DIRECTOR PROFILES Gordon Mayne – David Margan One thing about Gordon Mayne, he just loves dogs. He grew up with working dogs on a merino sheep farm in New South Wales. The border collies were the kings of the run but a little surprise packet by the name of Possum, an Australian Silky Terrier, more than matched them. Jump 25 years forward and now living in Cairns, Gordon and his partner, Peter, would regularly go to dog shows in Cairns and fell in love with Cocker Spaniels and in 2012 they bought their first, a blue roan bitch named Murphy who was soon joined by Mason. They joined the Cairns City Kennel Club to do dog training classes and since then their lives have never been the same. While it was Dog Sports, or more particularly, Agility that drove Gordon and ‘Murphy’ to join Dogs Queensland it was the introduction of the Neuter Class that really got them going. ‘Murphy’ and ‘Mason’ entered their first Neuter Class Show at the Mareeba and District Kennel Club in September 2013. Over the next six years, Murphy, Mason and Gordon would travel to shows all over north Queensland supporting clubs that had Neuter Class. By default, they became the face of neuter class in north Queensland as Gordon says: “I will always be a staunch advocate for the class. It is a great way for new exhibitors to get involved in conformation shows. But I also love the camaraderie that exists in the dog sports community. I often say, Agility is one of the few sports where you still get a cheer whether you win or lose – it’s simply about participating and challenging yourself.”
Gordon grew up in a family which honoured the value of charity and giving back to the community, and it was the dog community that encouraged him to take on some official responsibilities. Gordon first became involved in the Cairns City Kennel Club to project manage a $35,000 kitchen renovation then became the club’s Publicity Officer and completely rebuilt the club’s website. Now, as the President of the Cairns City Kennel Club, he still wears the publicity hat, and is leading several initiatives to improve the club’s governance, funding sources (the club currently has three grant applications in progress), building community connections and most importantly creating a safe and welcoming environment. Connecting with the club’s 300+ members is very important to Gordon, whether it be by helping at trials or shows, working bees, fund raising events or regular emails and newsletters. While doing all this Gordon has had a diverse career working in hotel management, print media and policy development with the Queensland Government and so he has had a wealth of experience in Project Management, Risk Management and Management Systems Auditing.
In 2018 with ‘Murphy’ and ‘Mason’ nearing retirement, the family has been joined by Tristan, the Portuguese Water Dog.
All this has reinforced his values of charity, customer service, consultation, planning and the importance of good governance processes.
Gordon is a regular face, with Tristan by his side, at shows across the expansive area of Zone 3. In between this Gordon started Agility training with Tristan and plans to compete in Jumping this year.
“We may all do different things with our dogs, but our passionate love of dogs is common to all and in our increasingly diverse world we need to provide a warm welcome to all dog lovers.”
DOG WORLD May 2022
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