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I think people MUST
understand there is obviously enough misinformation
circulating--perhaps from some well-meaning folks, perhaps for
other reasons--who knows.
I suppose step one
needs to be that in this country we have 'parent' clubs and
then 'specialty' clubs. There is only ONE 'parent' club for
the breed...this is the 'official' club for each breed that
AKC recognizes as the primary source of public education, the
club responsible for the 'standard' of the breed-the ONLY club
that can submit a change for a breed standard...the mother hen
for the breed so to speak. The 'Parent' club protects the
breed and encourages all the natural abilities of the breed.
Anyone anywhere can start a 'specialty' breed club. These
clubs are not 'approved' by the parent club--they must also
seek approval from AKC if they wish to have shows etc. Many
club activities must be done over time/years before AKC will
grant 'membership/approval.' A specialty breed club can seek
a 'club' membership in the parent club--they pay dues like any
other member. They then can hold a parent club 'supported'
event since they are a 'member' club or they can hold their
own specialty event and the parent club will include
results/photos etc in the parent club newsletters etc. In
other words the 'parent' club offers its support to all member
clubs.
The parent club is
the most powerful breed club--the one with the largest
membership and the biggest bank account--and they must be a
'not for profit' club so they don't have to pay the government
'income tax'!!! There are lots of legal hoops for parent
clubs--and liability issues etc. ANYHOW, I guess the
'wealthy' club that has paid for 'all' the research is the
'parent club' ECSCA...granted, this research has been ongoing
in this country since 1992. We have had several 'seed' grants
that supported George Lees work over the years. We received
one of the first three grants presented by AKC CHF when they
were still in their infancy--a two year grant for right at
$73,000.00. We didn't have the money or the means to pay the
usual 50% of the 'granted' amount. AKC CHF asked if we would
be able to repay at least $23,000.00. We did, but it took us
two full years to raise that much money!!! That was perhaps
in I'll guess 1996. Hard to remember. When Arthur Ferguson (Dunelm)
died he made a stipulation in his will that the sale of his
personal belongings be donated to this research project.
Arthur owned Ch. Reklawholm Firebird who carried FN and
produced many children that carried and they in turn produced
many cases. Firebird sired his first FN cases around age 12.
He was an outcross to American lines and once people began to
linebreed on him and double back to him FN started to pop up.
Once money was available from the sale of Dr. Ferguson's
personal items, the executrix of his estate opened up a
special account at Texas A&M that could only be used for
research on FN in this breed. It was named the 'Ferguson
Memorial Fund'...it was not in any way a 'parent club'
endeavor. The parent club supported it with the purchase of
many of Arthur's possessions which were used for trophy's for
specialties. Everyone supported the Ferguson Fund with
monetary donations over the years. When the grant from AKC
CHF ran out the Ferguson Fund was all the money we had to do
research. The project went into a limbo state from
1999-2003. I say limbo because we ran into a problem with the
one graduate student doing the molecular work. There wasn't a
molecular geneticist at Texas A&M and there were VERY few in
the USA that did dogs! The Grad student decided to make us
his PhD project and he refused to allow anyone to work on
'HIS' project which inched along at his pace. The parent club
continued to accept donations for this research 'waiting' for
this glitch to be over. Personally, I did not encourage
continued support in any big way because I was not pleased
that we became victims to this PhD student's whim. He had the
right to protect his work--'Intellectual Property Rights'.
Once his PhD was finished and his work was released the
project went full speed ahead. It was during those years we
were able to raise the money we have/had. We kept all the
money in a special account that earned extra interest income.
That's the ONLY reason we had the money. Most of the money
was received when 'dues' notices are mailed annually. We ask
each member to support 'Health Education' and 'Rescue".
Essentially the money was probably raised over an 8 yr. period
of time. Our membership is around 700 members. Probably half
that number are active. Yes, we have the $55,000.00...the
cost of the project was around $150,000.00 just for Dr.
Murphy's molecular work. We told them we'd give them what
we had and they accepted that amount taking the loss at the
University level!!! WE got lucky!!! WE had to sign a
contract with the University giving them $35,000.00 with the
contract and sign an agreement saying we'd give them the
remaining $20,000.00 in June, '06. In other words they gave
us six months to make the $20K grow so we wouldn't be
completely busted!!!!
I would estimate
the cost of this research project since it started in '92 to
be close to $500,000.00--that's a half million dollars...I'm
not sure what we've paid on our own...but I would guess
$200,000.00 based on the years the Ferguson Fund was the only
thing that paid for expenses. Are we RICH? NO!!!!
We have been lucky
to find quality researchers that DONATED their time to this
project. These researchers have not been paid a cent for
their time since 1992!!! They work on us while most of us
sleep and they too should be sleeping! Keith Murphy and George
Lees are NOT PAID for their time and their tremendous efforts
over *all* these years! In today's world how many people do
you know that would even consider spending the time they've
spent without a 'fee'?! These men are dedicated and our breed
with its special problem that kills puppies got a piece of
their heart. They weren't willing to abandon this project,
ever.
WE have indeed paid
for the bulk of the test which will benefit the world--no
regrets on our part at all! We're excited and thankful that
the project finally received the world attention it deserved!
If the scenario was reversed we too would've supported a
European effort--there was a time in the 80's when we thought
MacDougall was well on his way with this project!
I do know in this
country no one is counting how many dollars anyone
pays--everyone just wants the test ...no more lost puppies to
this disease!! It is a marvelous feeling to know people want
to help us with the financial responsibility. WE have
received a lot of financial help not only from English Cocker
breeders, owners, but from the University, the doctors, and
from AKC CHF--all of which took a substantial loss just to
help us! You can rest assured, any money we get from this
point forward will indeed go to this project--we still have a
bill that is due in June for $20,000.00. Money that we get to
keep over that amount will stay in the health fund and we will
be looking for the next research project that will benefit
this breed. Guessing, I'd say it will be
autoimmunity--particularly AIHA perhaps DCM. Autoimmune
problems do seem to be a greater problem than DCM...we will
see what comes our way as far as research offers--we will
choose the best one!
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