DPCA membership???

[Ravenbird]

I thought about not renewing my membership because of where it's gone, but then I remembered that if some of us drop our membership we can't vote to make it better. We will fight on and try to get it back to where it was.

Thank you Jan!

Exactly. There are many good members and it's up to them to steer it back on track and continue to foster and invite the younger generation in. Not everyone is a bad apple, but there are always some bad apples in every group. Leaving will make it worse.

Spot on!

As an active member of a DPCA club, I find this appalling. One of the requirements of being a club officer is being a DPCA member. I'm having a very hard time recruiting people to be officers and club members. This makes life for member clubs very difficult.

Starts snowballing down hill, now that you mention this angle. The "David" you posted about above who was denied membership stated he was president of a Dobe Club - so does that mean his club is not a DPCA club, if he had to be a member to be on the board?

I can totally understand investigating an applicant for non-savory ways associated with showing, breeding, or mis-representing the breed etc. But how could the board vote against newcomer @Rits when she's clearly not done a damn thing to damage the reputation of the Doberman breed, in fact done nothing but promote it. And how many just like her are being rejected for no apparent reason? I never had any reason to join, but this just seems so weird across the scope of it. I hope you members keep us posted on the news, especially if there is a reason revealed for the rejections.

 

[Ddski5]

WOW!!!
So bad

The Skull and Bones of the Doberman.

Skull and Bones - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Panama]

I applied once. I had Mary Rogers as one of my sponsors, never owned or bred Albinos & Z Factored Dobes, was involved with Rescue/Foster/Transport, had just started getting my feet wet in the show ring......... DENIED Haven't bothered to apply again.

 

[obbanner]

Starts snowballing down hill, now that you mention this angle. The "David" you posted about above who was denied membership stated he was president of a Dobe Club - so does that mean his club is not a DPCA club, if he had to be a member to be on the board?

Sometimes a position (board member, treasurer, etc) has to be filled and we find out the candidate isn't a DPCA member. We fill the position and submit the DPCA membership, and membership came through about four months later. It's never been an issue to my knowledge.

I can suspect that David may have had issues with people at the DPCA. I've been there when I supported one of our club members and it turned into a mini-tempest where I not only got it from the DPCA, but one of my own club members. Doberman politics remind me of what they say about academia - the smaller the issue, the more tempers flare.

 

[Ddski5]

WOW!!!!

The Facebook page on this is almost as good as the World Cup Brazil vs Switzerland.

DPCA is really trying to do damage control. If what Cathy Kendrick said is true then I may be inclined to retract my Skull & Bones comment….

 

[JanS]

I know there's one DPCA member who used to, maybe still does have a say on who is and who isn't approved and this person knowingly entered their own false info on Dobequest for things like COD with their own breeding program.

 

[Ravenbird]

The Facebook page on this is almost as good as the World Cup Brazil vs Switzerland.

DPCA is really trying to do damage control. If what Cathy Kendrick said is true then I may be inclined to retract my Skull & Bones comment….

I guess I'm out of the loop. What FB page? I get DPCA, but no discussion, just fluffy photos.

 

[Rits]

I guess I'm out of the loop. What FB page? I get DPCA, but no discussion, just fluffy photos.

He is probably talking about my public post I made today.

Log in to Facebook

Log in to Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family and people you know.

facebook.com

 

[Rits]

There is also a FB group called "focus on the DPCA" made by the members where they freely talk about these things.

 

[Ravenbird]

I just read through all the posts on your post and it enlightened me to several things:
*Seems like an internal problem somewhere about the "unanswered" questions. Seems too accidental-on-pupose suspicious, but maybe a computer glitch. maybe. Way too weird that it happened to several people.
*Also, a major issue of no associate memberships. A club this size should (IMHO) start with non-voting associate status for at least a year - assign watchdogs or whatever to observe their show/breeding/AR/PITA/involvement for that time before full voting rights.
*Which brings me to be humbled by one of the main reasons they (say) are cranking down: AR & PITA filtering into the club. By humbled, I mean I never thought about this & absolutely stand with the board on keeping these people out. Not at the expense of others though! They are throwing the baby out with the bath water. But I never thought about this "invasion" of people into our Doberman club, so that's when I took a breath, thinking (hoping) it's not just a dismal view of newcomers.

And as a side note, I loved seeing all the warriors standing up for you & all the others who were dismissed for no good reason. Your post was terrific and well worded. Yay for bringing it all forward!

 

[Rits]

I will share my recent update here that I shared on my private FB wall:

Upon review after another applicant made me aware of the possibility, I saw that the automated email of my application form did indeed show blank answers that I was 100% certain I filled out. 4 people responded on my post that the same thing happened to them or they knew of it happening to others. I reached out to the DPCA about it. I did receive a swift reply. I asked for permission to share. I cannot share the reply, but I could repeat the sentiment. Here is what was said to me:

There were two versions of the form after submitting. One automated from the system that was erroneously blank (the automated email the applicant receives) and one that was a PDF with everything filled out if the applicant did such. The board received the PDF and voted based on the PDF.

So back to square one that I was denied due to reasons unknown to me and that I will never know other than wondering: I am not good enough, I am punished for being too "new", my sponsors worried their word about me wasn't good enough, or maybe political drama? Who knows and because you cannot know you/I will forever be left wondering. Some transparency would be great. If I am not worthy of membership after almost 3 years of utmost dedication to the breed while owning a doberman, not counting the 14-15 years of day in and day out dedication to the breed while not even owning one as an admin on the second largest doberman forum with 53 THOUSAND users in the past 90 days. What unicorn are they really looking for... Sorry but I fear for the health of our parent club and our breed.

I feel defeated.

 

[Ddski5]

What I don’t understand is if one of the reasons is because you are new and they don’t know you then what is the purpose of a sponsor vouching for you?? Isn’t the sponsor a member? So if a member in good standing vouches for a person to become a member then it should be legit otherwise then what’s the purpose of the sponsor?? The sponsor is not good enough? Then why is the sponsor considered a member if their recommendation is not good enough??

That really seems like a power move from the board to me. I have the power so I will decide…..

 

[Ravenbird]

I've spent the day on & off FB reading more & more - and very informative is that group that @Rits mentioned up above. The more I read the more I'm disappointed. My last post up there, I was holding some hope after reading some of the posts - about a computer glitch, about maybe associate memberships, about AR/PITA concerns... but I'm really seeing nothing but weird exclusive behavior for no given reason. So many, just like Amanda, with good deeds, good intentions, good sponsors and a big fat nope (which translates to the applicant as "we don't need your kind in here, thanks anyway). It just doesn't make sense.

And for anyone not looking, here's the new explain on the membership page. So curious why "membership renewals are labor intensive".

 

[Ddski5]

Yup….
I will hold true to my Skull & Bones remark.

 

[Rits]

Wonderful post going around...


Copied from another list. I could have written this complete with the horse reference! Especially the gatekeeping and mentor paragraphs!

Grew up in horses - kids passionate about something will work their buns off. (And on the flip side there is a lot of abuse of that passion that all too often sees them burned out and quitting because people take advantage).

There's a huge reckoning going on because the horse world has to grapple with the fact it is a luxury. Prices are going up. Talented young trainers and riders are being priced out, burned out, broken financially and physically with no safety net. The divide is growing and we have not figured out yet how to fix it.

The dog fancy is not that dire yet but we need to figure out a way to stop it before it gets worse.

We need to be more welcoming. Less insular.

There is precious little time, money, and energy to go around. People will not waste it on spaces that feel like they are climbing a mountain to get the barest crumbs.

That is not being lazy.

Nor do they need to grow a thick skin.

We're too ready to eat our own.

Our young.

The average time in dog fancy is 5 or 7 years (I've seen both cited).

That is an abysmal retention rate.

We must do better.

The only constant in the world is change. We need to meet those changes or be obsolete.

We've gone from puppies in a magazine to Facebook. Dog people can adapt.

Also: stop making kennel club meetings at 5pm every third Thursday.

Also, also: quit gatekeeping. Newbies who show interest should be *need to be* encouraged. I don't care if they own a Doodle or have a male of the same breed they're interested in that they want a female from now.

If your mentor 30 years ago wouldn't have done it to you, why are you doing it to them?

(I've been burned! Yes, Susan if you do anything long enough you'll get burned in animals. Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt in horses and still keep working because my breed needs new people if it's going to survive and I'll be damned if the lines breeders before me entrusted me with die with me. Have a drink and a pity cry and get back to work. The dog fancy needs people or there will be no dog fancy. We will snob our breeds to extinction because no one is good enough for a puppy and that's on you).

The dog fancy is not just dogs. It's the people too.

 

[Rits]

There's talks that this has nothing to do with the person and everything with wanting their associate member proposal to go through. It was voted NO last time. Talks of deny everyone until this proposal is accepted and then allow these people back in that had to wait a year, will now have to wait an additional two years as an apprentice before even being able to vote.

Whatever it is, it all is rotten. I have a friend that was literally accepted the day before I applied. She almost matches me to a T in experience and story. The difference is she must have made it in before this revamping. The excuses on private boards so far I have heard do not add up. Not for a DPC president, not for me or other worthy applicants like me.

 

[Kswoodssue]

I just read through all the posts on your post and it enlightened me to several things:
*Seems like an internal problem somewhere about the "unanswered" questions. Seems too accidental-on-pupose suspicious, but maybe a computer glitch. maybe. Way too weird that it happened to several people.
*Also, a major issue of no associate memberships. A club this size should (IMHO) start with non-voting associate status for at least a year - assign watchdogs or whatever to observe their show/breeding/AR/PITA/involvement for that time before full voting rights.
*Which brings me to be humbled by one of the main reasons they (say) are cranking down: AR & PITA filtering into the club. By humbled, I mean I never thought about this & absolutely stand with the board on keeping these people out. Not at the expense of others though! They are throwing the baby out with the bath water. But I never thought about this "invasion" of people into our Doberman club, so that's when I took a breath, thinking (hoping) it's not just a dismal view of newcomers.

And as a side note, I loved seeing all the warriors standing up for you & all the others who were dismissed for no good reason. Your post was terrific and well worded. Yay for bringing it all forward!

My thoughts exactly, @Ravenbird. Take new folks in to promote the breed and educate folks. Earn the right to vote. Sounds more like a monarchy currently.

 

[Rits]

And for anyone not looking, here's the new explain on the membership page. So curious why "membership renewals are labor intensive".



View attachment 130459

I think its funny after you emailed them they added this.

It now reads "we don't want new members"

It is labor intensive because one person, the VP, decided to (or was appointed to?) take on the task of membership, VP duties and web duties. So I suppose that is a lot to handle. Let it be known, if you look at the DPCA website, someone else is supposed to be the Membership Secretary.

 

[Doberman Gang]

I'm more disappointed in the club itself and wondering where their reasoning has gone. I assumed (yeah I know, never assume) that it was the place that took care of us and watched out for the breed. The website is such a huge chunk of stats & reports & all the things a person needs to know, I thought the people behind it would be the same...

Don’t You belong to the UDC? If so, I wouldn’t worry about join DPCA unless you are looking to compete in conformation. It is frustrating when breed clubs put off potential new members. These are volunteer club members that perform these tasks so I can see how a large influx of new applicants could be overwhelming at times, but to just close it with no real date to accept new applications does go over very well with the public.

 

[Ravenbird]

Don’t You belong to the UDC? If so, I wouldn’t worry about join DPCA unless you are looking to compete in conformation.

Yes, I'm in UDC. I was on the DPCA website cruising around looking at different stuff and saw that "no new member applications" notice. I thought it rather curt & off-putting and opened the discussion here. I wasn't looking to join, but with their fabulous website, so full of all the things a person needs to know about the breed, I always thought it was worth supporting. I was hoping some members were here on D-Chat that could explain that new notice, but turns out everyone was just as surprised as I was. Then we find out lots & lots of people being turned down for no reason. I've seen some kind of internal bickering in almost every club I've ever belonged to all my life - not just dogs, but horse clubs too. You gave me the best advice when I was whining about getting my BH with USCA and would have to do it again with a DVG trial to get "recognized" by UDC. You said "who cares, go have fun with your dog at your local club". I let that sink in and have been doing just that ever since.