[radiocricket]

All good points. A club takes time, money, dedication and people. While I do have the dedication and am willing to invest the money, I don't have the time, nor are there enough interested people. Sure, everyone would love to be a member, but that's about as far as they'd want to go. A club would also have to offer some benefit or else no one would join. I can't see making information a benefit, as the AGS does, I think that should be out there for everyone. I don't see much advantage of a member-only forum given all the other hamster forums already out there. A show would be a benefit but then you'd have to invite all club members and there are certain people we would not feel comfortable with entering hamsters. What would be the point of hosting a show if some members wouldn't show if other members entered? The way to fix that would be to then become more selective about membership but then how fair is that and where do you draw the line? Could we exclude someone due to an inadequate cage, wheel, food, bedding and/or husbandry? Could we exclude someone that wronged an existing member? Could we exclude someone if animal control was called to their house in the last 5 years? Could we exclude someone with a high mortality rate at their hamstery? Could we be sued for excluding anyone? Are any of these things excusable for a novice member? A club could certainly have a great code of ethics but how could it ever be enforced? I certainly don't need any more stress in my life by now having to "police" members!

So, for now, there's a small group of breeders that are working together and are able to avoid all those issues. We trust each other and rejoice in one another's accomplishments and work together to problem solve anything one of us may be seeing. There's no competition to have a hamster that's the best. We all hope to have an amazing hamster and then be able to share its offspring with everyone else! Our goal is about improving our hamsters in general, not having the hamstery with the most ribbons. Not that I don't think that would be wonderful and fun, I just don't think the US hamster fancy is at that point any longer. Many good breeders left the fancy as their life changed and they were replaced by breeders that just didn't hold the same ideals. Unfortunately, those are the breeders that are now more numerous in the US.

-Janice