Author: MSDA News

Call for Volunteers – MSDA Spring Event 2025

Bill Burland, MSDA’s new Spring Event Chair, needs your help!

Contact Bill Burland via Burland@mdsportingdog.org

Bill is firmly committed to developing and utilizing a deep bench of committee members and other volunteers. If you used to volunteer to help with this weekend but drifted away in recent years, or if you would be interested in getting involved, now is a great time to raise your hand and join the newly expanding team. While experience would be of great value, a willingness to learn and to work together for the good of this event, and the club, are the most important attributes of a great volunteer.

Several event committee positions are currently open. These are:

  • Judges Hospitality Chair – Responsible for Judge Transport to and from show & hotel
  • Vendor Chair – Booking vendors
  • Grounds – Layout and set up & tear down
  • Chief Steward – Arranging and assigning ring stewards
  • Catalog & Marketing – Catalog ad sales and day of show sales of catalogs
  • Trophy Chair – Responsible for trophy selection and procurement at Group & Breed levels

If you’re not up for being on the official event committee, we would still very much welcome your involvement. MSDA is powered by volunteers and there is plenty of work to be done. Growth opportunities also abound – get in on the ground floor and move up through the ranks if you want. Or, find your niche and we’ll appreciate your continuing expertise in almost any role.

Many hands make light work!
Please offer to help in some way.

Official committee members must be club members (and you can join here), but MSDA welcomes member and non-member volunteers for all of its activities and events, so don’t be shy! If you have even the slightest inclination to contribute your volunteer efforts to MSDA’s biggest event of every year, please reach out now.

And, if your breed club has been, or is newly interested in, becoming a Supporting Club or offering a Breed Specialty at the 2025 or 2026 Spring Events, please please proactively contact Bill Burland or Loreen Peterson, Club Liaison (via Peterson@mdsportingdog.org). We want to make sure that we don’t miss anyone while making the event management transition this year.

Thank you for your support!

MSDA Spring Event dates for 2025 are Friday February 28, Saturday March 1 and Sunday March 2. The event again will be at the Howard County  Fairgrounds in West Friendship, MD.

Contact Bill Burland via Burland@mdsportingdog.org

Learn more about MSDA’s Spring Event and Bill Burland.

Bill Burland is the new MSDA Spring Event Chair

Maryland Sporting Dog Association (MSDA) is pleased to announce that MSDA Member Bill Burland will be taking over as Event Chair for its Spring Community Event (aka “Spring Event”). Bill brings extensive knowledge and experience to this position. Living in Pennsylvania, he is currently President of the Bucks County Kennel Club and has  been on the Board of the Kennel Club of Philadelphia (KCP) for more than 20 years. He has chaired 25 all-breed shows, including for the KCP from 2003-2013 (“The National Dog Show”) and for Bucks County Kennel Club from 2015-2018. He also served as Assistant Show Chair for Bucks from 2019-2023 and chaired the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever 2022 Specialty when they achieved the largest entry in their history (225 Tollers!). Bill, with wife Lisa and daughters Katie and Kelly, is a Breeder and Exhibitor of Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers under the kennel name Travelda Tollers. Bill and his family currently share their home with many Tollers and Arabian Horses.

MSDA’s Spring Community Event has included three days of AKC conformation shows and obedience & rally trials. Just the Saturday show by itself has ranked as the largest Sporting Group dog show in the United States, and the Sunday show is usually not far behind. A Friday dog show was added for the first time in 2024. The weekend has enjoyed the support of up to 20 other dog clubs as Supporting Clubs as well as several individual breed Specialties each year. MSDA also offers Bird Instinct Clinics that weekend to introduce sporting dogs to field work. Other activities vary from year to year but have usually included Canine Good Citizen (CGC) testing and “fun matches” (dog shows that are just for fun – no points awarded) as well as special events such as AKC Fetch testing and an introduction to the dog sport of Barn Hunt.

MSDA Spring Event dates for 2025 are Friday February 28, Saturday March 1 and Sunday March 2. The event again will be at the Howard County  Fairgrounds in West Friendship, MD.

Bill already is getting the ball rolling for MSDA’s 2025 Spring Event. In addition, he is looking forward to implementing a three-year plan focused on: growing entries across all three days, bringing in great judges and breed specialists, building a deep bench of volunteers and continuing to develop Spring Event as a premium show while also ensuring solid financial management.

Bill is being handed the reins by Richard Jackson, who bravely stepped in to take over as Chair in early 2018 after Laurie Doumaux, the previous chair, passed away. Richard brought to the role an incredible attention to detail, and he has dedicated countless hours to managing all aspects of the event. However, with an ever-increasing number of requests for his attention, including frequent travel to judging assignments, Richard made the difficult decision to step down. Although he will be leaving the post of Event Chair, Richard is remaining on the MSDA Board, including serving as Vice President, and is fully committed to supporting MSDA.

We know you will join us in thanking Richard for his service and welcoming Bill Burland as the new Event Chair. If you have questions about MSDA’s Spring Community Event, would like to participate as a volunteer committee member or in another role, or would like your breed club to be involved with this event, please contact Bill Burland via Burland@mdsportingdog.org.

Learn more about volunteer opportunities for Spring Event.

From the AKC – New online title application portal

AKC has developed a new online system to help make it easier for dog owners to apply for their dog’s AKC title. It is called the Title Application Portal (TAP). The portal offers a fast and simple, step by step experience to apply for titles offered in Canine Good Citizen, Trick Dog, Temperament Test, Fit Dog, Fetch, Barn Hunt, Diving Dog, Disc Dog, Flyball, Virtual Home Manners, Search and Rescue and any one of the titles recognized under the Parent Club Title Recognition Program. Users will need to login or create a MY AKC Account to begin. Dog owners can see each step of their transaction complete in real-time and confirm their order. Anyone needing assistance can contact titlerecognition@akc.org or call 919-816-3637.

MSDA’s August 2024 newsletter

MSDA’s August newsletter is available. The focus this month is on the upcoming Fall Hunt Test Weekend. Although some of the events are already filled, or close to it, the seminar and the mock pointing hunt test still have space available, and we are always looking for volunteers.
We’ve also got some warnings about Listeria and harmful algal blooms. 
And, we finish with our news and calendar sections. The fall event calendar is filling up!