as bypassing their own written ethical guidelines and club charters in order to pursue the dangerous course of personal vendettas. Dog clubs are notorious for allowing and occasionally manipulating simple misunderstandings into being perceived as misbehavior. If only those in authority would take the time to establish open and honest communication with all club members and applicants, much heartache and trouble could be prevented all the way around. Open, outreaching and caring communication is an absolute essential for those who would endeavor to lead. In fact, it must be acknowledged that this gifted form of communication is primarily that which separates competent leaders from those who have no business whatsoever, leading. The problem with many of our clubs is not as colloquially simple as the popular cliché "there are too many chiefs and not enough indians!" Rather, there are too few gifted and compassionate chiefs and far too may starving egomaniacs. . The second challenging situation I wish to relate occurred not within a local club but inside a parent club and is one of the saddest stories that has yet unfolded before my eyes. It is that of a wealthy, attractive and certainly headstrong businesswoman who came into the club full steam ahead, as befitted her personality. This accomplished and intelligent woman slaved to gain the approval of her peers in charge of this club representing the breed she was so enamored with. I've never known anyone to work so ardently nor to provide so many goods in order to attain the acceptance and recognition of a dog club. . In her determination to win her peers' esteem, she practically financed their specialties. After many years and painstaking efforts that brought valuable forward momentum to this backward, power-starved social club, this woman was offered a token position within the club. Token, in that she would be forced to squirm continually under the heavy-handed control of those around her and would wield no genuine power or influence in that position. After having performed her duties
admirably, she was discarded
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