Oak Ridge
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Indiana
Posts: 6168 |
Les Young09 I'm not 100% sure that I followed all of your suggestions clearly.
First off, there has been around 40 dogs show up for the past three world championships, without any qualifications. The last thing that I want to see is further limiting participation at these events. Now having said that, I would love to see the program grow to the point that we NEED to have qualifying events.....but that is a while in the future at this point.
Secondly, growth at the local level is near and dear to my heart. If you have a club, or want to set up a club to hold local events, by all means please contact me, or UKC and we will do everything in our power to get your club up and running.
Allowing "all breeds" to hunt in the squirrel hunts is a little ways into the future too....there is more to consider than just waving a wand and making it happen. But I do in fact understand that the world is shrinking, and squirrel hunting is growing.....so there is no doubt in my mind that the UKC will be looking at that, but don't expect that to happen in the very near future.
As it stands now, there is a new and quite refreshing growth in the UKC program, and much of that is in fact due to the fiest enthusiast embracing UKC. They have a voice, and they deserve to be heard.
Today, we (Allen and myself, as well as UKC) are trying to be the ears of everyone. We are listening, and we know that there needs to be some significant changes to the program as we know it today. I'm not sure that the changes will ever be seen as "great" ideas to EVERYONE.....some changes are going to make some folks happy and others are not going to like them. The challenge is to make meaningful changes, that will allow the program to grow, will be fair, and appeal to a MAJORITY of the folks that will actually participate!
I personally have judged a lot of competition hunts at all different levels of competition, and one of the most important lessons I've ever learned about "being in charge" of a hunt, is the importance of humility and admitting when you are wrong, and correcting the wrong as quickly as possible. That is kind of my goal in representing UKC as a Field Representative. I want to be a change agent, to drive the program in the right direction, but if we make a "wrong call", admit the move was wrong, to correct it as quickly as possible, and to be fair to everyone.
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Joe Newlin
UKC Cur Advocate
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