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Mission Statement

The American Sporting Dog Alliance (ASDA) is an association representing the mutual interests of sporting dog owners, breeders, trainers, guides, hunters, field trialers and handlers of all the sporting breeds. We also seek common ground with hunters, farmers, landowners, pet food and supply companies, and wildlife management and veterinary professionals. We work with individuals, groups, clubs and organizations in order to further our common goals, and to combat the threats against the traditions we represent. Those threats have become powerful and pervasive in American society today.


 

What We Must Do

It is our sincere belief that the interests of the various individuals, groups, organizations and businesses that we represent are interconnected, and a threat to one segment of our membership represents a threat to all segments. Working together for our common goals, and to combat our common threats, is the only way that our traditions will survive. In a similar vein, our mutual love of sporting dogs and their relationship with humans is a close tie that binds us together.

Why Are We Needed?

There are many fine organizations that represent dog owners, sportsmen and hunters, and we offer these groups our full support.

However, the unique concerns of sporting dog owners and professionals are not currently being fully addressed by any other group. It is our viewpoint that the sporting dog community is taking the brunt of legal attacks by animal rights extremists, and restrictive laws and policies. While we share common ground with other groups, it is up to us to fight for our own interests. We believe that the sporting dog community will be doomed unless we join together and fight back effectively.

The goal of animals rights extremists is to eliminate the private ownership of animals. They believe that owning animals, and especially making a living with animals, is exploitation. They are very well funded and organized. They know that they cannot win honestly, because few Americans share their views, and thus their strategy has been to to manipulate public opinion on side issues in order to tighten the noose on animal ownership. Examples of this are kennel regulations that are impossible to live with, creating many tiers of bureaucracy for private individuals and busineses to be forced to wade through, attacking hunting and field trials, and influencing public opinion through inaccurate and sensational allegations.

They are well organized, and we are not. They are well funded, and we are not. They know how to manipulate the media, while we wage defensive battles that almost always result in losses or compromising.

If we don't begin to fight back effectively, we are doomed.

 

Immediate Tasks

The first priority is to name an interim board of directors and officers to guide ASDA through its formative stages. A board of 15 volunteer directors will be named for a six-month term. Board members will be sought from several states and regions, and from as many parts of the sporting dog community as possible. Their first task will be to draft bylaws and policies to guide the formation of the group, and to call for election of directors by the general membership within six months. They also will identify immediate priorities for actions, and set policies to determine the actions we will take.

Because funding will be limited, we will use the power of the Internet to link people, businesses and groups. We will develop a website, hold public meetings in a “chatroom” format that all members can observe, permit no votes or actions to be taken in secret session, all records will be available to any member for any reason, message boards and blogs will be used for outreach and communications, and a new message board will be developed to gain valuable input from our members. We will have a strict open door policy toward our members, and strive for 100-percent accountability.

 

 

 

Membership

Basic Membership - $10 a year - We need your help to do our job and show support to elected officials

Full Membership - $25 a year - For people who care deeply about the issues we represent

Professional membership - $50 a year - For dog breeders and trainers, kennel owners,  hunting guides and other stakeholders in these issues

Sustaining Membership - $100 - For people who are truly dedicated to preserving the sporting dog heritage in America, clubs and groups

Please send your membership fees by check or money order, and full contact information to:

John Yates, Secretary/Treasurer
American Sporting Dog Alliance
1269 Eaglerock Road
Oil City, PA 16301

We Need Your Help

The American Sporting Dog Alliance is only as strong as the commitment of its members. We need your help for us to be able to help you.

Joining ASDA is important, both to give us the numbers to influence the political process, and to provide the funds needed to work effectively. Our opposition is well organized and very well funded, and we can do no less if we want our traditions to survive.

Most importantly, we need your input and feedback. We need to know when we face challenges in your area or in your sport, and we need your ideas, eyes, ears and mind to help us plan an effective response. When we are attacked, we must be able to hit the ground running, and you are an important part of being able to do that.

We also need dedicated people to accept leadership roles, serve on advisory boards, help to form statewide affiliates, to gather information, to do research and to provide services. We have an urgent need for attorneys to represent the sporting dog community in court challenges to unfair laws and policies, and to block proposed laws, regulations and policies that treat us unfairly.