Life Membership

On behalf of Dogs Victoria (VCA) and Kennel Control Council of Victoria, we want to thank our Life Members for being supporters and advocates for responsible dog ownership.

We honour the following individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the sport, breeding and showing of purebred dogs.

Please see link to download a list of VCA Life Members and Life Councillors (amended 01/09/2025).

 

Dogs Victoria's Life Membership History

The first Life Members of the Kennel Control Council (KCC) were appointed in 1956 on the basis of years served on the KCC Committee.

The first non-KCC Committee member to be appointed a Life Member was in 1961.

In 1993, members were given the opportunity to nominate suitable people for consideration to be awarded Life Membership.

In the same year, the Life Members Approval Panel (LMAP) was formed to make recommendations to Management Committee. This panel consisted of Management Committee members who were themselves Life Members.

In the same year a brief criterion was established to assist in making consistent recommendations for Life Membership.

In 1995, Management Committee resolved that only Life Members were eligible to serve on the Approval Panel in order to remove any perceived conflict of interest, and a more comprehensive criteria for Life Membership was approved.

In 2000, the criteria were amended to include points for each item with a maximum allocation of 200 points. A minimum of 150 points must be achieved before a nomination can be considered for recommendation.

In 2001 the nomination form was amended to include a Declaration by the Nominee declaring that the information contained in the nomination form is accurate in all aspects. This was felt necessary due to some information provided in previous nomination forms being found to be incorrect.

In 2005, Dogs Victoria established the “Outstanding Member Contribution Award” and in 2007 the “Outstanding Canine Contribution Award”. There have been several successful awards presented in both of these of categories.

In 2021 a modified criteria were established for those members who resided outside a 300 km radius of the GPO, as it disadvantaged those members.

In 2024 the criteria were completely revised to remove those items that were felt to be irrelevant to the awarding of Life Membership to Dogs Victoria members.  The criteria is published on the Life Membership Application form, which is available from the Dogs Victoria Office.

It is important to understand that the criteria are constructed in order to stress the actual work and promotion of Dogs Victoria.

The work and promotion of a club by an individual should be recognised by the actual club concerned.

Prepared by Roger Bridgford

June 2025