NCBCC Meeting Minutes - 12/30/2023

As we say farewell👋 to 2023 and move into 2024, the board and members of NCBCC are getting ready to dive in to an 🎉exciting new year, with great activities for bearded collies & their people.

Before we dive into all of the excitement of 2024, the end of 2023 gives us a great opportunity to focus on our annual giving. NCBCC is once again making donations to some very worthy causes in support of dogs and their humans. This year, NCBCC has approved donations to 3 national and one local organization. We’ll be donating $5000 total, including…

● $2000 going to the AKC Canine Health Fund, Oncology - Hemangioma research initiative

● $1500 to the AKC Humane Fund in support of Domestic Violence Shelters

● $1000 to the AKC Disaster Relief fund in support of trailers to serve as shelters in the event of a disaster

● And $500 to Service dogs of Virginia, which among other services, trains PTSD service dogs to match with veterans

As always if you have suggestions for next year’s annual giving please suggest worthy organizations to the board, so that we can consider them for 2024. We value the opportunity to support the canine community through giving, which is only made possible thanks to proceeds from events that we’ve hosted in the last few years, e.g., the 2022 BCCA National Specialty, our annual agility trial, etc., and our annual fundraising efforts.

Turning focus to 2024, our first big event is a great opportunity to learn the canine sport of Rally from some of our club experts. There’ll be coaching from novice to masters levels - so no experience is necessary. We’re also hoping to offer the opportunity to film a virtual Novice course that you can submit for scoring to earn an official leg towards the Rally Novice (RN) title. The event will be hosted on March 30, 2024 at the Catoctin Kennel Club building in Point of Rocks, Maryland. Participants will get lots of learning in a trial-like environment. The event is open to all bearded collies and their people, even if they’re not current members of the NCBCC.

In April, we’ll host our specialty weekend, including 3 sweepstakes and 3 specialties with breeder judges for the regular classes. BIG NEWS! This year, for the first time ever - we’re offering the Beginner Puppy competition for our 4-6 month puppies. We can’t wait to see all the cute baby puppies strut their stuff!

We also have teams of members working on other events for the year, including winery events (2) and our agility trial - as well as investigating a nosework workshop, FastCat, dock diving, and herding instinct. If you’re interested in helping plan any of these events, please reach out to the person noted as on point.

In closing, we look forward to a great year in 2024 and hope that you’ll join us for many of the events that we have planned.

~Casey

Attendees:

Casey Minner, Lynne Corn, Sandy Pabst, Lucy Campbell, Tom Dixon, Linda Porter, Cathy Cox, Kathy Dimond, Roger Orrock, Sheila Franklin, Robin Lord, Christa McChancy

General Meeting Notes

Thanks to Lucy & Tom for hosting a wonderful holiday party and meeting.

Meeting called to order

Old Business:

● Membership dues renewal forms are due now, (form attached if you are mailing) must be completed by March 31st to avoid reapplying for membership. Paypal payment is an option to ncbccpaypal@gmail.com

● Treasurer’s Report - $34K current balance, 2023 taxes with Keri Sledzik planned

● Update on rally event, 3/30/2024. Will include instruction Pending interest from beardie people, may open to other breeds. Motion to hold the rally educational event and submit to BCCA for sponsorship under the pilot program LEAP (Local Educational Affiliate Program). (Proposed: Lynne Corn, 2nd: Vallone, unanimously passed)

New Business:

● End of year donation. Suggestions: AKC CHF (cancer study), , Morris Animal Foundation, AKC Disaster relief program, Domestic Violence (keeps dogs)

Motion to donate $5000 (Proposed:Lucy, 2nd: Kathy Dimond, unanimously passed.

Casey to email board+ with suggested donation amounts and dedicated fund targets (Completed)

Notes edited to add donation details, as follows:

1) AKC Canine Health Fund - Hemangio research Donation: $2000

To donate to the AKC Canine Health Fund Hemangio research, ensure the designation drop down specifies the Oncology (Hemangio) research program and donate here….

https://www.akcchf.org/canine-health/top-health-concerns/canine-cancer/hemangiosarcoma/HSA-donate.html

2) AKC Humane Fund - Domestic Violence program, support grants to shelters that allow domestic violence survivors to keep their pets Donation: $1500

Select the targeted donation for the domestic violence program and donate here… https://akchumanefund.org/make-a-one-time-donation

3) AKC Disaster Relief - Trailer Fund Donation: $1000

Note: There are four programs for AKC disaster relief - the AKC disaster relief trailer fund establishes emergency shelters for animals during a disaster. There is also a program to donate to shelters to help reunite pets and owners following a disaster. I’d suggest we donate $1000 to the Trailer program.

To donate to AKC Disaster relief… https://www.akcreunite.org/donate/

4) Service Dogs of Virginia - located in Charlottesville Donation: $500

Supporting a local organization via Service Dogs of Virginia, who have a PTSD program for matching service animals with vets suffering from PTSD.

To donate…. https://www.servicedogsva.org/donate

● Roger will pursue logowear with the NCBCC logo (capitol building and bearded collie) More to come

● 2024 NCBCC/BCKC Specialty weekend update - listed judges, All applications are approved and premium list approved. Blocks of rooms at the Residence inn, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express (best value), and Embassy Suites (nearly sold out). Offering BPUP 4-6 mo competition for the first time!

● 2024 Events Calendar

○ Confirmed events:

■ 3/30 Rally Event

■ 4/19-21 NCBCC/BCKC Specialties

■ Note: Fastcat hosted in May BCKC Thursday - Sunday

○ Potential events. If you’re interested in helping, please reach out to the person noted as on point

■ Dock diving/swim event - Summer 2024 - Lucy on point

■ Winery events - Kathy, Roger and Jan on point as designated NCBCC vino event planners

■ Paint your dog - Cathy Cox to investigate. May require 14 people for a dedicated event

■ Nosework Seminar/Workshop- Christa on point

■ FastCat trial - Linda Porter & Robin Lord on point

■ Herding instinct test - Lucy

Motion to adjourn - Kathy Dimond, seconded Roger Orrock