10/02/2026
This article couldn’t have come at a more timely moment.
AKC Gazette recently published Heidi Kilgore’s “Building a Better Dog Club,” about something that matters far beyond any one breed or organization: what it takes to build clubs that people actually want to join, participate in, volunteer for, and stay involved with.
📖 You can read the article here (page 20):
https://images.akc.org/pdf/gazette/october-2026.pdf
As dog owners, many of us benefit from the work of clubs — even if we’ve never thought about becoming involved ourselves. But healthy clubs don’t just happen. They depend on people being willing to contribute their ideas, skills, time, and sometimes a fresh perspective.
That’s one of the reasons I decided to run for President of the Standard Schnauzer Club of America for 2027, alongside the other Unified Candidates by Petition...Wish me luck? 😊
Many of the ideas highlighted in this article closely parallel things we’ve been discussing as initiatives to be implemented and issues to be resolved. So, I’m running because I’d like the opportunity to help turn more of those kinds of ideas into action within our national club. But this isn’t only about SSCA.
If you belong to a dog club, consider what you might be able to contribute to make it stronger. And if you don’t belong to one, perhaps there’s a club that could benefit from exactly the skills, experience, enthusiasm, or fresh perspective you could bring to it.
I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read the article. It may inspire you to think about what your role could be in building a better dog club.
