My “thank yous” to John and Sari are certainly sincere in the sense that both come from the heart. My thanks to John for taking up the cudgels in what heretofore was my singular battle relative to the basic unfairness of making secondary citizens of the so-called low entry breeds. Over 40 breeds have been designated as low entry based on some formula worked out by somebody on Staff and with Board approval if not instigation. Judges are now approved to judge these breeds even though they do not meet the minimum requirements set for the some other 110 breeds. Indeed Board has gone so far as to now count a single group entry towards a breed approval requirement! This is the worst form of pandering to the judges organizations and to those so intent upon opening the doors to anyone who wants to judge without considering ability to perform as a judge as has ever occurred in our sport
And I say particular shame on those Board Members who come from low entry breeds for supporting this kind of thinking. I won’t spell them out it is only too obvious as to whom they are. But I will say that this kind of irresponsible attitude should result in the parent club taking the seats away from these people. Unfortunately two of these Directors for at least the last two or three years have by their recorded votes established roadblocks whenever Staff has proposed legitimate improvements in the judging approval processes. And I will further add that I understand that many members of Staff, particularly from within the Field Rep area have opposed these judging approvals in the low entry designated areas as strongly as do John and I. To little avail I unhappily must report.
Now to Sari’s “thank you”. Much more of a sarcastic thanks than a heartfelt one for sure. Finally Sari has come out and admitted what she and her cadre of supporters really are attempting to do. The last paragraph of her THE WAY IT IS article, which appears in this issue states, “If, as a result of all this, AKC becomes a smaller, tighter, better-organized entity, remaining true to its core purpose, then it is on the right track in securing its future”. This is in fact is a call to the elitists among us—and there are many—to make AKC a boutique registry. Finally and I believe in desperation, particularly with the straw vote which ended the 
Delegate meeting so heavily in favor of pursuing the question of establishing a mixed-breed program have she and her followers been forced to come out in support of what I believe to have been their hidden agenda all along. This agenda in my opinion always has been to keep AKC as exclusive rather than inclusive as possible. Indeed the anecdotal conclusions she arrives at based upon and I quote directly “individual postings on various websites and blogs” is to my mind at any rate the worst way imaginable to come to any conclusion about anything. Rather would I quote from Kirsi Sainio’s now internationally discussed article which appeared in the September 12th issue of DOG NEWS when she wrote in reference to information gained on the internet…”And the more I talk, (about DNA) the more confused people get-and while all the information seems to be in reach of everybody through internet and other sources—the less people seem to understand what they are dealing with,” There is nothing worse than anecdotal conclusions I am afraid and this is what so many so intent upon keeping AKC exclusive rather than inclusive seem top be doing.
