Montana Brittany Club
This is a newly formed club and we are not yet sanctioned by the American Brittany Club (ABC) or the American Kennel Club (AKC).  We are working toward this as rapidly as possible.
Past Meetings
Montana Brittany Club
January 30, 2008 Meeting Minutes

The regular meeting of the MTBC was called to order at 7:30 by Vice President Tana Kradolfer, as President Todd Breitenfeldt was delayed by winter road conditions.  Members present were Tana Kradolfer, Conrad Kradolfer, JoAnn Kish, Eric Kaelin, Bob Myers, and Alex Burks.

The minutes from the previous meeting of December, 04, 2007 were distributed by Alex Burks, read and approved.

We started the meeting with a round robin of ideas pertaining to fund raising for the club.  Bob Myers from Helena suggested we might be able to get Mike Okamura from the Boise, Idaho area to put on a training seminar for us.  Bob attended a clinic the Helena Valley Gundog Club put on as a fund raiser in Helena and said it was very good. Bob said Mike Okamura is a protégé of Dave Walker, the well known Brittany trainer and breeder and uses many of Dave’s techniques.  Bob offered to investigate the possibility of Mike Okamura doing a clinic for our club at some point in the future.

At this point President Todd Breitenfeldt arrived and took control of the meeting and we started working off of the published agenda for the meeting.

Todd told the club that we now have obtained Federal Tax ID #, (EIN ....).

Eric Kaelin, who had started off as the Club Secretary suggested that he would relinquish the post if Alex Burks was willing to be the secretary.  Alex accepted the position and the members present approved the change.

On a similar note Jo Ann Kish, said she had discussed the possibility of Todd’s wife Jan taking over the position of Treasurer from her as she has a very hectic work schedule at this time.  Jo Ann had discussed this directly with Jan who seemed to be interested in taking over and the club approved this change in officers as well.

Concerning recruiting more members for the club, Bob Myers suggested we see if we can get a mailing list from the American Brittany Club for the people who subscribe to the magazine.  Todd said he will check with the AKC to see if he can get a list of people who have registered Brittanys in Montana.

Tana Kradolfer reported on her research topics from the last meeting:   As far as holding a Corporate Sponsored Hunt for Handicap/Veteran hunters she was told by the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks that it would be no problem if it was done on a private hunting preserve.  Bob Myers suggested we contact Mike Geary who heads up a float trip on the Smith River for wounded war vets for ideas on how to proceed with the Handicap/Veteran hunt.

Tana and Jo Ann Kish contacted Sportsman Warehouse in Bozeman to see if they would let us display an ATV in their store and help with a fund raiser for our club.   They were very helpful and said they would display an ATV and sell the tickets there for us.  They also suggested that in 2009 we might be able to put an ATV in their booth at the Rocky Mountain Sport and man the booth to sell tickets.  Tana had also talked to a couple of ATV dealers concerning prices and obtaining an ATV at cost.  She said the dealer in Belgrade was the most helpful in this aspect. 

Tana also had another great idea for a fund raiser that was more affordable and that we could start on right away.  She suggested we raffle off a Garmin Astro; this is the new GPS tracking collar that recently came out.  Tana and Conrad have one and they really like it.  As a group we thought this was a great idea, Alex Burks motioned we go ahead and proceed with the “Astro Collar as a fund raiser and Jo Ann Kish second the motion.  Conrad offered that we don't even need to purchase the collar until the raffle is almost completed.  Tana is going to work on printing the tickets so we can distribute them to our members at the next meeting.

Continuing on the fund raising topic Alex Burks asked Todd Breitenfeldt if we could put a corporate logo on our web site and also if we could add a counter to count visits to our web site.  Todd said both of these things could be done.

Bob Myers made a motion to have a Mike Okamura Clinic this spring or summer.  Tana Kradolfer seconded the motion.

Alex Burks suggested we could have a Butch Nelson rattlesnake breaking clinic as a fund raiser.  Todd suggested we might also offer a porcupine breaking clinic as a fund raiser.  Tana is going to contact Butch Nelson to see if he would be interested in doing the clinic for us.  Todd is going to see if some of his students might be able to get a porcupine for us to use for the clinic.

The next item on the agenda was for the club to consider doing an e-newsletter for the members.  Alex Burks stated it would be a way for us to offer some contact and value to our far flung members, especially ones who may just primarily be hunters.  After some discussion we decided we would try to do a quarterly newsletter with everyone present choosing a topic to write a short article on before our next meeting.  Jan and Todd Breitenfeldt are doing an article on “Puppy Intensive Care”, Jo Ann Kish, on “Rattlesnake Vaccine”, Tana Kradolfer on the new Garmin “Astro Collar”, Alex Burks, “Heart Worms”, and Eric Kaelin on “Brittany Rescue” or “Behavior Problems”. 

Alex Burks presented the results from the survey he sent out last month asking the members about their specific interest in the club as far as hunting, training, showing, etc., and the direction they would like to see the club take.  We had 10 surveys submitted which was about a 50% return.   Everyone who returned the survey hunts and was interested in training for hunting.  About 25% of the surveys expressed an interest in showing their dogs and about 25% were interested in field trialing of some sort.  Some people just wanted to meet other Brittany People and breeders so they could see what dogs we had available for breeding and for supplying puppies when they need one.

Many of the members present are interested in showing their Britts and we discussed having a handling and grooming clinic in the future.  It was suggested that Todd’s daughter, who is a successful junior handler might be able to put this on for us.

JoAnn Kish stated we need $1,000 to $1,500 to purchase liability insurance for the club.  She stated we must have this insurance before we have any events, as the board members would be liable for any accidents.

Concerning the Montana German Shorthair Club's spring field trail, which will be held at Three Forks Montana:  the club has offered to help run this and perhaps do the lunch for them as a fund raiser for us.  Nancy Lane of this club recently suffered a devastating house fire and the loss of several of her dogs. Todd got this information out to our members so people could contribute on an individual basis if they chose to.

Concerning the Spring Field Trail of the Inland Empire Brittany Club in Washington State which Todd had suggested we consider helping with, it was decided that it was too far and none of our members thought they would be available to travel there and help out on the date that is set, so we decided to pass on this.

Todd told us we need to have a show event and a club fun event to move toward be sanctioned by the AKC.  He suggests we have a “Supported Entry”, at the Helena AKC show next fall; this would consist of extra prizes for a Brittany Specialty event.

Todd suggested we get to know our AKC club officials in Bozeman, Helena, and Billings.  Let them know about our club and our goals for the club.

Todd is going to talk to the BLM about places we might be able to hold field trails,

Tana recently talked to members of the St. Croix club when she was back in Minnesota for Pheasant Fest and they told her we would need to hold a Montana Brittany Field Trial around Labor Day if we expected to get any pro trainers to attend before they leave for the Midwest and South.   Tana is also going to investigate a possible spring dates that might work.

Todd said he would pose the question of whether people would be interested in a Montana Field Trail on three different Brittany e-mail lists he belongs to.

Jo Ann Kish made a motion that we open a bank account in White Hall and Tana second the motion.  Todd said the account would be opened at High Peaks Federal Credit Union.

Todd is going to make a special section on our web site to honor Charter Members.  He suggested we accept Charter Members throughout the entire year of 2008.  A charter membership cost $200, a regular membership is $30, and a family membership, (two votes), is $40.  It was mentioned that there may be some sort of perks in the future for the people with the charter memberships, but the primary purpose is to help fund the club through these first few months.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:15 PM and the next meeting was set for the Kradolfers at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, March 12.

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