Update on USA Board of Inquiry status - Page 2

bea teifka, you can always start a WDA club so you can have your own events.  That's what we did.  Our club joined the WDA in January and our affiliation trial is in two weeks.  In Sept. we are hosting a WDA national training seminar.  We hope to also have a trial in the fall and will have the first ever WDA conformation show in Michigan within the next year.  I think all but one of our members let their USA membership expire.

We are focused on training and trialing dogs.  At the beginning we really didn't care which organization that was with.  USA basically gave us the finger so it's not even worth the time trying to convince anyone to change their minds.  We just took our membership and money elsewhere.

Cluck, cluck Matt.
I find it positively heartwarming that someone actually believes the BOI has ever had any teeth, let alone the balls to use them. That's almost as rare as meeting a USA Breed Warden that is familiar with the rules relating to the Korung.
Talk about paper titles!
Ha ha ha ha ha

<< I got a cool and short response from Pam Niccum that it will be taken care of. No words of regret, nothing. Pam and I have corresponded on a number of issues over the years. I had expected a bit more from her, very disappointing. The last email I got was from the webmaster Eric(?) with nothing but one word: DONE!!! Very rude! >>


Even though I rarely post on the PDB, I feel the need to address this.

First off, Pam Niccum is a PAID employee.  It's too bad that she sent a terse note with no mention of a "sorry to see you leave, hope you'll reconsider" kind of message.  :(
 

USA has no webmaster at this time. The man who *volunteers* his time selflessly to update the website DAILY is Charlie Snyder and he works very hard for all of USA's members.  Every time he is asked to change something on the website he handles it, and then sends a "DONE" email back.  There is no offense intended. It's his way of making things efficient.  I was always happy that he was letting me know that the requested item was done.  Please understand that Charlie has worked very hard for several years, for FREE!  He deserves a thank you, rather than a public roasting.

It's volunteers like Charlie that make USA work.

Right now I don't belong to any organization, more from oversight during life transitions over the last year than anything else...

I don't like the JA... and that's that. A lot of us old timers just don't like to be told who we can and can't play with without being ostracized from one group or the other. It reminds me of the cliques of mean-spirited girls in the rich-kid high school I went to. Sit with the new kid in the cafeteria and find yourself picked to shreds on the lonely bus ride home.
Repeal it and I shall be happy to rejoin the club I loved and supported for a couple of decades.

That said, I keep reading all the whining and complaints about USA on this board, and on the Grassroots list. Its hard to wade through all the sour grapes and nit-picking, for me at least. The gripes are like rolling snowballs, growing in volume and picking up steam as they journey down the slope, grabbing every bit of flotsam and jettsom it can along the way.

Please don't pick on Sara. She is one person who has worked tirelessly and thanklessly for USA SINCE ITS INCEPTION! (or damned close) If you can't respect the entire organization, I can easily understand that. I don't either. But please, do your homework before you put hands to keyboard. I'd venture to say 80% of the people posting to this and the Grassroots board don't have a clue, let alone an appreciation for the history of USA, or Schutzhund sport in general in this country, let alone the people who worked so hard to introduce and promote it. I would be pleased to see more of you learning the names, the contributions and the sacrifices of some of the folks you would now ignore, or worse, send to Schutzhund Siberia.

It wasn't always all about money.

Don't count on me to sit here for the next week defending myself for having posted my opinions.
In fact, this will be one of my last posts under my current screen name. Haven't decided on a new one, but my x2b's last name is starting to bother me.

Good night children.
S

Sorry that you find the post here and on the Grassroots site whiny and nit picking.  These are issues that are important to the people who are posting them.  If the members feel something is important then I think that they should a venue for their voice to be heard. 

As far as picking on Sara, no one is picking on her.  No one is questioning or discounting all the years of hard work that Sara has put into USA.  That said though, it doesn't change the facts of what's going on with the BOI complaint. 

What has become evident throughout this process though is that USA needs a parliamentarian. 

See that's what complaining does, it poinst out a shortcoming so that you can find a solution to fix it.  I've read and studied the bylaws extensively over the last several months and they are a convoluted set of rules that are hard to follow.  Yet we regularly elect officers, change the bylaws and expect people to follow the bylaws who have no training in how to interpret them and follow them.  A good parliamentarian could help USA steer clear of these kinds of problems. 

I bet that would cost a lot less than a lawyer as well.

Matt

Matt, thank you SO MUCH for taking the time, effort and balls to do what you are doing. Someone should, and you are and my hat is off to you. I have belonged on and off to USA for 20 years. While the GSD is not my breed, I have always respected what USA was trying to do. However, I lost ALL respect for the organization when they pulled this silly stunt which makes them look so fearful of WDA.  The sport of schutzhund is too small in the USA to have this type of splintering.  Sad state of affairs.

Our club is WDA, we were preparing to be a dual club when this happened. Again, it is too bad the Board decided to be exclusive instead of inclusive.

Matt, could you not file your protest directly against Grewe? Is it not he, according to what you stated above who did something against the rules? I'm not sure how all this political stuff works, but I was just wondering about the "who to protest against" question.

Again, THANK YOU and if there is anything I can do to help please shoot me a PM.

Diane Jessup 

KathyMo,
I am a paid employee and I can tell you that my boss would have a serious problem with me if I treated our customers (former or current) or anybody who contacted our office for that matter, like that. Why? Because in that moment, I am an official representative and have to act accordingly. In that capacity, there is no room for personal opinions and petty moods. So in that case, even if Pam Niccum is a paid employee, the question arises who pays her salary and if she is dependent on funding to continue to receive an income? Well, before I get a smart reply: No, I do not contribute to her salary any longer and for me, it does not matter anymore. Having myself removed from that list was the last thing I got involved with. As a matter of fact, the first thing I did was to change the tattoo code for the next litter born under my kennel name, so it would not be associated with USA anymore.
As to volunteers, yes USA depends on those and tends to treat them pretty shabby once they have fulfilled their usefullness or are not needed any longer for other reasons. I thought it was somebody named Eric but since I did not save that email (I erased it as soon as I saw it) I am sure you are correct. Maybe, USA should start a volunteer drive and get more help? Or maybe, they can't because people are tired of them. They could learn a thing or two from WDA and their dedicated people.
Chris
(former longtime active USA member) 

I believe it will be interesting to see just how well the GSDCA treats it,s volunteers after the 2013 WUSV. If i,m not mistaken the WDA has over the last several years had to do certain attention getting things to make sure the GSDCA doesn't find them a mere passing fancy. I,m more concerned about the people then the organizations because i don,t feel either  has the best intentions at the front for the working dog GSD.  

<<KathyMo,
I am a paid employee and I can tell you that my boss would have a serious problem with me if I treated our customers (former or current) or anybody who contacted our office for that matter, like that. Why? Because in that moment, I am an official representative and have to act accordingly. In that capacity, there is no room for personal opinions and petty moods. So in that case, even if Pam Niccum is a paid employee, the question arises who pays her salary and if she is dependent on funding to continue to receive an income? Well, before I get a smart reply: No, I do not contribute to her salary any longer and for me, it does not matter anymore. Having myself removed from that list was the last thing I got involved with. >>


I'm sorry.  You misunderstood my reason for mentioning that Pam Niccum is a paid employee.  It is also my opinion that the members of USA are the "customers" and they must be treated with dignity and respect.  Often employees fail to remember who pays their salary.  I am not in any way condoning the treatment you got from the office. No way.  It was wrong.

My point was that Charlie works very hard for USA and he does it for free.  Most volunteer positions are thankless jobs and those people are often taken for granted. 

It is also my opinion that the members of USA are the "customers" and they must be treated with dignity and respect.

You are not a customer. You are the owner.