On Saturday March 15 the Dutch Kennel Club (the association of local dog clubs and breed clubs) held their extraordinary AGM near Utrecht, writes Ria Hörter. After the tumultuous meeting in December 2002 which resulted in many resignations, the representatives had to vote for 7 or 9 new Committee Members. None of the previous members stood again as a candidate.

Mrs Joyce Jackl presided over the meeting at which 178 Clubs were represented. During recent years the Committee had 9 or 7 members. First of all it was decided by the AGM that the new Committee of the Dutch Kennel Club would consist of again seven members.

(According to the rules the number of members of the Committee can vary from 5 to 12.)
Twelve candidates had presented themselves to the clubs via letters and via an article in the dog press in which they explained what their goals for the near future would be. Prior to the voting, all 12 candidates were asked by the AGM to answer three questions. First: their opinion about exhibiting dogs with docked tails, coming from countries without a docking ban. Secondly their opinion about the implementation of the so called ‘Central Breeding Policy’. Third: would they stand again if they would not get a majority (50% plus one) in the first vote. As the result of a rather lengthy procedure with the poll cards, the voting started around three o’clock.

Majority

Only two rounds were necessary to form a new Committee of seven members. A clear winner in the first round was Mr Cor Last. He got the majority of valid votes. Mr Last was born in 1944 and studied Law at the Leiden University. Being involved in pedigree dogs since 1965, he imported his first Scottish Terrier from the Reanda Kennels in England. After the Scotties came the Norfolks and the Chihuahua. His present job is as a Director of the ‘Stichting Geschillencommissie’, which is a national arbitration board for consumers.

The other six new members are: Mr Gerard Jipping (1955), Mr Frans Schaaf (1940), Mr Auke Koops van ‘t Jagt (1947), Mr John Wauben (1957), Mr Jan Dekker (1955) and Mr Jascha van Leeuwen (1949). Being dog lovers, exhibitors, dog breeders etc. in the first place, they come from various backgrounds in their daily work, like the Civil Service, Financial and Strategic Management and Education.

An enormous task is waiting for those seven new Committee Members. The financial problems of the Dutch Kennel Club and the implementation of the ‘Central Breeding Policy’ are only two of the waiting dossiers. The general impression is, however acting according to the Dutch law, that the new Dutch Kennel Club will be willing to try to find a solution for the problems of exhibiting docked dogs from abroad. It was remarkable that only some of the candidates were able to answer this question clearly. When it comes to the ‘Central Breeding Policy’, the majority of the new members assured the AGM that in their opinion the breed clubs and the breeders should be the first ones to decide about how to breed pedigree dogs, taking into account that breeding healthy dogs is the first priority.