The Proposed Rules and Code of Ethics of the Southern Finnish Lapphund Society

1) NAME AND OBJECTS: The Society shall be called the Southern Finnish Lapphund Society and shall be registered with the Kennel Club under that name. The objects of the Society shall be the protection and furtherance of the interest in the Finnish Lapphund in the South of England and the Society will serve members and carry out events in the area Gloucester across to Essex via Oxon, Bucks and Herts and below to South Coast.

2) OFFICERS AND MEMBERS: The Society shall consist of an unlimited number of Members and the Officers of the Society shall include a Patron, a Chairman, a Secretary and an Honorary Treasurer.

3) COMMITTEE: The management of the Society shall (except as otherwise provided in these Rules) be in the hands of the Officers of the Society and a Committee. The Committee shall consist of the Chairman, the Secretary and the Honorary Treasurer, together with 6 other Members, Committee members shall reside within the area Gloucester across to Essex via Oxon, Bucks and Herts and below to S Coast. The Chairman of the Society shall be Chairman of the Committee. Five Members of the Committee shall form a quorum. The Committee shall have the power to co-opt from among the Members of the Society to fill vacancies or for any other purpose and shall have the power to appoint Sub-Committees. Those co-opted shall only hold office until the next General Meeting of the Society at which an election of Officers and Committee takes place. The Committee shall meet at least once every 6 month to examine the accoun ts and to arrange the affairs of the Society.

4) ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE: The Officers and the Committee shall be elected by postal ballot to be held during the first 3 months of each year. The management of the Society shall be in the hands of the Officers of the Society and a Committee consisting of 6 members of whom, 1 officer and 2 committee members shall retire annually on rotation, but being eligible shall offer themselves for re-election.

Nominations shall be signed by 2 Society Members other than the nominee and shall be accompanied with the Nominee's written agreement to accept nomination together with a statement not exceeding 100 words signed by the nominee explaining his qualifications for the post for which he is nominated. Nominees and nominators shall be Full Members who have been Members of the Society for not less than 12 calendar months on 1st January of the year in which the ballot is held.

Nominations shall be sent to the Secretary not later than a date of which at least 2 weeks' notice shall be given, and the Secretary shall accept every nomination which does not contravene these Rules. The Secretary shall send to each Full Member a ballot paper which shall list the names and addresses of the nominees, the names of their nominators and the statement of qualifications. Candidates for contested offices shall be deemed to have been nominated also for a seat on the Committee and votes cast for them in the latter category shall be counted if they are not elected to an office for which they have been nominated.

The ballot shall be controlled by the Society's Scrutineer who alone shall receive and see the voting papers. The result of the ballot shall be announced at the Annual General Meeting of that year and those elected shall thereupon take office and subject to termination of office by resignation or otherwise shall remain in office until the announcement of their successors at the next following Annual General Meeting.

Each retiring Officer or Committee Member shall be deemed to have been nominated for re-election unless he has informed the Secretary that he will not accept nomination, and unless he has been absent from three consecutive Committee Meetings of which he has received notice preceding the date set for receipt of nominations.

No person whilst an undischarged bankrupt may serve on the Committee of or hold any other office or appointment with a Kennel Club Registered Society.

5) MEMBERSHIP: Any person interested in the breed of dog known as the Finnish Lapphund, whether an owner or not, shall be eligible for Membership provided that his application for Membership has been made in writing to the Secretary accompanied by his first subscription and has not been rejected by the Committee. If the application is not so rejected the Secretary shall notify the applicant in writing of his admission to Membership, furnish him with a copy of the Rules and issue a receipt for his subscription. If the application is rejected the Secretary shall so inform the applicant and shall return to him the money paid as subscription. (No reason for rejection need be given.)

A Member who joins before his 16th birthday shall be a Junior Member and shall not be entitled to vote in the election of Officers and Committee nor upon any motion at any General Meeting of the Society. All other Members, except overseas members shall for the purpose of these Rules be Full Members. A Junior Member shall not become a Full Member until his 16th birthday or until he has paid a Full Member's subscription whichever is the later but he shall be liable to pay a Full Member's subscription on the first occasion on which his subscription falls due after his 16th birthday.

Any Full Member may be elected a Life Member by a two-thirds majority of those entitled to vote and voting at an Annual General Meeting of the Society but he shall not thereby cease to be a Full Member. Two Members of the same family or two people owning one or more dogs in partnership may be joint Members for the purpose of Rule 6 but each Member of such joint Membership shall nevertheless be a Junior Member or a Full Member as defined in this Rule. A life Member shall not be a Member of a joint Membership. The Society must make a list of Members and their addresses available for inspection, if so requested by the Members of the Society or by the Kennel Club. A full list of members will also be published in the Member’s handbook.

6) VOTING RIGHTS: Each Full Member shall be entitled to one vote at a General Meeting provided his application for membership has been received and accepted by the committee by 31st December of the year prior to the General Meeting.

In the case of Joint memberships, each individual is entitled to one vote providing they are Full Members and the above statement is fulfilled.

Voting at a General Meeting shall be by a show of hands. (Proxy votes are not allowed.)

7) SUBSCRIPTIONS: The annual subscription shall be such amount as agreed by Members in General Meeting and notified to the Kennel Club. All subscriptions are payable to the Honorary Treasurer on the 1st January in each year. No member whose subscription is unpaid is entitled to any of the privileges of Membership and if the Member shall fail to pay outstanding subscriptions by 1st February his/her name shall be automatically erased from the register. Acceptance back on the register will be dependant upon a new application. Notwithstanding the foregoing a first subscription received during the last 3 months of a year shall be deemed to include the subscription for the whole of the next following year.

8) EXPULSION: Any member who shall be suspended under Kennel Club Rule A42j (4) and/or any member whose dog(s) is/are disqualified under Kennel Club Rule A42j (8) shall ispo factor cease to be a Member of the Society for the duration of the suspension and/or disqualification.

If the conduct of any Member shall, in the opinion of the Committee of the Society be injurious or likely to be injurious to the character or interests of the Society, the Committee of the Society may, at a meeting the notice convening which includes as an object the consideration of the conduct of the Member, determine that a Special General Meeting of the Society shall be called for the purpose of passing a resolution to expel him/her.

Notice of the Special General Meeting shall be sent to the accused Member, giving particulars of the complaint and advising him of the place, date and hour of the meeting that he/she may attend and offer an explanation. If at the meeting a resolution to expel is passed by a two-thirds majority of the Members present and voting, his/her name shall be forthwith erased from the list of Members and he/she shall thereupon cease for all purposes to be a Member of the Society, except that he/she may within two calendar months from the date of such meeting, appeal to the Kennel Club upon and subject to such conditions as the Kennel Club may impose.

9) EFFECT OF CEASING TO BE A MEMBER: Any person on ceasing to be a Member of the Society shall forfeit any right to and claim upon the Society its property and funds arising solely from his Membership.

10) SOCIETY ACCOUNTS: A banking account shall be held in the name of the Society into which all revenues of the Society shall be paid. It shall be operated by the Hon. Treasurer. Cheques shall be signed or endorsed on behalf of the Society by any two Members of a panel of four signatories; the panel shall be appointed annually by the Committee from among the President, Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer. The accounts of the Society shall be kept by the Hon. Treasurer and shall as soon as practicable after the end of the financial year be audited by a qualified accountant or firm of qualified accountants who shall be appointed at each Annual General Meeting.

11) ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: The financial year of the Society shall end on 31st December in each year, to which day the Accounts of the Society shall be balanced. The Annual General Meeting of the Society shall be held before 31st March in each year, upon a date and time to be fixed by the Committee for the following purposes:

To receive from the Committee a Report, Balance Sheet and Statement of Accounts for the preceding financial year and an estimate of the receipts and expenditure for the current financial year;

To consider and, if approved, sanction any duly made alteration of the Rules;

To receive the results of the postal ballot for the Officers and the Committee;

To deal with any special matter which the Committee desires to bring before the Members and to receive suggestions from the Members for consideration by the Committee and to discuss any matter of which prior notice shall have been given to the Secretary at least 28 days prior to the AGM.

Notice convening the General Meeting shall be sent to the Members not less than 42 days before the meeting and shall specify the matters to be dealt with. No Business shall be transacted at an Annual General Meeting unless notice thereof appears on the Agenda, with the exception of routine matters or those which, in the opinion of the Chairman of the Meeting, are urgent.

12) SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING: A Special General Meeting may be convened at any time by the Committee and shall be convened within 21 days from the receipt by the Secretary of a requisition in writing signed by not less than 25 Full Members specifying the object of the meeting.

Notice convening the Special General Meeting shall be sent to the Members not less than 14 days before the meeting and shall specify the matters to be dealt with. No business other than that named in the notice shall be brought before a Special General Meeting.

13) CHAIR AND VOTING: At all General Meetings of the Society the President or in his absence the Chairman or in the absence of both of them a Chairman shall be elected from the Committee shall take the Chair. Every Member present entitled to vote shall have one vote upon every motion and in the case of equality of votes the Officer in the Chair shall have a second or casting vote.

14) AMENDMENTS TO RULES: The Rules of the Society may not be altered except at a General Meeting, the Agenda for which contains specific proposals to amend the Rules. Any proposed alteration to the Rules may not be brought into effect until the Kennel Club has been advised and approved the alteration. For the purposes of this Rule the Code of Ethics shall be deemed to be a part of these Rules.

15) KENNEL CLUB FINAL COURT OF APPEAL: The Kennel Club shall be the final court of appeal in all matters of dispute.

16) CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP: Every Member shall be bound by and submit to these Rules and the current issue of the Code of Ethics shall for all purposes be deemed to be a part of these Rules. A Member shall not by reason of his Membership be under any financial liability except for payment of his annual subscription.

17) NOTICES: All notices required by these Rules to be given to Members of the Society maybe given by prepaid letter addressed to a Member at the last address which he has furnished to the Secretary and shall be deemed to have been given at the expiration of 48 hours after the posting of the letter except for addresses outside the United Kingdom. Members must furnish the Secretary with their addresses as necessary.

18) PROPERTY OF THE SOCIETY: The property of the Society shall be vested in the Committee and in the event of the Society ceasing to exist a Special General Meeting shall be called to decide the disposal of any assets. The Kennel Club to be notified of all action taken. The donor of a Challenge Cup or other trophy shall be required to sign a paper acknowledging that such Cup or trophy is an outright gift to the Society.

19) FEDERATIONS: The Society shall not join any federation of societies or Clubs.

20) LIST OF APPROVED JUDGES: The Committee shall as often as required and in any case at least once a year prepare a List Of Approved Judges of the Breed, which shall distinguish the judges approved for Championship Shows from those approved for Open Shows only. Nominations for addition to or deletion from such list may be sent to the Secretary at any time and such nominations shall be considered by the Committee as soon as practicable thereafter. The Secretary shall invite nominees for addition to the List to reply to a questionnaire setting out their experience in judging dogs in general and Finnish Lapphunds in particular and the Committee shall not authorise such addition without having considered such reply. Amendments to the List shall be announced to the Members as soon as possible.

21) ANNUAL RETURNS TO THE KENNEL CLUB: (Note: in this Rule only, the word 'Officer' means the Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer): The Officers acknowledge that during the month of January each year, Maintenance of Title Fee will be forwarded to the Kennel Club by the Secretary for continuance of Registration and that by 31st July each year, other returns, as stipulated in the Kennel Club Regulations for the Registration and Maintenance of Title of Societies and Breed Councils and the Affiliation of Agricultural Societies and Municipal Authorities be forwarded to the Kennel Club. The Officers also acknowledge their duty to inform the Kennel Club of the month in which the Society's Annual General Meeting is held and to notify the Kennel Club of any subsequent amendments to that date.

THE CODE OF ETHICS
Preamble: This Code of Ethics is intended to serve as a standard of behaviour for all Society Members in any activities connected with the Finnish Lapphund. Compliance with it is a condition of Membership of the Southern Finnish Lapphund Society (See Rule 16).

Records:
1. Each Member who breeds from his bitch or uses his dog at stud shall keep accurate records of stock, bred and born, matings and pedigrees and will when requested make these available to the Breed Archives Secretary.

2. Any information reported to the Committee which casts doubt upon any registration or pedigree shall be referred to the Kennel Club.

Breeding:
3. Each breeder shall plan each mating with the paramount intention of maintaining The Breed Standard and shall only breed when he is in a position to give proper care to both bitch and offspring.

4. Each breeder shall select sire and dam with an eye to conformation and temperament after a careful study of the Breed Standard, the relevant pedigrees and the basic principles of genetics. Each stud dog owner shall similarly consider these matters when contracting for the use of his dog.

5. Each breeder shall safeguard his bitches from unsuitable matings.

6. Breeders shall breed only from stock that is free from known hereditary defects. On no account shall an animal of unsuitable temperament be bred from. If an animal is born with any defect or subsequently develops an inherited condition, the full details shall be made available to the Breed Archive Secretary.

7. All stock prior to mating must be DNA, prcd-1 PRA tested except where the gene status can be identified by parentage:
a) I.e. The progeny of two DNA tested clear dogs can be assumed to be clear and the progeny of DNA tested clear to affected matings can be assumed to be carriers.
b) Identified (or suspected carriers) must only be mated to genetically clear dogs.
c) Affected dogs must only be mated to DNA tested clear dogs.

In addition all stock prior to mating must be eye tested for hereditary cataracts (HC), progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) under the BVA/KC Scheme or ECVO scheme, i.e. a current annual eye certificate must be held prior to mating, and be examined under the BVA/KC for the control of Hip Displasia. Copies of the results should be made available to the Committee, for the Club archives.

8. As the Finnish Lapphund is a late maturing breed, no breeder shall breed from any bitch, or allow his dog to be used on any bitch before she is 18 months of age or in successive seasons, except on the written advice of a veterinary surgeon.

Sales:
9. Breeders must be as careful as possible to ensure that their puppies go to good homes and should therefore not knowingly sell them through pet-stores, dealers or other unsuitable outlets.

10. For his own protection and that of his buyers the Breeder shall provide written proof of sale and a contract of sale which declares the limitations on breeding/exhibition etc.

11. The breeder shall arrange for the Kennel Club Registration and a signed Transfer form to be sent to the purchaser with the least possible delay. The Registration should be endorsed 'Progeny not for Registration' - and this made clear to the purchasers prior to the sale. This endorsement should only be lifted by the breeder once the dog has been tested as in (7) above. A puppy may be sold without registration and transfer papers if that is understood and agreed to in writing by both parties.

12. No puppy shall leave the breeder until it is seven weeks old, and exports must comply with MAFF regulations. Upon releasing the puppy, the breeder shall follow these guidelines:-

a) He shall supply a pedigree of at least four generations, which will include; eye test results, hip scores and colours, where known.
b) He shall provide written instructions on the future care of the puppy including diet, exercise, training and worming and shall stress the need for early training. He shall also give written information about the care given to the puppy to date, particularly on diet, worming and inoculations.
c) He shall provide records from the attending veterinary surgeon detailing any inoculations given, including their dates and the type of vaccines used, and the dates on which any future inoculations are due.
d) He shall release only those puppies which to the best of his knowledge are in good health. If the purchaser so requests, the breeder shall supply a veterinary certificate of health at the purchaser's expense.
e) He shall supply a written contract which includes a clause that if the purchaser is no longer able/willing to keep the dog (at any time in its life) - he will return the dog to the breeder for assessment/re-homing.

Member Relations:
13. In all their activities within the Breed Members should have uppermost in their minds that the Society exists to maintain The Breed Standard.

14. The more experienced owners and breeders shall be ready to give advice and assistance to Members who seek it and shall make their knowledge and experience available for the good of the Breed.

15. Members shall be diligent in the handling of their dogs in public places in order to reduce to an absolute minimum the risk of danger and nuisance to humans and other animals.

16. Members must recognise their responsibility to protect the reputation of the breed and shall not allow their dogs to roam at large unsupervised or to become a public nuisance, or to be a charge upon an Animal Rescue Society or Dogs' Home.

17. In all questions of ethics relating to the Breed, whether covered by this Code or not, each Member shall act solely in the best interests of the Breed and shall willingly help any Finnish Lapphund owner to uphold those interests.

Implementation:
18. Any Member wishing to report an infraction of this Code shall do so in writing to the Secretary and shall include supporting evidence in writing.

19. On receiving such a Report the Secretary shall submit it to the Committee. If the Committee decides that it is of sufficient substance to warrant investigation he, the Secretary shall communicate its contents to the alleged offender inviting his comment, which he shall submit to the Committee as soon as possible. The Committee shall use its discretion in deciding what action to take and in appropriate cases may initiate action in accordance with Rule 8.