PDTE 2012 March Newsletter

PDTE AGM MEETING In NORWAY 24 – 25 September 2011
MINUTES OF the AGM 2011
In accordance with the AGM Agenda the following is a record of the AGM held in Oslo, Norway, on Sunday September 25th 2011.
The meeting was opened by the President, Turid Rugaas from Norway.
A gift was presented to each of the organisers by Raili Halme on behalf of the PDTE.
The meeting was chaired by Maxwell Muir from Scotland.
1a Register of those present
Gunn Tove Bekken / Ed van den Berg AM / Steffi Binder AM / Stamatina Charami / Paola Corvino AM/ Erica Delvò AM / Paulina Druri AM / Tiina Finn
/ Monica Grönkvist-Carlsson AM / Raili Halme FM / Chrissy Gough AM / Winnie Hartelius AM / Maria Hense FM / Esther Herrera-Kivijärvi AM / Arletta
Hodge AM / Sonja Hoegen FM / Ronja Hyppölä AM / Eleni Kalioglou / Andrea Knoblauch FM / Anne-Lill Kvam FM / Susanne Lautner AM / Patrizia
Legler AM / Heikki Lindqvist FM /Adelaide Lönnberg FM / Leonardo Massaro AM Maxwell Muir FM / Tone Myhrer FM / Jana Nemcova AM / Undine
Nickerl FM / Agnieszka Nojszewska AM / Agnes Peins / Christianne Pereira Armari AM / Annika Petrén FM / Erini Pitsilidi / Inga Thorborg Robertsdottir
/ Susi Roger FM / Turid Rugaas HM / Line Skaugerud AM / Sofia Skoglund / Winkie Spiers FM / Bente Stensland AM / Macie Ström / Emilia
Tolonen FM / Hanne Truelsen AM / Agnes Vaelidalo AM / Natlaya Verhoeven AM / Astrid Verkuyl / Pippa Woodward-Smith FM / Claudia Zöllner AM
TOTAL PRESENT 48 / TOTAL MEMBERS 38
1b Apologies for absence
Apologies were received from the following members who were unable to attend:
Yiannis Arachovitis, Merethe Børgart, Marieke Bovee, Leonard “Buzz” Cecil, Pennie Clayton, Carlos Dangoor, Lee Darby, Susanne Erdelji, Nicole
Fröhlich, Nina Haaland, Sheila Harper, Dave Hayes, Lisa Hird, Jeanne Hoogland, Sally Hopkins, Dewi Houwen, Ellen Huys, Jan Hyams, Judith-
Selina Keller, Monique van Kessel, Christine Kiefer, Gerd Köhler, Melanie Linssen, Deidre Long, Rosie Lowry, Marina Mambretti, Karen Marsh,
Dave Marter, Christina Nicolaus, Dolores Palmer, Lucy Parker, Helmi Pesonen, Zula Przybylinska, Carolin Reger, Gosia Rokicka, Annette Schneider,
Richard Seaton, Olwen Turns, Magda Urban, Doris Vaterlaus, Erika Vota, Silvia Weber, Heike Westedt, Ali Zaffar, Paulina Ziółkowska-Radomiak
2 Minutes of the last AGM
The minutes of the 2010 AGM had been sent out in advance. The minutes were accepted by the membership.
3 Chairman’s report – Winkie Spears
How lovely to see you all, and welcome to the 2011 AGM here in Oslo. Firstly, I’d like to thank Turid and her team for hosting this wonderful event;
it’s an enormous undertaking to organise something like this so thank you all very much indeed for your time and effort. The weekend has been
wonderfully organised and I am enjoying my time here very much — it’s also great to see so many of you here and I hope that you are enjoying it all
as much as me? Attendance at our AGM grows every year which is very positive and well done all of you for making the effort to be here.
For those of you who are new or are unaware of the history of the PDTE, it was set up in 1999 with the aim of improving the welfare of dogs
everywhere and developing and promoting the best practices possible in dog training and dog care; this is what we continue to do. Whatever your
individual level of experience and education it’s hugely important that we all strive to continue to develop and increase our skills and knowledge of
dogs in all areas. The aims of the PDTE are to share ideas, knowledge, experiences and information to improve the relationships between dogs
and people and increase awareness of positive training methods. This is something that we take very seriously and we actively uphold our code of
ethics.
Being part of the PDTE enables us to network, form new friendships and have like-minded people to share with so that we can expand our minds
and skills. We all tend to concentrate on improving the social skills, stress levels and behaviour in dogs, but I think it’s equally important to be aware
of our communication skills, our stress levels and our behaviour as well! Remember to be kind, clear and consistent to yourself and others as well as
dogs, as this will help you as an individual and gives out a more positive message.
Our newsletter seems to go from strength to strength and has a mass of knowledge and interest within each issue. It’s a great way to share experiences
and knowledge, and it’s encouraging to see many new members contributing.
This year the Board has again stayed much the same, which has provided good continuity and enabled us to continue our work. Last year Pippa
Woodward-Smith joined us as treasurer and has worked hard to bring about positive changes, thank you Pippa. All Board members work tirelessly
for free, fitting in all that it takes to keep the PDTE running and progressing is no small feat – I thank you all — Turid, Andrea, Raili, Pippa and
Adelaide our Board Assistant who so ably and generously assists us, and also our member and election committee, Anne-Lill and Susi.
Earlier this year in London a lunch meeting of members was organised by our Country Representative, Ali Zaffar, which was a great success. There
is another one organised by Chrissy Gough in Southampton in October. These types of meet up are a brilliant way to network, make new friends and
share experiences – we will only ever progress if we share our thoughts and experiences.
Without you, the members, there wouldn’t be a PDTE, so please continue to be involved, join the forum, network with each other and share experiences.
Feel free to give the Board suggestions, offer help, organise talks and courses, run a PDTE workshop, tell others about the PDTE, learn
more and share. Share experiences both good and bad and be kind, encouraging and considerate to each other as well as to dogs. Most importantly,
enjoy all that you do.
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