Hello Minnesota NAVHDA Chapter Members!

Per the Chapter Bylaws, your new board was put in place in early October, and we are already working on plans for Training & Testing in 2020.  Test & Training dates for next year will be announced as soon as we have the grounds & venues secured.

Board Positions were appointed as follows:

President Pete Aplikowski term expires 9/30/2021
Vice President Keng Yang term expires 9/30/2020
Secretary Peter Ness term expires 9/30/2020
Treasurer Kevin Boog term expires 9/30/2020
Director of Testing Brent Haefner term expires 9/30/2021
Director of Training Mitch Carlson term expires 9/30/2021
Director of Judging Nathan Freshour term expires 9/30/2021
Director of Promotions Ted Wentink term expires 9/30/2020

One of my focuses as President will be to come up with ideas to manage the size of the Chapter.  We are at over 250 members, likely the largest NAVHDA Chapter in the entire NAVHDA system.  Being a big chapter has it’s advantages but also presents challenges.

In 2018 & 2019,to meet demand for more test slots, we expanded our testing days, and led the entire NAVHDA system with 16 total testing days over 5 weekends.

In addition to the many testing opportunities we offer, our Training schedule and access to birds and grounds for our members may be unprecedented in the NAVHDA system as well.  We are fortunate the size and strength of our chapter has allowed us to establish these.

In my travels around the country as a Judge, I have had a chance to meet many NAVHDA folks from different chapters and gain some insight into how they operate.

I will be working with our new Director of Training Mitch Carlson and our training coordinators on reorganizing our training nights into smaller groups, and expanding our website resources to provide members with some training tools that they can implement on their own.  We will also be establishing more training resources for members who want to train their dogs toward the NAVHDA Utility Preparatory & the Utility Test.

Please keep in mind that chapter members and resources can only introduce you to methods to train your dog, and no dog can be effectively trained by simply showing up at our chapter training days & events.  Training your versatile hunting companion is a daily ongoing journey you will go on together.

Lastly, I would like to remind everyone that we are an all volunteer organization, and nothing happens without many people chipping in to help.  With the size of our chapter membership,  it should not be difficult to fill all the volunteer roles we need throughout the year.   No experience is necessary, and one of the best ways to learn about NAVHDA and versatile dogs is to volunteer at our training & testing events.  When the calls and emails go out for volunteers in 2020, please take advantage of the chance to help the chapter, and increase your own knowledge of dogs and NAVHDA.

Stay Tuned!  2020 should be an exciting year for Minnesota NAVHDA.

 

Pete Aplikowski

President-Minnesota NAVHDA