Great Dane Breed Council Meeting – 21st March 2016

Great Dane Breed Council Meeting Monday, 21st March 2016

The Great Dane Breed Council held a meeting on the Monday, 21st March 2016 at the Holiday Inn Stafford which was attended by delegates from all eight participating clubs. The office of Chairman was due for re-election as the present Chairman, Tim Lewis, had decided not to stand for a further 3-year term. There being one nomination for the position, Tony Pearce, was unanimously elected as the new Chairman.

With regard to the DCM Research Project, the Health Co-ordinator, Maria McGuinness, gave details of the re-application to the KC Charitable Trust for funding which had now been received from Liverpool University. This re-submitted proposal would to go to the Kennel Club Charitable Trust shortly.

It was agreed that another Breed Council Health Day will be held at in 2017. Any subjects considered suitable for discussion should be brought to the attention of Maria McGuinness. Further details will be available in due course.

The BC Health Sub-Committee also gave details of the launch by the Kennel Club Genetics Centre at the Animal Health Trust of the “Give a Dog a Genome” project and were pleased to announce that our application to be included had been accepted.

A separate Press Release on this matter has already been released.

Another subject discussed was the information received from the KC on the matter of Stand Alone Dogs when judging and preparing CVs: The Secretary, Olivia Bates, reported that she had continued to seek additional clarification from the KC on the subject of counting dogs that stood alone in a class. A reply had been received as follows:

“In the situation where a judge has actually gone over 3 dogs in 3 classes they can count the stand alone dog numbers in each class in the overall number of dogs judged. If the judge has only had one class with one entry they should not include those entries in their overall judging numbers.

The JSC when considering a first time CC Questionnaire will use its discretion as to whether it will count the numbers for the purposes of a first time CC questionnaire.”

The Breed Council Combined Judges List was updated and applicants would receive notification of the list they qualified for.

The AGM of the Breed Council took place at 2.30 pm, attended by 20 people, a slight increase on last year. The Chairman welcomed all attendees and thanked them for making the time to attend. Apologies for absence were recorded and minutes of last years AGM were accepted and with no matters arising the Chairman’s, Secretary’s, Treasurer’s and Health co-ordinators reports were given with emphasise on the DCM funding application and the Give A Dog A Genome project. There was discussion from the floor on the showing of mismarks and the selection of judges with regard to the BC judging criteria.

Tony Schaanning-Ling gave the KCLC report and after the Chairman thanked him the meeting was closed at 3.10pm.