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Created on Saturday, 02 July 2022 15:49

Last Updated on Saturday, 02 July 2022 15:49

Published on Saturday, 02 July 2022 15:49

Written by DRC

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About the Pennsylvania Federation of Dog Clubs

The primary purpose of the PA Federation of Dog Clubs has always been to give our member organizations a voice in the Legislature and Governor's Office (and the Departments it oversees) in Harrisburg.  We ask Legislators to support some proposals and oppose others. 

            We do similar things at the Federal level, but we limit our outreach to the Senators and Representatives in the Pennsylvania delegation.  We sometimes interact with the US Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA/APHIS).  These efforts are mostly about obtaining information to relay to our member organizations.

            Locally, we have helped individuals in communities who are facing ordinance proposals that would erode their rights to own dogs and participate in dog sports.  In the last year we have done so in Westtown, Adams County and Swoyersville it the Wilkes-Barre area.  We continue to be available to help when anyone becomes aware of a proposal that may harm their ownership rights.

            We coordinate many of our positions with the AKC Government Relations department, but we are not a licensed or member organization with AKC.  A member of AKC GR is in regular contact with us and sometimes joins our meetings.

All Legislators and the Governor are candidates at some point.  We need to be able to show support to those who support our legislative positions, so they continue to support them going forward.  We will not be effective legislatively if we cannot. 

    It is important to reiterate that any endorsement or opposition to a candidate we may publicly announce is based solely on issues related to responsible animal ownership. We do not consider any of the other hot-button topics of the day.

            We continue to work to improve our communication with our member organizations.  We will be putting new investment in our web site this year, and continue to make use of our Facebook page.  Access to the Facebook page is by Board approval because we do not want opponents in there copying discussions about policy positions, and relaying them to radical activists seeking to end activities of our members.  We publish at least 2 newsletters a year but are working to increase that frequency.

            One important component of our communications is up-to-date listings of our membership organizations’ officers and delegates contact information.  We need the help of our member clubs to do this with timely response to our update requests.  If we get into a legislative fight and need to contact our member organizations quickly, those listings will be invaluable.

            We are working on greater financial transparency and will be publishing results of an independent audit at our annual meeting.

            Fundamentally, we advocate for animal welfare, primarily for our dogs.  We do not believe in animal “rights”, since rights are a human legal concept enshrined in our founding documents and international agreements.  We believe that humanity is morally obligated to treat animals in a humane manner that limits their suffering to the greatest extent reasonably possible.  If their lives are sacrificed, it must be for a meaningful purpose with as little waste as reasonably possible.