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March 2014

Board of Governors

President………….…………..…Jim Wasilak Treasurer……………....Mary Ellen Fishler First Vice President……….…..Patricia Brink Member-at-Large….……..Sandy Marshall Second Vice President………… Judy Cooksey Member-at-Large………….....Victoria Law Recording Secretary………….….Julia Swartz Member-at- Large……Claudette Boudreaux Corresponding Secretary…..Kathy Hinkley, 14916 Hydrus Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20906,

Phone 301-598-0306, khkaylee@verizon.net Webmaster………………… ..Julia Swartz Website: www.washingtonpoodleclub.org

President’s Message Here we are in our busy time of the year already! Our Spring Specialty is upon us, to be followed immediately by the PCA National Specialty. I hope that everyone will be able to participate in those two special events that we all look forward to every year. Looking beyond those two events, our club has formed a committee to develop a breeders seminar program that will occur later in the year. Thanks to Julia Swartz, Claudette Boudreaux, Victoria Law, Nina Selvaggi and Paul Redding for your enthusiasm in putting this together. As a reminder, we are always looking for new venues in the area to hold our regular meetings. The Golden Bull is great as always but if you have a suggestion of a location with a separate room, let's hear it! In closing, I wanted to thank Peggy Myers for her years of service as the Corresponding Secretary, and thank Kathy Hinkley for stepping into that role. Big shoes to fill! Spring 2014 Show It’s been a long, brutally cold and snowy winter so let’s welcome in Spring by participating in our annual Spring Show. Our Spring show will be held at the Maryland State Fairgrounds, Timonium, Maryland, on Friday, April 18, 2014. PCA starts the same day with a Tracking Test in Salisbury, Maryland. Breed Judge is Jack MacGillivray. Sweepstakes will be judged by Chad Howard. Ken Nagler will judge all regular Obedience classes. Cheryl Pratt will judge Rally classes. Be sure to tell your friends and handlers to enter in our Spring show and make it another big poodle weekend right before PCA. Entries close Wednesday, April 2, 2014, at 12 noon. PCA entries close the next day. Show Chair is Mary Ellen Fishler. Plan to help the club set up our show site in Timonium on the Thursday before our show date. Dog-Related Activity in the Maryland State Legislature The Maryland State House has passed three Bills which affect dog owners and breeders. These involve prohibiting ownership of specific breeds; tail docking and ear cropping; and debarking. These Bills still

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must pass the Maryland State Senate before they become law, so now is the time to make your voices heard. See Summary below taken directly from the AKC website for specifics on these Bills. o House Bill 422 – This bill states that a dog may not be declared potentially dangerous based solely on the dogs “breed, type or heritage” and prohibits counties and municipalities from enacting laws prohibiting ownership of specific breeds. A recent amendment removed a provision in the original bill that would have prohibited landlords from denying occupancy based on breed. However, the bill does not prohibit landlords from restricting ownership of all dogs or of dogs declared dangerous under Maryland law. The AKC and Maryland Dog Federation both support this bill. o House Bill 665 – This bill as introduced would have allowed veterinarians to perform ear cropping, tail docking, dewclaw removal or surgical births and require that they use anesthesia. The AKC expressed concerns that this would not be in the best interest of dogs, as tail docking is often done when puppies are too young for anesthesia. To address these concerns, the bill was amended to state that anesthesia would only be required “when appropriate.” All these procedures must still be performed by a licensed veterinarian. o House Bill 667 – This bill only allows debarking if it is medically necessary to treat an illness, injury or defect that is causing the animal harm or pain. A veterinarian would be required to provide a written certification that includes supporting diagnosis and findings as to why the procedure was necessary. PCA Judges Ballot for 2016 An email went out to members on March 16, 2014 asking for their comments on the 2016 PCA judges ballot. Comments should be sent by email by March 22, 2014 and results will be emailed to the group. New WPC Meeting Site Mary Watson followed up on her suggestion of trying out the new Bennigan’s location in Clarksburg, Maryland as a meeting site. We will try it out for our next meeting scheduled for Sunday, April 6, 2014 at 1:00 pm. Here is the address and the website if you would like to peruse the menu in advance. Bennigan’s Clarksburg 23315 Frederick Road Clarksburg, MD 20871 Phone: 301-540-1499

Sunday hours are 8am - 11pm info@bennigansclarksburg.com  

Poodle Club of America 82nd National Specialty The National Specialty will be held April 18 – 25, 2014 at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center, Salisbury, MD 21804. A schedule of events follows.

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Minutes of General Club Meeting Washington Poodle Club Minutes February 23, 2014 Meeting was called to order at 2:15 PM by Jim Wasilak, president. Administrative Tasks Previous minutes posted in newsletter were approved. The Treasurer’s report was given by Mary Ellen. She reported that we collected $553 at our Holiday Auction and that the treasury now has a total of $2098.38. Trophy donation letters will be sent out in the next two weeks. Upcoming April 18th Spring Show Our April 18th Spring Show was approved by the AKC. At this event, Claudette and Pat will be the ring stewards. Kathy will be selling catalogs. A request for a donation for flowers for the show was brought to the membership. Claudette and Nina volunteered to pick up WPC decorations from Mary Ellen’s storage facility and decorate our ring area. At the show, Chad Howard will be judging the 4-6 month puppies and the sweepstakes. Breed judge is Jack MacGillivray. Obedience classes will be judged by Ken Nagler and Cheryl Pratt. Ms. Pratt will also be our Rally judge. Emergency response will be Jim. Victoria will be taking ads for the catalog. Mary Ellen will purchase trophies. Julia will provide a cake. All hands are invited to help the club set up our show site in Timonium on the Thursday before our show date. Specialty Shows/AKC Qualifications Mary Ellen explained that to qualify for having two specialty shows, the AKC has a list of requirements that we need to fulfill during the year. Mary Ellen gave several examples of types of activities that could fulfill these requirements such as: conducting tours at dog shows, providing educational topics at club meetings, putting an ad in the Gazette, (supporting AKC), a members only match, the 4-6 month pup conformation class. Mary Ellen has agreed to supply a copy of these requirements for the club to view. Mary Ellen stated that current AKC specialty show fees for Obedience are $50, Conformation, $50, Rally, $100 and 4-6 month puppy class, $25. AKC also is paid a certain amount per entry. Payment for entries to AKC for our fall 2013 show was $181. A question was raised about receiving funds back if a dog withdraws from the show in Obedience. Mary Ellen stated that you can withdraw if you go to the steward at least 30 minutes prior to the start of competition. Also, if a bitch is in heat, you can receive a $10 refund; if there has been a change in judge, you can receive a full refund. Mary Ellen explained that the AKC is trying to change rulings on club territories. The WPC was incorporated at first in Washington, DC but our territory has shifted as it has become harder to find venues to hold competitions in Washington, DC. We have shifted toward having our shows at Maryland venues. Other clubs have wanted to have specialties on our show dates, but we own the dates that we have our

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shows. We will continue to OWN those dates unless we fail to have a show on those dates for two years in a row. A question was posed as to who takes care of the ribbons. Mary Ellen responded that MBF takes care of the ribbons for us as part of their “package”, and Old Dominion takes care of the first place rosettes as a “thank you” for holding a specialty at their venue. PCA Judges Ballot Mary Ellen reviewed the short list on the PCA Ballot including 7 Toy judges, 11 mini judges and 8 standard judges. The 2015 PCA ballot will be sent by Mary Ellen to Kathy Hinkley and Kathy will submit them by email to PCA. Judy announced a few items about the upcoming PCA National Specialty show. There have been some issues with the PCA website, but things are on track now. There will be a grooming competition and a rescue fundraiser conducted by Cindy Crawley. The fundraiser asks that you donate pairs of used shoes to be collected at PCA in Salisbury, which in turn, will earn money for rescue. New Business Mary Ellen suggested we might have a “responsible dog ownership day” in September to meet our AKC educational requirements. Claudette offered the idea about sponsoring a seminar about breeding. Club members agreed that this might be an engaging topic. Nina suggested we consider starting with the breed standard. A discussion followed and then Claudette stated she, Paul, Nina and Julia would be on a committee to plan and conduct a seminar on breeding and/or the breed standard for club and possibly interested poodle fanciers in the area. Jim and members present thanked Kathy Hinkley for accepting the club position of corresponding secretary as Peggy Myers recently resigned from the position. All members expressed gratitude for Peggy’s years of service to the club as corresponding secretary. Peggy will continue as an active member in the club. Discussion of meeting places for our next meeting was not resolved, but Mary Watson will be looking into having it at Bennigan’s in Clarksburg, MD as a possibility. Date for the next meeting is March 30th. A motion was made to adjourn, seconded and adjourned by Jim Wasilak at 4:10 PM Respectfully submitted, Julia Swartz, recording secretary, March 2, 2014

The End