MN 4-H Dog PDC Minutes
Friday, June 11, 1999 ~ University of Minnesota ~ St. Paul Campus

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Members Absent:
NW: Jessica Sedivy, Wally Steinhoff
NE: Elizabeth Chapman, Pat Chapman, Joseph Dolan, Regina Dolan
C: Jan Barthelemy, Kelly Hanson
SW: Loretta Eichmann, Melanie Pamp
SE: Owen Holmseth, Rhonda Weis

Extension Educators Present:  none
Extension Educators Absent:  Laurie Magnus, Renee Hink-Ferrington, Al Rasmussen
Center Staff Present:  Tammy Lorch

Guests Present:  Leona Hellesvig, Nancy Holmseth

The meeting was called to order by Karen Loken, PDC Chair at 10:42 a.m.  Everyone present introduced themselves. The districts met in caucus to discuss concerns.

District Update

• NW: - Interested in hosting Supersession in the future.
• NE - no one in attendance.
• C - Have concerns about information getting out to members and leaders.  Interested in having training videos available through the website.
• SW - Concerned about low membership and interest in their district.  The extension educators give little support.  Suggestions:  push extension educators to share information, use the website for more knowledge, and set up demonstrations to increase interest.
• SE - Want to see changes/updates with judges committee and all other committees.  Would like to have committees meet day of PDC.

Treasurer's Report
M/S/C (Cathy/Cherrye) to accept the treasurer's report as printed with a balance of $3,086.92
The expense ($300) from Supersession III will be refunded.  Tammy presented Karl with $88.00 cash to deposit.  It is from the 1998 State Show (registrations from alternates at the door).

Standing Committee Reports
Agility - Leona Hellesvig and Nancy Holmseth
Have not met since their last meeting (April 10). A list of judges was given to Tammy to choose from for the Regional and State Shows.  Next fall they want to have a judges certification.  The issue of copyright for the Agility Rules and Guidelines needs to be checked on by Tammy.

Finance - Karl
Karl would like a list of the show chairs so that he can meet with them to go over finances for the shows. They are requested to present at proposed overview of the responsibilities of the finance committee at the next meeting.

Judges Certification - Tammy
Committee has not met.  Brad has left messages with members of this committee and has not received any response.
M/S/C (Marlene/Cherrye) to disband the old judges committee and form a task-force to restructure the judges certification committee.
There was discussion about who could be on this task force, as to members or non-members of the PDC.  Since this is a task force rather than a standing committee anyone can help.  Past documentation can be gotten from past members of the judges committee.  Tammy suggested Margaret Lawson, volunteer coordinator of the 4-H horse judges certification committee, as a good resource.
M/S/C (Cathy/Cherrye) to appoint Jeff McMaines, Donna Sonnek, and Leona Hellesvig as members of the task force.
They will come to the November meeting with (1) a proposed overview of the responsibilities of the judges certification committee, (2) a proposed plan of the certification process, (3) a proposed plan for training judges, (4) a proposed plan for certification, and (5) a proposed plan for re-certification.

Obedience/Showmanship - Karen
Committee met, but had no formal answers.  There has been discussion about the veterans class.  They are requested to present a proposed overview of the responsibilities of the obedience/showmanship committee at the next meeting.

Show - Cherrye
The committee met on April 23.  Things are going smoothly.  All shows (regional & state) will be requested to list the names of their judges in their show catalog.  Each district has a responsibility at the State Show.  People were appointed to chair these areas.
NW-Ceremonies and Awards (Jenny Erickson)
NE-Ring Stewards (contact Chapmans)
C-Rings/Equipment/Setup and Tear Down (Karl Reimer)
SW-Exercise Area and Clean up patrol (Cathy/Nick Steinmetz)
SE-Registration and results (Laurie Magnus)

They are requested to present at proposed overview of the responsibilities of the show committee at the next meeting.

Other Committees
Project Bowl - Marlene
It will not be taking place this year because information/registration materials were not developed soon enough to send out to counties.  In the future this information needs to be sent out to counties by March 1.  Jeff volunteered to host Supersession next year.  They have possible locations in Clay or Becker counties and volunteers willing to help.
M/S/C (Karl/Marlene) to appoint Jeff chair and host of Supersession III for next year and have it be located in the NW district.

State Fair Dog Project Activities/Demonstrations
Dorothy Brouwers (Freeborn County) is interested in coordinating this.  Tammy has not heard back from her yet. If it is to happen, information needs to be mailed out to counties by June 25th.  The dates for this are August 26-29, during livestock weekend.

Regional Show Reports
No host county extension educators or volunteer show coordinators were present.  A process needs to be developed to communicate with host counties.  Currently, Tammy is working closely with the host county extension offices.

• South - September 11th hosted by Faribault County in Fairmont.
• Central - September 25th hosted by Anoka County in Champlin. Building site will be expensive ($900?).
• North - October 2nd hosted by Beltrami County in Bemidji.  Request additional information for the show committee.

State Show Report - Cherrye
It will be held in Hutchinson on October 23.  Food stand location was discussed.  Some options presented were the room that was used as a dressing room in the SW corner or renting a Pepsi wagon to have outside.  Erin is the coordinator of this McLeod County committee and will look into it.  Cherrye can get wholesale items also.  Computer program will be out to counties by June 25th.  Judges invitations were mailed on June 7th.  Clay County would like to do a flyball demonstration at the State Show.
M/S/C (Cathy/Nick) to invite Chapmans to sell shirts at the State Show this year.

Minnesota 4-H Dog Project Identification Form and Vaccination Certificate
The final version of the revised "Minnesota 4-H Dog Project Identification Form and Vaccination Certificate" was presented (see attached).  This form will be required for 2000 dog shows.  It will need to be submitted by 4-H'ers to county extension offices by the May 15th animal ownership deadline.  It is available to county extension offices through the University of Minnesota Extension Service's Distribution Center.

Web Page
Tammy has finally received access to the university server.  A 4-H dog website is being developed. It is under construction at this time, but Tammy and the 4-H Center are working on getting this updated.  The process will be slow, but action is being taken.  You can check it out at:  http://www.fourh.umn.edu/mndog/

Other
Copies of the recent AKC Jr. News were circulated.  Three Minnesota 4-H'ers were highlighted in an article about their dog show experiences and transition from the 4-H program to the AKC ring.

The next meeting is scheduled for 10:30 am on Saturday, November 6, 1999.
M/S/C (Karl/Cathy) to adjourn.  Meeting adjourned at 1:29 p.m.

Respectfully submitted:
Kelly Edgar, Acting Secretary