Mdba

[Aleksandr]

Any reviews on MDBA?

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Do you want to be more specific?

They cover anything to do with dogs from breeders to owners and trainers...

They have a nice website with some very detailed but sometimes vague policies and codes of conducts for different membership categories.

And they have had some big awards nights. Some awards have gone to members here.

Apart from that - don't know much about them. Members in SA don't usually advertise the fact ie I don't see many doing agility or obedience stuff.

[Little Gifts]

They also offer some good courses. Hopefully Steve will come in here and answer any questions you have about their purpose.

[denali]

If you are asking in regards to establishing your breed in Australia, i think this could be a good thing to join :)

[Steve]

Do you want to be more specific?

They cover anything to do with dogs from breeders to owners and trainers...

They have a nice website with some very detailed but sometimes vague policies and codes of conducts for different membership categories.

And they have had some big awards nights. Some awards have gone to members here.

Apart from that - don't know much about them. Members in SA don't usually advertise the fact ie I don't see many doing agility or obedience stuff.

Would appreciate a PM about which policies and codes are vague so we can ensure they are more clear .

[Steve]

They also offer some good courses. Hopefully Steve will come in here and answer any questions you have about their purpose.

Doesn't seem very appropriate for me to write a review.. I'm happy to answer any specific questions.

We just had our 10 year anniversary and have evolved a lot since we started.

Never expected to be what everyone was looking for and because some of what we do is a not exactly what has traditionally always been done we have our critics but it is doing what we wanted it to do. Bringing all involved in dogs together to focus on what is best for dogs, providing education and resources, support and third party accountability. Our registry keeps health and temperament details,if the dog has worked and what type of work it has done, and all awards not just those recognised by traditional registries. Most of our breeders are still members of the ANKC and many dual register their dogs with us and the ANKC. Everyone who buys a puppy from our breeder members or a dog from our rescue members receive free membership to our smart dog owners club so we can build relationships with the pet owners too.That's been fantastic and we work hard at making it personal and getting to know about their dogs and what they are up to. Dog owners also provide us with details of their dog's health and achievements so we are not just relying on breeder input to put the information for each dog and their ancestors together into the data base for the future breeders to be able to access and see on every pedigree when they are profiling their pedigrees. We retain 92.2% of our members each year and pick up an average these days of about 5 new members each week.

Our dog owners choice awards are designed to put a focus on what goes on in the dog world which is positive and has been like a snowball effect. In May for our red carpet night this year we will have 200 people flying into Melbourne to celebrate the nominees and winners and some who want to attend will be disappointed because we cant fit them in. The people I meet and speak with who have the most wonderful stories about what they and others do for dogs never ceases to amaze me and whilst its a huge amount of work to pull it all together each year its worth every minute to meet them in person and celebrate out loud what they do.

Our foundation registry is designed to enable people who are working on breeds in development which are not yet recognised by traditional registries to utilise a third party registry and ensure politics and personalities don't white ant the development of the breed, ensure the integrity of the data,track health issues,provide registered pedigrees and to bring those who are genuinely working on a breed development under a code of ethics and regulations. When the breeds reach the criteria required for the ANKC recognition they can do what they do now and apply to the ANKC if they want.

When we introduced the foundation registry some saw this as us promoting cross breeding and puppy farmers but everyone has to be working on developing a pure breed and cant be just cross breeding , they are governed by our codes and regs just as all of our members. There is not one MDBA breeder working on a foundation breed in Australia who owns more than 5 dogs. We think its what is best for the dogs and eventually what is best for any breed that is working toward recognition as a breed in its own right . The other area where the critics get a bit vocal is that we have all breeds rescue groups as well as pure bred rescues as our rescue members .Many thought we should only have pure bred rescue - As I said it was never intended to please everyone.