As I think back, every year or so there is conversation about a roving national specialty among ABC members. As I said to a good friend this morning, she and I have been ABC members for almost 20 years and things do change, albeit slowly. When I was still living in North Florida I had gathered information on how clubs handle a roving national specialty – the following is information that I received from the Great Dane Club of America and the Golden Retriever club of America five years ago.

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Hi Carole,

I am going to briefly explain you how the Great Dane Club of America works this out:

The Parent Club has divided the USA in six regions, and each region is comprised of Clubs in those Divisions.  Every year a certain Division has the responsibility of doing the National.

The GDCA provides you with a three ring binder of rules and regulations that you have to follow; they also provide you with seed money to start things moving.  This money, and any seed money from the individual Clubs, is refunded after the National and any profit is divided 50/50 between the GDCA and the Clubs that form the Division.  However, if the National has losses, which has never been the case, the Parent Club is responsible.

We put on a very "high end" National Specialty and we cater tremendously to our exhibitors. It is five days of shows, the Top 20 Event, Futurity, educational seminars, judges’ education, parties, dinners, activities such as golf outings, welcoming bags, tokens at dinners, and an innumerable list of most everything you can think of. We have spoiled our people to no end and the National is getting bigger and bigger each year and becoming a labor of gigantic proportions.

I have been working 2 years at this and I sincerely recommend that you contact other Breed Clubs that might deal with their National Specialties in a more practical way. Needless to say, the first problem you encounter is finding a hotel that will accept dogs and that can offer all the accommodations you need for the kind of event we organize.  This year here in Kansas City, we have a big hotel and a Market Center next doors for the actual shows. Let me know if you need more information.

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This is from the Golden Retriever Club of America:

We have about 5,000 members and have an open membership on the theory that if people join the club they then receive the Golden Retriever News six times a year which, at over 200 pages per issue, is chock full of educational articles.  We figure the more educated Golden owners are, the better off the breed as a whole is.

In addition to the individual memberships, GRCA also operates through a system of over 50 member clubs.  While it is not necessary to belong to a local club to join GRCA, most individuals do have membership in both their local club and in the National.  GRCA provides the big picture; the local clubs provide social activities, local events, and participate in their communities.  It is also through branches of the local clubs (I say branches for tax purposes) that most of Golden Retriever Rescue is operated.

All the above is by way of saying that it is our system of local clubs that allows the National Specialty to rotate.  We divided the country into three Regions--Eastern, Central, and Western.  Each year a local club in one of the regions hosts the National Specialty.  They bid on this to the GRCA Board of Directors about three years prior to the event.

GRCA provides some financial support, both in terms of no-interest loans, and in direct contributions.  There is a Specialty Advisory Committee (which I chair) to answer questions and help the host club work through the process and a National Specialty Handbook of over 130 pages for them to refer to.  GRCA also is responsible for running the annual meeting and for putting on the educational program(s).

The host club is responsible for everything else.  They pick the site and the hotel(s), pick the judges, establish the schedule of events, select the trophies, chose the superintendent or show secretary, etc.  While I know there are members of other clubs who are appalled that these types of decisions are left to the host club, this has worked very well for us.  Judge selection is always the critical point, and our membership reaffirmed the current method in a mailed survey just last year.

All of these decisions have criteria spelled out in the Handbook so clubs are not just flying blind; they can refer to the guidelines to help them make these decisions.

Among the positive points of the National Specialty changing location each year is that the work doesn't fall on the same people.  It's spread out and one group doesn't get burned out--at least not totally!  It also gives members from various parts of the country a chance to get to the National at least every two or three years.  In 1998 we were in Seattle, 1999 in Rhode Island and 2000 is in St. Louis.  We then go on to Albuquerque, Orlando, and Cleveland.

I know the Flat-Coated Retriever people do not have a system of local clubs, yet their specialty rotates to a new group of people each time, which groups are formed expressly for that purpose.  That model might be a better one for you to look at.

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In summary, it takes an enormous amount of work to do any dog show, let alone a national specialty. For years Bobbie Wagner and her team have done a yeoman’s job.

It is also very hard to find people to help in any volunteer organization.

SO, if you are an ABC member and want to change to a roving national specialty…

1. Put a petition together to be signed by X% of the voting members of the ABC (check the by-laws for the percentage).
2. A vote will then go to the membership
3. BUT don't even bother unless YOU can gather a group of people who are willing and able to be in this for the first 5 years to get it off the ground in sound condition so that it can go forward. The more people that are involved in any activity the more direction that
is needed and the more i's that must be dotted and t's that must be crossed.
4. While I am unable to spearhead the effort at this time, I am willing to participate.
5. In short, and in the vocabulary of the business world, we would be building a new "product," and thus would need a whole new product plan. It will be a lot of work –