Terrier clubs

[Rabbit Hunter 6,613]

I think the terrier clubs  would attract a lot more interest if, for example, every year each member received a badge and a small yearbook or something similar. I’m sure lads would be willing to pay £20 or whatever to be part of something like that.  Rather than pay money for an annual piss up in the middle of nowhere and the use of terrier rescue that they’ll never use nowadays?

[chilli 381]

RH , our club just keeps some money in the bank incase of any rescues are needed and they have to get machines in . Any extra every year goes to various charities which the club gives to every year . They also give money to the nwtc every year to keep their funds up . We are also kept up to date with any changes in the laws . 

[Steak knife 131]

On 11/08/2019 at 20:26, Dig-deep-draw-charlie said:

I would be interested in a club if there was 1 in Northern Ireland. Can’t see it happening 

Why would that be?

[Dig-deep-draw-charlie 2,713]

8 hours ago, Steak knife said:

Why would that be?

Y I would be interested or y I couldn’t see 1 happening? 

[Steak knife 131]

1 hour ago, Dig-deep-draw-charlie said:

Y I would be interested or y I couldn’t see 1 happening? 

Why it wouldn’t work 

[Dig-deep-draw-charlie 2,713]

15 minutes ago, Steak knife said:

Why it wouldn’t work 

Ego’s......

[man o kent 269]

Nothing like a list of names and contact details, conveniently kept for the antis/uneducated to get hold of......

[Rat face 1,655]

I’m sure people don’t have to give there details if they don’t want to bud

[jiggy 3,209]

On 11/08/2019 at 19:38, morton said:

As i never said anybody,no matter how feckless deserves to lose a terrier,you lost your argument.The vast,vast,vast majority of rescues are conducted by the terrier owner and his close associates,in the very rare circumstance that a terrier is lost to ground and it becomes such that it requires the expertise and financial assistance of an organisation such as the FMWTC to get to a mutt that would otherwise be lost,then yes id advocate the importance of paying a paltry sum and joining.Im certainly of the opinion that the standard of terrierwork and terriers is on the decline,the company i keep is far more difficult to find now,less than 20 years ago i could,nt say the same.

I would disagree. 20 years ago any lads I knew doubled up dogs. With the bellman an flint single handed digging dogs became the normal. Some of those old dogs were watery as fcuk.Every old dude seems to think things we're better years ago. All I see from them is contrary old  b*****ds that can't dig like a young lad but have an opinion about how it should be done. You can't beat youth kicking the end of a graft.Im only 38 and I can't even dig like I could 5 year ago. You must be a lot older.Thats not saying you don't have more knowledge. It just means you can't dig like you used to. There is some very good dogs out there at the moment. Them white dogs in cork are doing their job and plenty of black and  chocolate dogs doing it too. You must be in a bad area or its maybe 20 year ago since a bedlington could stay longer than half an hour.

[jiggy 3,209]

2 hours ago, Rat face said:

I’m sure people don’t have to give there details if they don’t want to bud

It should work if lads stick together. Egos is the only thing stopping it.Its a shame that you don't need antis when terrier men can't agree themselves. My dog is better than yours ruins it for everyone .

 

[Barrie 1,325]

On ‎12‎/‎08‎/‎2019 at 08:13, chilli said:

RH , our club just keeps some money in the bank incase of any rescues are needed and they have to get machines in . Any extra every year goes to various charities which the club gives to every year . They also give money to the nwtc every year to keep their funds up . We are also kept up to date with any changes in the laws . 

 

We live in an ever changing world and Chilli has hit the nail on the head. For the past 35 years one of the increasingly important roles of well run and well supported Terrier Clubs, is that collectively they form and are the National Working Terrier Federation. It is they, along with a tiny handful of generous individuals (including one regular poster to this forum), who between them have over the years funded and defended terrierwork against a wide variety of harmful legislation. It is because of its network of clubs that the NWTF has been able to speak collectively on behalf of terrierwork and to do so where these things count most, both at a Parliamentary level and in Court.

Fine words you might say, but what does it mean in real terms and how does it impact me ? Well there are countless examples of legislation which has had the potential to impact the owners of working terriers, both directly and indirectly, whether it relates to dog breeding, housing and welfare, tail docking or the legality or otherwise of terrierwork itself. I shouldn’t need to have to justify these words, but THL being what it is, I know I shall have to. Fortunately the Scottish Parliament are very good at archiving and making their activities available to the general public, so by way of example I will rely on a few references to some of their own archived material, albeit only a small part of the overall process.

Around 2000 the Scottish Labour MSP and Peer, Mike Watson (aka Baron Watson of Invergowrie) announced he was putting forward a Private Member’s Bill to ban hunting with dogs in Scotland (The Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002). This was a precursor to the Hunting Act 2004 banning hunting with dogs in England and Wales.

The Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs Committee took on the lead committee role and invited a number of key organisations on both sides of the divide (including the NWTF) to put forward in writing the various cases for and against. The NWTF submission may be found using the link below and if you’d like to see what our opponents had to say, I suggest you rely on Google, or the search facility on the Scottish Parliament’s website.

https://archive.parliament.scot/business/committees/historic/x-rural/inquiries-00/pwm/w-ters.pdf

Following on from those written submissions, some organisations (including the NWTF) were also invited to provide further oral evidence to the Committee and there’s a couple of such examples below….

28^th November 2000 (pm) - https://archive.parliament.scot/business/committees/historic/x-rural/or-00/ra00-3302.htm

6^th November 2001 (pm) - http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=3286&mode=html#iob_17961

The end result, after studying all the evidence, was a recommendation from the Rural Affairs Committee that the Bill be dropped. Unfortunately, once this was put back to the full Parliament, party politics came into play and with the overwhelming Labour majority which existed at that time, it was decided the Bill should be allowed to progress. Nevertheless, the final outcome was a Bill with less restrictions on terrierwork than our own voluntary rules and codes of conduct. I’d call that a good result for terrierwork, particularly considering the alternative. These things don’t happen by chance, or by sitting back and saying “it won’t stop me”, it takes a lot more effort than that. If there weren't any terrier clubs, then there's no NWTF either and where would we be today ?

Putting aside the time, effort and personal sacrifices involved, as well as the weight of responsibity in mounting such a campaign. The costs involved in travelling backwards and forwards to Edinburgh over a period of several months, along with the associated city centre accommodation/living costs were not insignificant. These were funded entirely by the terrier clubs which formed part of the NWTF. This was just one battle of many and as anyone who has ever attended an NWTF AGM will tell you, it's pretty much a never ending stream.

As an aside, on 15 November 2004, Mike Watson was charged with wilful fire raising, at Edinburgh's Prestonfield Hotel. As a result, the Labour whip was withdrawn from him in the Holyrood and Westminster parliaments and on 22 September 2005, he was sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment. He resigned from the Scottish Parliament and was also expelled from the Labour Party. In May 2006 he was released from prison after serving his sentence and in July 2012 he was re-admitted to the Labour Party. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn appointed Watson as the Labour spokesman on education in the Lords and he is still a sitting Member of the House of Lords (source Wikipedia). And yet he had the bare faced cheek to attempt to lecture me on what I get up to in my spare time !!!

J.M.H.O. - Barrie

Edited August 13, 2019 by Barrie

[Rat face 1,655]

Well said as always Barrie 

[man o kent 269]

Private donations to the NWTF would be the sensible way for terrier men who value representation, rather than public meetings held locally, I would imagine then

[chilli 381]

If it was not for NWTF we would not have terrier work as it is today and It would have been banned years ago if it wasn't for the tireless work  done by the man who runs the NWTF. I won't name the man who runs it on here but I for one appreciate everything he does for us and terrier work.  

[Barrie 1,325]

37 minutes ago, man o kent said:

Private donations to the NWTF would be the sensible way for terrier men who value representation, rather than public meetings held locally, I would imagine then

With the greatest of respect..... you have to have numbers behind you, otherwise you represent no one but your own opinions.

But thank you for the thought