We have a retriever club in my town, of which I'm a member. I used to get emails and notices about training days, and I went several times. I was the only one for a while. Thing is, the club has all but dried up and disappeared it seems. I have recently reached out via Facebook (cause to be honest, I only know a few members), but it just isn't working that well.
I may be well out of my league here, but what are some good ideas to rekindle a once active club? I live in a part of the country that is full of retriever owners, goose and pheasant hunters, and people who love hunting dogs.
I would love to hear what some of you have done to rekindle your local clubs. I'm sure it's happened in other places.
Thanks everyone.....just would like to see our club get back to what it used to be.
Dood, your the only member and calling it a klub?? Buy a couple of cases of beer, somebody will show up with a hound in the bed of the truck to hep ya drinkem.
If a dog club were a viable entity in A town I am sure it would exist already or have more than one live member. I appreciate your gumpshun but you may be try'n to push a rope. Let us know if you get it going.
Who said I was the only member? Actually, it was once a thriving club from what I hear. They put on two hunt tests per year, had a rather large and active training group. May seem like a wolf pack of one to you, but I happen to know there were many members at one time.
Just tryin to make it a wolfpac of several....know what I'm sayin bro!?! Not many "hounds" up in these parts either....
We have a retriever club in my town, of which I'm a member. I used to get emails and notices about training days, and I went several times. I was the only one for a while.
Use to run their NAHRA HT....if they ever get going again, I'd more than likely run a FT, but if my memory serves me correctly, they were mostly HTs...only a handful of FTs? Best of luck...
Actually TPRC was an AKC field trial club for years, I judged their first sanctioned field trial in about 1980. Terry Cooke and Billy and Janey Morgan (good friends) dutifully put on 2 field trials each year. When Billy and Janey retired to raise their two daughters Terrell Cooke (Terry's son) and his wife Sissy and Charles Kitten took over and put on the field trial for several years. As Ted stated Texas Panhandle Retriever Club field trial was always one of my favorite field trials to run and I miss seeing my friends twice each year. Also have lots of good memories of friends no longer here and where I won my Double Header with Percy (FC-AFC Trumarc's Hot Pursuit) 26 years ago.
This may not work in the US but if you have lots of hunters you could try appealing to the ego that goes with a well trained gundog on the duck swamp eg collecting downed birds the next person can't! People with young dogs now could be helped for next duck season. We find that quite a lot of people want a trained duck dog but not necessarily for trialling. This might then lead on to some sort of competition - or at lest that what we are hoping.
You said you know a few members. Have you talked to them? Are you sure the club is dying or are you just not being contacted any more? Funny thing to ask.... did you pay your dues?
That is a serious question I am asking. Members forget to pay their dues, get dropped from the roster, and wonder why they don't get any training day notices or meeting notices.
If the club is truly dying and near dead, the best advice I can give is to contact as many old members you can locate and try to revitalize their interest in saving the club. Be prepared to attend meetings and volunteer to help at club events. Clubs die because the movers and doers get burned out. Every club needs new blood. Club sponsored training days that are well advertised can bring in new members. You need to encourage their interest and get them involved in the club.
I think it would be easier to rekindle a club than start a new one from scratch. If you don't have the time and are not interested in becoming active to rekindle this club, it will be easier for you to find a club elsewhere and join it.
I would:
1. Contact any local retriever breed club
2. Contact any local rod and gun club-Offer to help them get started in dog training. At least you will have people throwing bumpers for you.
3. Don't be afraid to travel. I recently traveled 125 miles to get a training day with flyers.
4. Put up flyers in the local bait/tackle/hunting stores.
5. Ask people working in above stores.
6. Learn to do some training by yourself. I do some training myself in NYC.
7. Contact any retriever club within a 200 mile radius. They might have some contacts in your area.
8. Advertise on here. I know that some people are making contacts on here and I have offered help to more than a few on here.
Our club has grown over the last three years a few years before that we were struggling to keep it alive. The single thing that I believe improved our numbers the most is we increased our club training days to once a week. We have a couple of dedicated members who over see it and spend a lot of time with people that are new to the sport. Having a core membership of genuine good good people that care about dogs and the sport is our best asset.
Basically you need 3-5 really active members who are willing to put in the time and effort to get the club off the ground then build from there. Keep in mind people get burned out after ~2-3 yrs. so you'll need your back up to take over the club by then. Now whether you revive an old club or start a new, basically has to do with convenience if you can't find the document holding members of the old club, or that old club wasn't approved to run the events you want to run, it might be easier to start a new one. Still If there's one on the books for the Area, AKC, HRC ect. that's already approved to run tests, much easier to revive the old one. AKC can be hard to get approval to run test if you don't have enough members, if the old club was already approve, revive the old club . HRC you can grandfather in judges with a new club, if the old club hasn't been in business for 2-3 years, it's off the books, might want to start a new club. NAHRA I don't know of any advantage for doing it either way.
Good advice from Hunt'EmUp. We basically did the same thing with the Presque Isle Retriever Club of Erie PA. The AKC club folded because the same people did all of the work. We got together twenty people (many from a nearby club) to help revive this organization. It was approved by the AKC but we needed to mentored to hold a hunt test. We also rented its grounds and equipment. Two years later, we have held three successful hunt tests and will have two more this year. I have had volunteers "step-up" to chair the two hunt tests in 2013, and we have expanded the membership participation in the jobs that need to be completed for our club. It is much easier to get a committment for a specific position or for a specific assignment. The biggest problem is to assign jobs that you know that YOU can do easier and faster and allow others to learn the new positions; with your minimal oversight. Members from other clubs have been very helpful since they would like to have more and different hunt tests to run. Ask me in a couple of years how it worked out!
Used to be?..What was that like?
Any enterprise requires a driver!...
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