President’s Message

“ I think we are all pinching ourselves that we are now in August and that more than half of 2020 has passed. We are adjusting to the “new normal” and monitoring the troubling developments south of the border. Our thoughts are with all those at government, health and community level dealing with these COVID-19 issues.

We are continuing to look for opportunities for our members to participate in our dog events and sports whilst ensuring compliance with the State Government COVID-19 requirements. It is also a high priority for your Board and the Office that members be kept safe during these times. It is great that Queensland is currently travelling so well with zero cases continuing to be reported as I write this on 28 July 2020 just after our Board meeting last night. For this reason, it was then decided that our Dogs Queensland office will be reopening to members over the next month or so. Watch Paw Prints for updates on this.

Conformation Judges Committee (CJC) Open Shows I gave a detailed report on the very successful Open Shows held on 18 and 19 July to support our trainee judges in the Paw Prints published on 24 July 2020. We have another weekend of shows happening this weekend on 1 and 2 August 2020. The word was certainly out and entries closed for a number of the groups within hours of opening on line! So quickly in fact that I missed entering my whippets! A big thank you to all who have supported our trainee judges at these events.

I am now able to update you more on some aspects of these CJC Open Show weekends. Those who attended know that an additional layer of COVID-19 requirements and processes were implemented to allow these events to occur. And this comes at a cost. As I mentioned in Paw Prints the last weekend incurred a loss of just over $4k. However, some of the necessary expenditures e.g. for Face Masks, Thermometers, Wrist Bands, Hand Sanitisers and Road Safety equipment will be utilised at our next CJC Open Shows and Hands On Examination

weekends and at other Durack events as well.

It is important that our trainee judges in Zones 2 and 3 are also supported in these training opportunities and routinely at least one judge from one of those Zones is allocated a judging appointment by the CJC with the attendant flight costs paid by Dogs Queensland. These show weekends are an important way of trialling the new requirements for shows and events at Durack and enables continuous improvement of our processes. In addition, the CJC has been able to identify areas where savings can occur whilst maintaining strict compliance.

I am delighted to confirm that we now have Royal Canin sponsoring these CJC Open Shows. Royal Canin has been a great supporter of our Dogs Queensland events.

Breed Specialty Weekend – 12 and 13 September We recently called for expressions of interest from Breed Clubs for the holding of Breed Specialty Championship Shows on 12 September. Responses were received from 7 breed clubs. As a consequence, it was decided to extend through to the Sunday with 3 specialty shows approved for each day and offering the Rottweiler Club the opportunity to schedule its show on an alternate weekend with the German Shepherd Club.

Informed by the requirements and outcomes of the CJC Open Show weekend, the Board also decided that the holding of an all breeds championship show at Durack would be a “bridge too far” until at least December 2020. Breed specialty shows are more manageable but will nonetheless necessitate an extra layer of financial and people commitment by the individual breed clubs and Dogs Queensland to allow these events to happen.

Dogs Queensland Office On Monday 27 August the Board received a summary

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of transaction times for various office services. It is pleasing that turnaround times are going well. For instance, litter registrations in July were happening within 5 working days where documentation was in order and within 7 working days where a send back to the member was required. And interestingly, 2020 litters are not far behind 2019 litters numbers wise at this stage.

University of Queensland Architecture Students I am pleased to announce a collaboration with the University of Queensland School of Architecture to enable their second-year students to individually develop projects for our Durack site. Site visits will happen in August. It is proposed that each student design –

1. A small cabin for short stay accommodation that sleeps two adults and up to three dogs.

2. New facilities that replace the existing headquarters and clubhouse and accommodate on the site several added programs including: a museum/library space for exhibiting and storing archives, artefacts, photographs, memorabilia; a consolidated storage and workshop space that replaces all the shipping containers; and a system of new shade structures and bleachers.

They would do the cabin project in the first four weeks and part of the second task would be to site and arrange twenty of these cabins together.

It will be most interesting to see the ideas and plans generated by these creative architecture students! Ulla Greenwood President ”

London Sunday Telegraph