2019 CFA Bengal Breed Council

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FROM THE CFA BREED COUNCIL SECRETARY:

This site is dedicated to:

1.  The current CFA Bengal Standard 2016 -2019

2. CFA Bengal Exhibitors

3. CFA Bengal Breeders

4. Celebration of our achievements showing Bengals in CFA

5. A platform for the CFA Bengal Breed Council Members to use for sharing ideas and compiling feedback regarding these proposed changes for our standard going forward.  

It can be used by CFA Bengal Breeders, CFA Judges and even Pet Clients  (Current and Potential) who ask how Bengals are evaluated at Cat Shows.   Discussion topics and proposed changes will be the bottom of the page under the heading "Breed Council Change Considerations"   (NOTE -  These are only ideas from members of the CFA Bengal breed council and have not been accepted yet by them or the CFA board of directors -  Approvals by both groups are required for any changes to be adopted.)

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CFA Breed Council Members -   This is a large site with over 75 pages (mostly about colorations) so please consider spending the most time on the sections that are most important to you!    The parts of the site that deal with the point system (Body Structure and Pelt/Coat) are often most important and colors are often secondary.    If you would like to be an interactive participant in the process of tuning our CFA Bengal Breed Standard, please submit any changes that you would like to have on this website for consideration (and possible inclusion on the CFA ballot) to me - Teresa Seling - CFA Bengal Breed Council Secretary.  It is my job to gather information from Council Members and bring it forward for consideration by the group.  Because of the large number of Council Members, I require that you to write out ideas in the following format:

  1.  The part of the standard you want to change.

  2.  The verbiage that you would like to change (your proposed wording change)

  3.  The rationale(s) for your proposed change

  4.  The obstacle(s) for your proposed change

  5.  Include the names of the Bengal Breed Council Supporters that you have behind your idea if possible (More members gives your idea more strength)

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And -  Please, do look at the website first to ensure that your suggestion isn't already being addressed before emailing ideas.

I may not be able to get "every" suggestion on the ballot because competing ideas will greatly affect whether a change is passed by the required 60% vote of the council as a first official step.  But, I do promise to put all ideas on the website for feedback by other current council members.  From this point, the proposed changes will be officially voted upon with the December 2019 ballot.   These ideas will come from Council members by way of this website (so that everyone on the council can see the "rationales" and "obstacles" for each idea) and will be drawn from it.  It is possible that we can use surveys like "Survey Monkey" to do quick tally's of where we all stand on certain ideas if they are conflicting but would require all of us to participate in these votes so that not be practical this year since we have a limited amount of time.    Also, We may want to only put forth a single idea rather than multiples for any sections that concern the same area of the standard.    This way we would have the best opportunity of passing the most popular idea with the 60% majority vote required so that we don't split the vote.  

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INSTRUCTIONS for WEBSITE FEEDBACK:

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Here is how I would like feedback from the current Bengal Breed Council -  I can not promise your feedback will be found in my emails if you do not follow this process:

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1.  I would like individual emails for each webpage that you would like to provide feedback.   You must title your email  "Feedback on xxx" -   (x's representing the page name that you are providing feedback on.    PLEASE DO NOT ADDRESS MULTIPLE WEBPAGES IN A SINGLE EMAIL -  I will not be able to sort them into the appropriate file folders if this is done.

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2.  Feedback can include:

      a.  Any corrections in spelling, grammar or wording that is incorrect.

      b.  Photos from you that you believe are not already being illustrated and are different than those used on the site.    Please supply high resolution photos and professional photo's are preferred when available -  I can do the size editing.  

      c.  Suggestions for photo removals if you believe a photo should not be used or is incorrect in it's placement.    Please provide a rationale for this.

      d.  Any feedback on the numbered items at the bottom of the webpage. under "Breed Council Considerations".   This can be in the form of a either a complete new way to phrase the section/phrase or changes within either the standard or suggestion change.    Please explain which part you are referring to.

      e.  Any suggestions for new items that you believe should be considered that are not already part of this -  Please include: 

             i.  The part of the Bengal standard you want to change.

             ii. The verbiage that you would like to change (your proposal)

             iii.  The rationale(s) for your proposed change

             iv.  The obstacle(s) for your proposed change

             v.  Include the names of the Bengal Breed Council Supporters that you have behind your idea if possible (More members gives your idea more strength)

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NOTE:   This is a site that was initially built using my cats and my own breeding program for new breeder clients to use.    Once I was elected Breed Secretary, I decided that it might be a good way for all of us to gather at a single place without the time restrictions of phone calls or web conference services combined with the fact that not everyone wants to participate in every aspect of the Bengal Standard.   With this method of communication, council members can prioritize their time to the most important items nearest and dearest to them.   Every member will have the option of spending less or more on this as they wish.   This type of communication provides for ALL members of the breed council to provide feedback.  There are a few reasons for doing this in this manner:

      1.  CFA requires emails to be used in the description of breed council secretary duties:

            http://cfa.org/breeds/breedcouncils/bcsecretariesjobdescription.aspx

      2.  Attendance for meetings in person, by phone, by web, at shows etc.)  is difficult to do because of a low percentage of the breed council that can attend  (and doesn't fit the requirement by CFA for email communications).  Most of us are very busy and need a format for feedback and discussion that doesn't pin us to a specific time of day or day of the week.

      3.  Not everyone wants to be involved in a debate on every item that could be proposed for change.  With this format, everyone can spend as much or as little time to join in on the thought process for any proposed changes.  

      4.  With this format we can include "Obstacles" to overcome in order to vote for a proposed idea.    With the formal CFA Ballot, only "Rationale(s)" are included.

      5.  With this format, I can use Survey Monkey (after we've all had time to make proposed changes) to see where we are at as a group by free polling (Free for under 100 members).    This will only be as accurate as the number of people that participate so I hope everyone on the Council will share their thoughts respectfully.

      6.  This allows us to work through the changes to the standard bit by bit and allow people to see what we are all working on with one central place to gather new thoughts, ideas and opinions.

      7.  If any of the Bengal Breed Council Members do not want to use this website for the purposes of sharing ideas, it is not required.   Any ideas that come out of this site will be brought up on the Bengal Ballot in December, 2019 where all of us have an individual vote.   Nothing will pass without a 60% "Yes" vote.   Please let me know your thoughts as I encourage all of us to participate!

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NOTE:   Because of the 60% requirement to pass ideas, I hope that all Bengal Breed Council members will act responsibly in moving our breed forward with the CFA Standard.   We should NOT be interested in "only our own agenda"!  Changes should be considered based on the "Ideal Bengal" and we all need to realize that this will be a broad opinion initially as we start to work on the standard now and for the years coming.   Not all of us breed for the same traits and with a breed of cat that has an average of 97% mixed breed domestic DNA means that there is a lot of work yet to be done in our efforts to come together to create the ideal CFA Bengal.  This is OK initially, we should be inclusive rather than divisive.   Your respect towards each other's opinions that don't agree with you own is always appreciated!     We all have a right to our own point of view.

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BREED COUNCIL:   MORE PHOTOS ARE NEEDED!!!    Please send your professional photos to me with the full name of the cat, Age of the cat in the photo, your name, name of the photographer and the part of the cat that you think it exemplifies (or is an example of what we don't want) to seattlebengals@gmail.com

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