The history of the Gundog Club
The Gundog Club has undergone a number of changes over the past few years. You can read a brief history of the Club below.
The Gundog Club was the original idea of gundog enthusiast Pippa Mattinson. Pippa had been helping her young son train a Labrador by breaking the process down into small achievable steps, and decided that the system she had devised might be helpful to others. You can read about how the Graded Training Scheme was developed from Pippa's idea, on our Origins page.
When the Gundog Club was launched in January 2006 it was structured as a business whose objectives were to provide a Graded Training Scheme for gundogs, supported by income generated through the online sale of gundog training equipment and training books. An online shop was opened, and Pippa wrote a number of books to accompany the earlier grades. These too were sold to support the scheme.
Rapid growth
The Club generated a great deal of interest almost immediately and this interest was accompanied by a demand for the Gundog Club to provide training and trainers. Gundog owners wanted the Club to provide training courses to help them prepare for their Field Tests. They also wanted us to help them find trainers who would treat their dogs kindly.
The Gundog Club attracted the attention of many people that were really struggling with their gundogs and who urgently needed advice or help. In busy periods, the Gundog Club was receiving many hundreds of telephone calls each week.
In response to this demand for help, directors Sam and Pippa were kept busy answering emails and phone calls, and in training office staff to cope with the growing workload. Training courses were set up around the country. Courses were arranged, advertised and administered by the Gundog Club and local gundog instructors were sub-contracted to provide the training. Systems were set in place to vet and monitor the performance and conduct of trainers in keeping with the Club’s gundog welfare aims.
The system of sub-contracted training courses was cumbersome and complex to administer and it was very open to abuse. Moreover, it was not popular with the students who bore much of the burden of the cost. During 2009 the Gundog Club team began looking at alternative ways to deliver graded training to its students, and to put gundog owners in touch with their local gundog trainers. At the same time, the affects of the global economic crisis began to be felt as recession gripped the country.
A new direction
During 2010 the objectives of the Gundog Club were revisited, and a number of strategies set in place to ensure that we remained focused on our original goals of helping gundog owners complete their dog’s training, and of introducing gundog owners to gundog fieldwork through the Graded Training Scheme.
There had been a number of threats to the Graded Training Scheme by individuals attempting to profit from the efforts of the Gundog Club’s Team, including theft of test designs, and other intellectual property. Businesses are often seen as ‘fair game’ and as a business, the Gundog Club was vulnerable to such threats. As a business the Club was also not in a good position to form valuable links with other like minded organisations nor was it able to engage in fund raising activities for its worthwhile causes. Sam and Pippa wanted to ensure that the Graded Training Scheme was properly protected, and preserved in perpetuity for public benefit and looked at different ways of achieving this.
A change in the structure or the organisation was agreed, and the decision was made to put the Gundog Club in the hands of a charity. The online shop which no longer contributed significantly towards our aims, was closed, and our sub-contracting policy for the provision of training was reviewed. A new way of putting students in touch with experienced trainers was devised and a ‘pilot scheme’ arranged to test it.
The Affiliate Trainer Scheme
In November 2010 the Affiliate Trainer Scheme was launched in the South West. This new form of Instructor Registration has removed the need to 'sub-contract' out any training services and puts the students directly in touch with their local accredited trainer. This new scheme is very popular with students and is currently being ‘rolled out’ across the country. Student numbers are beginning to grow again for the first time since the recession took hold.
The Affiliate Scheme has also dramatically reduced the administrative burden from the Gundog Club’s office staff, and together with the closure of the shop, has enabled the Club to de-register for VAT. This means that Field Tests are now 20% cheaper for students than they were a few months ago.
The Gundog Trust
As no suitable charity existed, a new charity was created to take over the ownership and management of the Gundog Club. This charity is called The Gundog Trust and is currently applying for registration with the charity commission. A public launch of the new charity is planned for late summer/early autumn 2011