Types of Membership
Full Members. Full members are the backbone of the Schutzhund club. They are entitled to all the rights and privileges of membership, as well as the responsibilities. Full members may vote and hold office, have unlimited training privileges, and are entitled to feature pages on the club web site. They also may receive price breaks on seminars, trials and other events if the club breaks even on the event. Unfortunately, in Montana we pay $400 or more for airline tickets and often don’t get enough participants to break even. Therefore, full members are also responsible for covering cost overruns. (Compare it to the cost of gas, food, lodging and seminar fees if you’d had to drive to Spokane or Seattle or Denver or SLC for the same seminar. And there’s fewer people here, meaning more time with the expert.)
Full members must demonstrate their active pursuit of training titles. All Full Members must also be members in good standing of the American Working Malinois Association, and if not a Malinois, are also encouraged to join their representative American Working Dog Federation (AWDF) breed club.
- Initiation fee, single membership: $150
- Renewal: $100 per year, due April 1st each year.
Family Members. There is no Family membership the first year of membership; thereafter, Family membership is $150 per year.
Associate Members are club supporters who are not interested in protection work, but want to pursue tracking and/or obedience. They may be taking a break from training, or are otherwise unable to participate fully. Associate members may not vote or hold office. They pay advertised prices on seminars and trials, but are not responsible for cost overruns. Associate members have unlimited training privileges as regards to obedience or tracking, but may not participate in protection.
- Fees are $50 per year, due April 1st.
Satellite Members are club supporters who live outside of Montana, but wish to participate in seminars and/or trials. They receive preference for seminars, may receive a discount in fees, and can train during regular club session up to five times per year.
- Fees are $50 per year, due April 1st.
Non-Members may participate in training sessions at the discretion of the training director and after paying $10 per dog per session. Non-Members work at the end of the training session, after club members are finished.
In addition to dues noted above, money for equipment, field maintenance, etc. will be collected (levied) as needed.
Becoming a Member
Prospective members may attend three training sessions without a dog, and three training sessions with a dog at $10/session. They must also attend tracking sessions. The Training Director will evaluate your dog and inform you if s/he thinks your dog is or is not suited to the sport of Schutzhund/IPO/IGP. However, if you’re interested in the sport, not afraid of hard work, have good nerves yourself and a sense of humor, the club would be happy to accept you as a member and work with you and your dog to the best of your abilities.
Applications for membership are available from the Secretary and are available online (print and mail in). Once the application is turned in, it will be voted on at the next meeting. Election to active membership requires approval by three-quarters of the members present.